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City Escapes: The Rhine
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City Escapes: The Rhine River Cruise
Longer port stays and a lighter touch set this AmaWaterways sailing apart from the standard Rhine itineraries, running between Basel and Amsterdam through France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, with plenty of unstructured time built into most days. It passes the same UNESCO-listed stretch of castle-lined riverbank as the classic Rhine route, but leans more on flexible choices ashore than a packed schedule.
4.68
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94 reviews
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Cruise Line: AmaWaterways -
Ships: AmaCerto + 6 more -
Duration: 6 Nights
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Departure: Jan - Nov
City Escapes: The Rhine Prices
City Escapes: The Rhine Gallery
City Escapes: The Rhine Itinerary
This voyage runs in both directions between Basel and Amsterdam, and with longer stays built into most ports, there’s real time to make the most of each one, whether that’s a leisurely wander through Colmar’s streets or a proper sit-down dinner in Strasbourg rather than a rushed excursion. Here’s the route heading north from Basel.
Day 1
Basel, Switzerland
Settle into the ship in Basel, an easy first day with familiar comforts on board and the freedom to plan the week ahead at your own pace.
Day 2
Breisach, Germany
Breisach opens onto a few different regions at once: the colourful streets and Bartholdi Museum of Colmar, the small Black Forest town of Staufen im Breisgau for a tour and wine tasting, or, for the more active, a visit to Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg on its hilltop above the plain.
Day 3
Strasbourg, France
A guided walk or a later-starting version of the same tour covers Strasbourg’s half-timbered lanes, or take it in by bike instead. The day winds down with an off-ship dinner of regional dishes.
Day 4
Ludwigshafen, Germany
Choose between Heidelberg, with its hilltop castle and a wine tasting, or Speyer’s Technik Museum, dedicated to the history of transportation technology.
Day 5
Mainz, Germany
Morning scenic cruising takes in the castles of the Rhine Gorge, then the afternoon splits into several directions: a walking tour combining the Gutenberg exhibit with Marc Chagall’s stained-glass windows, a Jewish heritage tour, a culinary walk through Mainz’s food history, or a bike tour of the city.
Day 6
Monheim, Germany
From Monheim, explore Cologne on a walking tour paired with a Reibekuchen tasting, a dedicated architecture tour, a bike tour, or simply take a free afternoon in the city.
Day 7
Amsterdam, Netherlands
After a morning of scenic cruising into the city, spend the afternoon at the Rijksmuseum, covering 800 years of Dutch history, or take a culinary walking tour through Amsterdam instead.
Day 8
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Disembark in Amsterdam.
Day 1
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Board your ship in Amsterdam to begin your City Escapes: The Rhine cruise.
Day 2
Amsterdam, Netherlands
After a morning of scenic cruising into the city, spend the afternoon at the Rijksmuseum, covering 800 years of Dutch history, or take a culinary walking tour through Amsterdam instead.
Day 3
Monheim, Germany
From Monheim, explore Cologne on a walking tour paired with a Reibekuchen tasting, a dedicated architecture tour, a bike tour, or simply take a free afternoon in the city.
Day 4
Mainz, Germany
Morning scenic cruising takes in the castles of the Rhine Gorge, then the afternoon splits into several directions: a walking tour combining the Gutenberg exhibit with Marc Chagall’s stained-glass windows, a Jewish heritage tour, a culinary walk through Mainz’s food history, or a bike tour of the city.
Day 5
Ludwigshafen, Germany
Choose between Heidelberg, with its hilltop castle and a wine tasting, or Speyer’s Technik Museum, dedicated to the history of transportation technology.
Day 6
Strasbourg, France
A guided walk or a later-starting version of the same tour covers Strasbourg’s half-timbered lanes, or take it in by bike instead. The day winds down with an off-ship dinner of regional dishes.
Day 7
Breisach, Germany
Breisach opens onto a few different regions at once: the colourful streets and Bartholdi Museum of Colmar, the small Black Forest town of Staufen im Breisgau for a tour and wine tasting, or, for the more active, a visit to Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg on its hilltop above the plain.
Day 8
Basel, Switzerland
Disembark in Basel.
CITY ESCAPES: THE RHINE HIGHLIGHTS
Rhine River Cruise Deals
See what wonders of the Rhine await you as you peruse AmaWaterways’ wide range of cruise sailings, whether you prefer historically-focussed cruises or more culinary endeavours: there’s something for everyone on a Rhine River cruise.
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1,699 pp
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2,007 pp
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2,083 pp
City Escapes: The Rhine Cruise Review
City Escapes: The Rhine FAQs
Why did Mark Twain spend time in Heidelberg, and does it still look like it did in his day?
Twain stayed in Heidelberg for around three months in 1878, initially planning just a brief visit, and wrote about the town’s castle, streets and surrounding hills in his travel book A Tramp Abroad. Much of what he described, the ruined castle above the old town and the view down over the Neckar, is still recognisably the same today, which is part of why his account still gets quoted in guidebooks well over a century later.
What are the Chagall windows in Mainz, and why are they there?
They’re nine stained-glass windows in St Stephan’s Church, created by the Jewish-Russian artist Marc Chagall between 1978 and his death in 1985, in a distinctive glowing blue that’s become the church’s signature feature. He took on the project as a gesture of Jewish-Christian reconciliation after the local priest invited him to contribute, making St Stephan’s the only church in Germany to hold his work.
Is Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg an authentic medieval castle?
Only partly. The original fortress dates back to at least the 12th century, but it was left in ruins for over 250 years after being destroyed in 1633. What stands today is largely a restoration commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II between 1900 and 1908, built on the genuine foundations but designed to project an idealised, romantic vision of a medieval castle rather than to precisely recreate the original. It’s an impressive site either way, just worth knowing you’re looking at early-20th-century craftsmanship as much as medieval stonework.
What is Reibekuchen, tasted on the Cologne walking tour?
It’s a savoury potato pancake, grated potato mixed with onion and egg, fried until crisp and golden, and traditionally served with apple sauce or a simple bread and butter on the side. It’s a popular street food across the Rhineland rather than something unique to Cologne specifically, but it’s exactly the sort of thing that’s easy to miss if you’re not pointed toward it, which is part of the appeal of having it built into the day.
What's in the Bartholdi Museum in Colmar?
It’s housed in the childhood home of Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor behind the Statue of Liberty, and it holds original models, sketches and smaller-scale studies he made while developing that statue and his other public works. Since Bartholdi was born and grew up in Colmar, the museum offers a more personal, small-scale look at the process behind a monument most people only ever see from a distance in New York.
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