Cruising down the Rhine River - Switzerland, Germany, France, & the Netherlands - 2025

Last fall, I had the pleasure to take a river cruise down the Rhine (technically, we went north, but it was downstream so I’ll say down). We started in Basel, Switzerland, going through France, Germany, and ending in Amsterdam. This is the route that many newbies to river cruises like to start with, because it is the river that has over 40 castles in a 40 mile stretch. It was great to sit and watch as they passed by, with a delicious hot chocolate or two in hand.

I was on AmaWaterways, one of the many river cruise operators I’m able to book, and I really enjoyed the food served especially - it was gourmet but not so fancy as to be unrecognizable! The staterooms were really spacious as well, as spacious as they can be anyways. I didn’t feel cramped and the bathroom had enough space to move around without touching the walls. My favorite aspect of the ship was how quickly the crew learned my name and preferences. From the housekeeping staff, all the way to the cruise director, by the end it seemed like we were all friends.

I enjoyed the excursions I took - I did 2 biking tours: one of the city of Strasbourg and one in the country. They were not strenuous (to me) by any means, someone with a reasonable level of fitness could do them no problem. I enjoyed the different look they provided. A hidden gem was stopping in Rudesheim and seeing Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Museum, a treasure trove of player pianos and other self-playing mechanical musical instruments. We got several demonstrations of some of the items there, including a 40 piece band and a piano with 6 violins.

Something I noted on the cruise was the cost basically evened out or was less than what I would have spent to go to the same cities on land. All my meals were provided on the ship (unless I wanted to eat out) and excursions were included. My transportation between cities was the ship and it was like a 4 star hotel where I didn’t have to unpack and pack my bag daily, and it was a much more relaxing experience than navigating planes, trains, and automobiles! I would definitely recommend a river cruise to anyone!

Photo credits: me, Kara B!