Rhine Getaway Amsterdam to Basel by Viking Cruises with 1 Tour Review
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This was my least favorite day of the cruise, mainly because we only had a few hours in both Speyer and Rüdesheim. I feel like we did get to see slightly more of the former than the latter, but both stops were rushed. Get our free guide to eating like a local when you travel. Buy us a coffee if you want to support our ongoing efforts. Some updates are major while others are minor link changes and spelling corrections. Clearly, we loved a lot more about the Rhine cruise than we didn’t love.
Day 6: Cologne (Köln) 🇩🇪
More days means more to discover, with extension packages you can add before or after your Viking cruise or cruisetour. You’ll have to make this decision for yourself, but beer and wine are included with each meal even if you don’t purchase the unlimited drink package. I did the math, and you’d basically have to drink two additional cocktails each day (outside of lunch and dinner) to make the package worthwhile. I enjoy drinking to be sure, but I would typically have wine with my meals and limit myself to one cocktail per day. My total bar tab came out to be about 90 euro for the entire trip. At this point in the cruise, the Rhine starts to become much more scenic.
Basel River Cruises
We even learned how to toast like a local during this fun pub crawl. As we learned over dinner at a brauhaus that dates back to 1858, Cologne locals never eat while drinking. As an extra bonus, we loved unpacking our bags and feeling ‘at home’ during the length of the Viking Rhine River cruise. Since we use packing cubes when we travel, it only took us a few minutes to settle into the room and start enjoying the cruise. Stroll the pedestrian-only Drosselgasse; sample local wines at a quaint restaurant.
Speyer
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Take a journey along Amsterdam’s network of canals or perhaps browse one of the city’s museums.
Viking allowed us to board the Hermod in the early afternoon, which gave us plenty of time to get acquainted with the layout of the ship. Our first dinner was served, and finally we were off in the early evening. We passed through our first of many river locks on this night, which is one of the most noteworthy aspects of a Rhine River cruise. This cruise began in Basel, a quaint little town in Switzerland right on the border of both Germany and France. If you can spend a day or two in Basel before your cruise, I highly recommend it. We booked a walking tour with a local guide (independent of Viking), and I’m really glad we did.
Since launching the site in 2012, they’ve traveled to over 40 countries in their quest to bring readers a unique taste of the world. For us, it was the picnic-style lunch at Oenosphère where we sampled excellent local wines from nearby vineyards along with an assortment of amazing French cheeses and charcuterie. We were pleased to get our first taste of Strasbourg during this full-day excursion which served as an introduction for our future stay in the fairytale Alsatian city in France. As part of Viking’s generous offer, we were able to select a European riverboat cruise that appealed to us. After pouring over the many options for cruises in Europe outlined on the Viking website and studying the photos and videos, we ended up selecting the Rhineland Discovery cruise.
Cruises from Amsterdam to Basel
Despite this, the Viking Hermod had a beautifully designed interior. The atrium and dining room were both warm and inviting spaces. The lounge and front terraces were comfortable places to sit, relax, or sip a drink.
Christmas on the Rhine & Moselle
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They also have a permanent menu that includes classics like Caesar salad, steak, and burgers, but I ordered most of my meals from their rotating menu. The meals on our Viking Cruise were consistently amazing! I really looked forward to coming back on board after each excursion or tour to enjoy whatever was being served that day. If you have extra time and want to walk around the town, feel free to. But if you don’t have time or want to rest on the ship instead, you probably won’t miss out on too much.
Take a journey along Amsterdam’s network of canals or browse one of the city’s museums. Immerse yourself in the spirit of Christmas as you journey through storybook villages. Sample tasty yuletide treats and regional delicacies as you browse colorful stalls for handcrafted ornaments and unique gifts. Admire the twinkling lights of Cologne and revel in the merry atmosphere of the Rhine Valley, as storefront displays, wine cellars and markets embrace the holiday season.
Sure, Viking is reputed to have some of the world’s best river cruises and the Viking Rhine river cruise sounds wonderful. We share our thoughts in the following Viking River Cruise review. You can also buy a bottle of wine or liquor off the ship and bring it on board a Viking ship. You can ask the restaurant to chill your wine and serve it to you at dinner. We have often purchased wine during a winery tour and brought that back with us.
We toasted and drank hearty, dark Kostrizer beers as we sailed along the Middle Rhine River streaming by the famous Lorelei rock and oh-so-many castles. We were so inspired by the fabulous views and tasty beers that we plan to return and spend one week in the Rhine Valley so that we can explore the area more fully. We mainly chose the Rhineland Discovery cruise for the opportunity to cruise the Rhine and see Rhine River castles sprinkled along its verdant shore. Despite some cloudy and rainy weather, the view did not disappoint.
Stay current with special offers, news and destination-focused content. Cruise Critic is not a booking agent and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Rates are in USD and valid for US and Canadian residents only. When you book with one of our partners, please be sure to check their site for a full disclosure of all applicable fees as required by the U.S. Also, as well as the unlimited complimentary beer/wine at lunch & dinner there are other occasions drinks are served, including cocktails at the Viking Explorers function. This used to be restricted to people who'd cruised before but now there's so many it's open to everyone.
This 8-day voyage is a joyful celebration of festive cheer. In the Netherlands, the Rhine (or Waal) has a rural vibe to it. We passed cows cooling off in the shallow riverbanks, a few small Dutch villages, and not much else until we approached Amsterdam. The Lower Rhine is not as industrial as the Upper Rhine, and it’s not as picturesque as the Middle Rhine.
I am trying to sort out port transportation provided by Viking when docking isn't within walking distant to town/city. A city of charming canals, elegant gabled houses, splendid museums and abundant bicycles, the Dutch capital of Amsterdam is a delight to explore. Its patchwork of waterways forms about 90 islands connected by 1,500 bridges. Discovering Amsterdam is a pleasure best pursued on foot; visitors line the tranquil canals and linger over Dutch pancakes, or take a stroopwafel to go.
Beautiful villages and vineyards can be seen in all directions. Rüdesheim is a touristy town known for its wineries and historic center, called the Drosselgasse. Viking doesn’t offer an included tour here, so I explored on my own.
Does this mean that we’ve crossed over to being cruise people? Well, we wouldn’t go that far, but we’re very open to taking another cruise to help us with that transition. Seriously, the castles just kept coming as we lounged on the wide-open sundeck of our longship.
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