Rhine River Cruise

The classic river cruise route along the Rhine, from Amsterdam and Cologne through the castle-lined Middle Rhine valley to Strasbourg and Basel.

The Rhine rises in the Swiss Alps and flows through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands before emptying into the North Sea. It is one of Europe's busiest tourist rivers, and the common long river cruises sail between Amsterdam and Basel, taking 7–8 days one way. Highlights: Amsterdam's canals and the Kinderdijk windmills; Cologne Cathedral; the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz (where the Rhine and Moselle meet); the Middle Rhine valley from Koblenz to Bingen (World Heritage), with dozens of castles on both banks, the Lorelei rock and the Riesling vineyards of Rüdesheim; the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz; Heidelberg (on a branch along the Neckar); Strasbourg's Petite France and Colmar; and the final stop, Basel. There are two ways to do it: take the full river cruise (well suited to older travelers and families), or, if traveling independently, ride only the KD day boats along the Middle Rhine valley from Rüdesheim or Bingen to St. Goar/Koblenz, where 2–4 hours is enough to see the best castle stretch, then add Cochem in the Moselle valley. On transport: there are trains on both sides of the Rhine, and the left-bank line has the best scenery. During summer droughts, low water levels occasionally force cruise passengers onto coaches.

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