Offered by Viking River Cruises, the Rhine Getaway cruise begins in Amsterdam, Holland, and follows the Rhine into Switzerland. You will board this eight-day cruise in Amsterdam. Before setting sail, you can explore the city, perhaps visiting the Anne Frank House. The next day, you will stop in Kinderdijk in the Netherlands, where you can learn about windmills on land and enjoy Dutch cuisine aboard the ship. Next, in Cologne, Germany, you will visit Old Town, St. Martin's Church and the Gothic cathedral Dom. On the way to Rudesheim, Germany, you will visit the 700-year-old Marksburg Castle. In Rudesheim, you can explore the city on your own. While in Germany, you'll spend time in Speyer, where you can tour Heidelberg Castle in Heidelberg. Your next stop is France, where a guide takes you on a tour of Strasbourg. Day 7 brings you to Breisach and the Black Forest. Your cruise ends in Basel, Switzerland, where you can take in the Swiss Alps and Lake Lucerne.
Avalon Waterways' Romantic Rhine river cruise begins in Basel, Switzerland. For your first port of call, you'll dock in Strasbourg, France. A guide will take you to a Gothic cathedral, Place Kleber and Place Gutenberg. The next day, the ship stops in the university town of Heidelberg, Germany, where you will visit the red-sandstone Heidelberg Castle. On the bank of the Rhine, you will stop in Mainz, Germany, where you will visit the Gutenberg Museum. The it's on to Rudesheim, where you can shop and visit a museum. While traveling from Rudeshiem to Koblenz, you will see castles dotting the hills and the rock of Lorelei. In Cologne, Germany, you can shop, sample the local beer and visit Gothic cathedrals. Your cruise ends in Amsterdam, Holland, where you can visit art museums, take in the architecture or tour the city on a canal boat.
The Rhine Holiday Markets cruise offered by Uniworld Boutique River Cruises Collection takes you along the Rhine to visit Christmas markets and experience the holiday traditions of other countries. Your cruise begins in mid-December (Dec. 13 for the 2010 cruise) in Cologne, Germany, which offers five Christmas markets to explore. On your way to Koblenz, you'll take in hillside castles and the Lorelei rock. In Koblenz, you'll enjoy a walking tour and a Christmas market. In the next port of call, Mainz, explore a Christmas market outside of St. Martin's Cathedral. In the afternoon, you'll travel to Rudesheim to visit a musical museum. The next day, explore the Christmas market in Heidelberg and its Christmas Pyramid and carousel. In Strasbourg, France, you'll enjoy another Christmas market and a canal cruise. Your cruise ends in Switzerland's second-largest city of Basel, where you'll go on a walking tour of the city and visit the Christmas market.
