• Travelsignposts Home
  • Country Guides
  • City Guides
  • River Cruises
  • Europe Photos
  • About Us

River Cruises

  • Home
  • About River Cruises
  • Photos
  • Map of Europe
  • Site Map
  • Cruises
    • Rhine Danube River Cruises
    • France River Cruises
    • Germany River Cruises
    • Holland Belgium River Cruises
    • Italy River Cruises
    • Spain Portugal River Cruises
    • Russia Ukraine River Cruises
    • UK River Cruises
  • Riverboats
  • Sightseeing
  • Useful facts
  • News & Events
You are here: Home / Cruises / Germany River Cruises / Enjoy the Romance of the Rhine on a Rhine River Cruise

Enjoy the Romance of the Rhine on a Rhine River Cruise

By Tony Page Leave a Comment

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

YOU CAN SAIL FROM AMSTERDAM TO BASEL ON A RHINE RIVER CRUISE:

Cruising by Rhine castles

Cruising by Rhine castles


Rhine river cruises are probably the most popular of all European river cruises, although many “Rhine Cruises” are in fact day-trips down one particularly attractive section of the Rhine between Boppard and St Goar. The Rhine itself is one of Europe’s major rivers, originating in the Swiss Alps and covering five countries. For over 2,000 years, this legendary river has greatly influenced the history, culture and economy of Europe. Some riverboats sail only on the Rhine River (known as the Rhein in Germany), while others combine the Rhine with other waterways in Germany, Austria, Hungary or the Netherlands.

Rhine-Main-Danube Cruises

Rhine-Main-Danube river cruises have become very popular, chiefly because the boats are getting more luxurious (and therefore acceptable to more travellers for longer trips) and there is a far greater variety of port experiences available, from tiny picturesque villages and famous castles to major cities like Amsterdam, Cologne and Basel. We did an Amsterdam-Budapest river cruise (Rhine-Danube) in 2005 with my 89 year-old mother and found it a good option for both her and ourselves.  The next time we did a long trip on the Rhine again was a journey from Vienna to Paris in 2013 and that was very enjoyable as well.

A Side-Trip on the Moselle River

Cruises on the Moselle River (known as the Mosel river in Germany) are often combined with Rhine river cruises (see our Rhine-Moselle river cruises page), often slipped in as a two day side trip to Bernkastel and Trier before returning to the Rhine. Whatever itinerary you choose, a Rhine river cruise allows you to experience some of Europe’s most interesting river ports and enjoy spectacular views.

Cologne cathedral's twin spires seen from the Rhine

Cologne cathedral’s twin spires seen from the Rhine


A purely Rhine river cruise might start in Antwerp, travel through the heartland of Germany, along the border of France and into Switzerland, ending up at Basel. That means you get the famous Rhine castles – more than any other river valley in the world, they claim – see the legendary Loreley Rock (yes, that is the correct spelling), visit Cologne with its UNESCO World Heritage Gothic Cathedral, explore the village of Rüdesheim and Siegfried’s Musikkabinett, possibly visit Heidelberg on an excursion from Speyer, then sample the French-German ambience of Strasbourg on the way down to Basel over the border in Switzerland.

OUR ADVICE: All the major cruise operators such as Viking, Uniworld, Avalon, AmaWaterways, Scenic and Tauck compete aggressively on the Rhine and they have their most luxurious and up-to-date boats plying this river. Rhine river cruises are also sold by many tour aggregators and if you are choosing a cruise with them, concentrate on the ship you want to travel on and the itinerary (of course, there’s also price!). Be sure to check out our “Things to watch for” page too!

Other Germany and Austria cruises:

Elbe river cruise

Rhine-Moselle river cruises

Danube river cruises

Click here to get a free PDF of this post

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Germany River Cruises Tagged With: europe river cruises, german river cruise, rhine river, rhine river cruise, river cruises

avatar

About Tony Page

Tony Page is a professional writer and photographer and runs Travelsignposts with his wife Helen.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

eNews and Updates

feedburner Sign up now to get emailed news as well as other site updates!

You can also find us on

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Plan and Book Your Trip


Get the Guerrilla Travel Photography ebook here now!

Latest Additions

  • Embarkation Day – Amsterdam to Budapest River Cruise
  • Amsterdam – The City of Canals
  • Cologne on the Rhine
  • An Evening Stop at Koblenz
  • Cruising the Romantic Middle Rhine
City Guides
Country Guides
River Cruises

Who is behind Travelsignposts?

Helen and Tony Page at Singapore Changi Airport

We're Helen and Tony Page, and we love travelling - lucky as we've been doing it for the last few decades!

Tony has long been a professional photographer and writer, but Helen now writes most of the posts and takes a lot of photos herself!

Travelsignposts is our main travel planning site, but we've just launched Travelsignposts China and Tony also runs the Travelsignposts Photo and Guerrilla Travel Photography web sites, as well as publishing the Take Better Digital Photos and Guerrilla Travel Photography eBooks.

Read more about Helen and Tony or contact them.

Other Countries

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • England
  • Estonia
  • Europe (General)
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine

Resources

  • Take Better Digital Photos eBook Take Better Digital Photos eBook
  • Take Better Digital Photos Free eCourse
  • Travel Signposts Photo – our main travel photography site
  • Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook

Copyright © 2022 ·Lifestyle Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in

Get a free PDF of this post!
Just enter your email address below and we'll send it to you immediately.

Please enter your Email Address