Editor’s note: while I haven’t done a cruise on the Rhine, regular readers of The Royal Tour will probably remember time I spent in the region, based in Bonn. You can visit my guide to the amazing city here, and see my favorite castle experience here. Jackie, however, puts the whole length of the river in perspective in this piece that traces a rather lovely itinerary. For more of her writing, make sure to click here to visit her index page.

Cruising on the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam is about 500 miles.  The Rhine has been important for both transportation and for forming the borders between regions or countries for thousands of years.  For a portion of the trip, the river currently forms the border between France and Germany.  The cruise itself stops in a couple of cities (Strasbourg, Cologne) and several smaller German towns (Breisach, Speyer, Koblenz), all of which are old cities, and the UNESCO World Heritage windmill site of Kinderdijk in the Netherlands.  The cruise also passes the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the castles of the Middle Rhine.

You might ask: why a river cruise and not a land tour or an ocean cruise.  The big advantages to me of a river cruise compared to a land tour are 1) that one does not have to pack and unpack, 2) one can choose to walk around the towns and cities or get back on the ship and relax, 3) all meals are included, 4) sailing on the ship is much more relaxing than a bus, and 5) there are nice places to sit on the ship and watch the scenery go by.  The biggest downsides versus a land tour is that the cruise is more expensive and, of course, the places all have to be on or near a river.    As far as ocean cruises versus river cruises, it depends where you want to go.  But just compare the ships; the river cruises tend to have 200 or so passengers compared to 10 times more (at least) on many ocean cruises.  In this way the river cruises are more intimate and you get to know other passengers and crew.  There are fewer activities on the river cruises, but you are in port every day or nearly every day (we were in port every day).  We went with Viking, which includes a shore excursion in every port, most of which were walking tours.  The cruise had excellent food and service and was for adults only.

The Rhine has lots of cruise ships, so sometimes the docking place was not that close to the city (this was the case for us in Basel and Strasbourg), so one had to take the bus offered by Viking or use Uber.  Also, sometimes the boats dock against one another so one has to walk through another boat to get to ours (or vice versa) and therefore the view from our cabin while docked was sometimes not great. 

Basel, Switzerland

Basel is another Swiss city (click here to read my article on why visit Switzerland) with a lovely old town with walls, fountains, and beautiful old buildings.  I used gpsmycity.com to identify several must see locations and created our own path to some of them.  Of particular note is the Rathaus, or town hall, in the Market Place Square.  Parts of this building date back 500 years, although other parts including the tower were added in the 1800s.

Even older is the Basel Minster (protestant cathedral) which has roots from the 9th century, but the current building was built, destroyed by an earthquake, rebuilt and added to over the years 1000-1500.  The Spalen Gate, which dates from around 1400, was part of the outer city wall.  Near this gate is the Spalen Fountain, which has a bagpipe player on top.  The original of the fountain dates from the 1500s, but this is a copy from the 1800s.

My favorite place in Basel is the Tinguely Brunnan Fountain, which is located where the stage of the city theater once stood.  It was designed and built by Jean Tinguely, who is known for his kinetic art, and completed in 1977.  There are ten separate figures, which move and spray water in various patterns, resembling in some ways the actors and actresses who performed on that stage.  Many of the metal pieces were from the old theater, including the stage and props.  A single picture does not do it justice; I urge you to see it yourself.

Breisach, Germany

The shore excursion at this port was a long ride through the Black Forest (not impressive) to a tourist attraction that featured cuckoo clocks, glass blowing, and Black Forest cake.  It was cute, but not really worth the long bus ride.  In the afternoon, we walked through the old town, stopping to look at the Blue House (former Jewish Community Center, but not open that day) and other commemorative nearby sites dedicated to the history of the Jews of the area.  The synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis, and all remaining Jews were deported to concentration camps in 1940. 

Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg is a gorgeous city with a beautiful old town and Gothic cathedral.  Our walking tour brought us to the cathedral, which was the world’s tallest building from 1687-1874 and is still one of the tallest churches in the world.  It is a UNESCO Heritage Site along with much of the historic old town.  Inside are a very large astronomical clock, beautiful stained-glass windows, arches, a beautiful organ, and more. 

In the afternoon, we took a cruise on the canals and saw more of the old city, including the beautiful, medieval Petite France buildings (dating from around 1600), bridges, towers, and more.   We also saw the modern buildings of the European Parliament. 

Speyer, Germany

Speyer is another very old city.  It, too, has a cathedral, a Romanesque one, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built from 1030 to 1100.  It is constructed from red sandstone and is beautiful.  Many of the German emperors and kings were buried here.  It is the largest Romanesque church in the world.

Speyer also had a Jewish community, starting about 1000 years ago.  At times the Jews were allowed to live in peace, but in between they were attacked and, at times, completely wiped out, depending upon the local bishops and other rulers.  The Jews built a synagogue and ritual bath (mikveh) around 1100.  The synagogue was torched by the Nazis in 1938, and in 1940 nearly all remaining Jews were deported to concentration camps.  The ruins of the synagogue and the bath are accessible for visitors.  A new Jewish community started in the 1990s.

Rhine Castles, Germany

My favorite part of the cruise was the morning we sailed about 40 miles down the Middle Rhine and saw about 20 castles/fortresses, ranging from 650 to 1050 years old.  They were on both sides of the river.  This stretch of the Rhine is a World Heritage Site due to the transportation along the river and all the castles.  The Program Director from Viking narrated the whole time, describing when these castles were built, interesting stories about them, and what they are being used for now.  We had chosen a table outside at the bow of the ship where we could hear him and could easily take pictures on both sides of the river.  The ones below are just a sample of them. Some are now privately owned, some are hotels, some are museums, and some are in ruins.  (In the captions for the photos below, I’ve included the location for each, measured in kilometers from the start of the river.)

Koblenz, Germany

Near the end of the Middle Rhine castle region lies Koblenz, a 2000 year old city.  It is located at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosell Rivers.  Across the Rhine from the city is the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress.  The fortress was built by the Prussians in the early 1800s, at the same location as a prior fortress destroyed by the French in 1801.  A cable car takes one up to the fortress, where one can look down on the city and the river.

Cologne, Germany

The Cologne Cathedral, one of the tallest churches in the world, is incredible with its size, ceilings, stained glass windows, artifacts, and statues, and gorgeous floors.  It is another UNESCO World Heritage site.  Jonathan wrote a full article on it (you can read that here) which captures it much better than I can, so I won’t try to compete. 

Kinderdijk Windmills, Netherlands

The Kinderdijk Windmills were our last stop before getting to Amsterdam.  They are a group of 19 windmills in the Netherlands, mostly built in 1738 and 1740, and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Their original purpose was to pump water from low-lying areas to higher areas and eventually to rivers, if the water level in the river was low enough.  The windmills are still in working order (we saw one working) and occupied by millers, but electric pumping stations are now used.

Our ship did not get to Amsterdam, but stopped instead in Lelystad, about an hour away due to a sailing ship show that weekend in Amsterdam. 

We really enjoyed our river cruise and highly recommend such a cruise to others. We loved the beautiful old cities, castles, churches, and other buildings, relaxing cruising, great food, and helpful staff. 

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