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Arrive in Breisach this morning, gateway to the Black Forest. Take a scenic excursion through the area’s renowned mountain landscape, rolling meadows and dense forests. Once there, visit a local workshop and see a cuckoo clock-making demonstration. Return to Breisach or choose an optional excursion to the quaint Alsatian town of Colmar. This morning the included shore excursion is a tour of the 13th century Heidelberg Castle. The neighborhood leading up to the castle is lovely.
How River Cruises Differ vs. Ocean Cruises
From here it is a short walk to the historic district and Dam Square. Then, make your way to a Amsterdam canal boat tour. Dress is casual in the day; dressy-casual at night. Men and women should have knees and shoulders covered. And, at many sites only small purses and bags are allowed.
Night Europe - Northern CruiseDetails
We chose to tour Marksburg Castle (there are many tour options to choose from every day) which is one of the few remaining castles on the Rhine that has remained intact. We took a short bus drive up a winding road to the top of a hill and were met with this spectacular view! There are optional tours this day including a walking tour of Koblenz so you’ll have to decide which one works best for you. We dock this morning in Kehl and disembark for a guided tour of Strasbourg.
Strasbourg, France
After looking back on the incredible memories made with Viking, I’m tempted to go book another river cruise right now! You can save money and get perks when you book with CruiseDirect. Most commonly, cruises from Amsterdam go to exciting destinations such as Transatlantic, Europe - British Isles & Western, Europe - All, World Cruise, and Baltic Sea. For any cruises listed, Cruise Critic does not guarantee any specific rates or prices. In addition, average cruise prices are updated nightly.
The entire ship is airy and light-filled and despite it being a small river ship, it feels more spacious and open than some large cruise ships. Note – a couple others from the cruise did the optional dinner excursion on this day and raved about it. I highly recommend visiting this quaint medieval town.
You will stop at Cochem, the prettiest town on the Moselle, where the old town is filled with half-timbered houses. Perched on a 300-foot promontory is Cochem Castle, the highest fortress on the Moselle which dates back more than 1,000 years. To see Cochem from another perspective you can take a guided bike tour along the riverbank or join an evening excursion celebrating the wine, music and legends of the Moselle. Continue along the Rhine this morning; arrive in Cologne and disembark for a walking tour.
The ship has two dining areas and this is the more casual Aquavit lounge with seating inside and out on the front (or the bow) of the ship. The afternoon was spent on board taking in the scenery as we cruised along the Rhine. We sailed on the Hlin (pronounced “Lynn) on the 8 day Rhine River Cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland (they do the same tour in the opposite direction too). Want to know if a Viking River Cruise is right for you?
Night Grand European TourDetails
We found Basel to be delightful, we did some walking tours on our own. They have an excellent Tourist Information Center that I contacted ahead of time. When we arrived to the ship for the cruise, they were doing an unplanned walking tour of Basel and we did that, too.There was a Black Forest included excursion which was nice. I don't recall what the optional excursion was but we walked into and around the cute town of Breisach. The included tour of Strasbourg was a few hours and quite good. There was a couple optional tours (one I think was to Colmar) but we enjoyed more time in Strasbourg.
Destinations
No way to get to sights without the bus or a taxi on that tour. So, we did all the included excursions, and many of the optional ones. I think we saw more by using their excursions (some of them were pretty far from the city we were docked at) than we would have on our own. But if you just want to sit and have a leisurely coffee, by all means skip the optional excursions. Bottom line is I don't think we could have easily duplicated the optionals on our own. PS there is nothing to do on the ship, if you stay there.
Viking River Cruise: Review - Air Mail
Viking River Cruise: Review.
Posted: Sat, 04 Dec 2021 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Stroll the pedestrian-only Drosselgasse; sample local wines at a quaint restaurant. Sail past hilltop castles along the Middle Rhine, a UNESCO Site, and look for Lorelei Rock. Stroll through Cologne’s Old Town and see the city’s famed Gothic cathedral, a UNESCO Site.
We did all of the included excursions and none of the optional tours. We found the optional cruises to be quite expensive and we were able to do most on our own. We also extended our trip on both ends and booked and handled that on our own. I do recommend arriving to Europe at least a few days before your cruise to get over jet lag a bit. What I did was to do some research into all the cities the cruise stops at so I had about a half a day of activities we could do on our own. We got to Basel a couple days before the start of the cruise.
This stretch of the Rhine is filled with castles perched high in the hills. There are tons of castles on both sides of the river. We loved getting to know the friendly crew including Captain Wim, Sara our Program Director, and Mohamed (or Mo as everyone called him) the Hotel Manager. They mixed and mingled with the guests and one morning when we found the Captain sitting alone at breakfast in the main dining room, we joined him and had a great time chatting. Our ship had a prime location with a spectacular view of the bridge and the cathedral!
Continue with a walking tour through Old Town to Heidelberg’s renowned gates. More days means more to discover, with extension packages you can add before or after your Viking cruise or cruisetour. Keep in mind that the boat docks at each location dependent upon the season...busy dates (summer) are docked further out, fall, closer to the location. For our November trip we were docked within walking distance to EVERY single town. We even walked back to the ship when we needed to use the restroom. For our July trip, we were docked MUCH further away and docked side by side with other boats so that we literally had to cross each boat to get to shore.
You aren't required to do any excursion, optional or not. Without knowing exactly what each of the optional excursions are, I can't say whether you could do them independently or not. The only town that was a bit more complicated to explore on our own was Strasbourg. My recollection is that all we needed to do was take the city bus. Late in the day, we returned to the ship where it was docked next to a boardwalk and city park.
Cruise through the morning as you enjoy breakfast and the passing scenery. Arrive in Mannheim and disembark for a tour of Heidelberg to see Germany’s oldest university, founded in 1386. Then, visit the beautiful sandstone ruins of imposing Heidelberg Castle and take in the scenery of the Neckar River Valley and the city’s many red rooftops from this hilltop post.
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