The Rhine: is one direction better than the other?

We are thinking of a cruise on the Rhine this summer - and am wondering if There is a preferred direction and if so, why.

I am currently looking at Uniworld, AMA or Tauck. We have cruised the Danube with AMA including pre and post tours and taken the Uniworld tour of China & Tibet with Uniworld and we were happy with both vacations. My cousins swear by their Tauck tours so I've thrown them into the mix as well. Any comments on the Rhine tours with the pre and post tours included or not are welcomed! I have been to Amsterdam but my DH has not. Neither of us has been to Basel/Zurich/Lucerne.

Thanks !

It's a great itinerary and people seem to like it in either direction. We did it with AMA from Amsterdam to Basel plus their extension to Lucerne and Zurich. Here are some reasons I found that direction to work well: flights to Amsterdam are plentiful and slightly shorter [after having a dreadful succession of delayed flights on our current trip to Cape Town, I really appreciate non-stop flights and a schedule with several later flights in case they cancel yours]; Amsterdam is an easy city to get around during your pre-day(s) while you recover from jet lag; going upstream means the ship sails slower through the scenic Rhine Castles segment; Lucerne and Zurich are the most 'foreign' places on this tour [iMHO as a non-German speaker] but by then you are ready to keep stretching your comfort zone. The biggest advice I can give on this itinerary is: make sure you get to Lucerne! It is beautiful.

From what past cruisers have written I tend to think that upstream is slightly more preferable as regards stretches of river that you see and sights. It appears to be more of a highlight getting to Basel at the end rather than Amsterdam. But not having done it myself I can only assume this from past comments of others. But the itinerary is a great and easy one to appreciate. As regards the Rhine gorge: while it is correct that ships go much slower upstream than downstream the river stretch with the castle has "heavy" river traffic and is narrow so ships tend to not go at full speed. In any case, ships are so slow that castles do not "whiz past", as you know from the Danube. The maximum speed I have read is 24km, but tends to between 10 and 12 knots depending on ship type, 12 knots being 22.2km.

Last year a cruiser asked the community a question about an excursion on their upcoming Rhine cruise (they sailed shortly after that) with Tauck. I was happy to answer that question and had a look at that itinerary and a few others of that company. I found them to be really interesting, partly because they differed from other companies' with a few exclusive excursions I had not read with anybody else. I would certainly consider them.

I assume you are going 8 days with pre- or post-cruise extension in mind? If you have a couple of days extra you could consider the Moselle for a 10-day Rhine and Moselle cruise. But you might want to leave that river for another time and do a Paris to Nuremberg cruise next. :)

I have never been to Amsterdam so cannot comment on that but I have felt that too much emphasis has been put on that city in recent years and with overcrowding taking its toll there I would consider not staying long there and doing a pre- or post-cruise extension to Brussels or other towns in those two countries. Even a trip to London (organized by the company or DIY) is feasible with a high-speed train. I love trains and have done that journey a couple of times from Brussels so just had to through that into the mix of suggestions. :D

If you have a choice of dates do look at public holidays and school holidays in Europe to see if one week is better than another: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2505120

Uniworld stopped actually in the Rhine gorge at Boppard on their Rhine itinerary and jpalbny wrote a great review available through the info below their signature in posts.

Have fun planning.

notamermaid

It also depends on what day of the week a cruise departs, at least for us. Since we are still working, Uniworld's Sunday departures are great, as we can arrive a few days early, and only miss one day of work, in addition to our week off for the cruise.

Last year, we left Thursday evening, spent Friday and Saturday in Lucerne, then traveled to Basel to board the ship. At the end, we departed directly for the airport, in Amsterdam, on Sunday.

We preferred Lucerne to Amsterdam.

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We enjoyed Basel to Amsterdam. We visited additional towns and capped our vacation with additional days in Amsterdam which we loved. We were very happy with the rate of speed the boat passed the castles in the Rhine Gorge.

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Interesting answers for the OP, from you two. :) Especially you both travelling downstream. Got2Cruise, "additional towns", this reminds me for the OP to consider the direction also in terms of slight differences in itinerary going upstream or downstream. Spending a morning in one port or an afternoon in the same going the other direction may be a consideration. acwmom, being on a Sunday in one port might also be preferable to spending it in another port, apart from needing to consider work, which is never nice. I am always so relieved when my colleagues can agree to my holiday suggestions.

notamermaid

NOT speaking from experience, so take this with a grain of salt, but it's been mentioned on these boards that A to B, upstream, more time is spent cruising, and that B to A, downstream, more time spent in port.

In behalf of Amsterdam, having been there more than 7 times I still look forward to my next visit in the Fall. There are still parts of it I want to visit. It's conveniently located near other historic towns and sights easily accessible by bus or train. It is a delightful city, perhaps the most intact historic city in Europe, certainly the most intact 17th century city. For art, architecture and compact scenic walking it's hard to beat. There are a variety of neighborhoods and museums of varying quality. If your ship docks near the Centraal Station, you can walk into history almost immediately. As crowded and commercial as it has become, I still love vibrant, sometimes weird, Amsterdam.

Over crowded docking complaints have more to do with ships not docking in the center of the city thereby cutting off walking access into the historic areas.

I'm sorry that people who haven't been there offer opinions on it. There have been posts on this board lately from several people who have obviously not visited the sites they are writing about. I feel that it is unfair to the sites and potential travelers who read this thread.

Good to hear that you like Amsterdam so much, xmaser, I have acquaintances who share your view and clearly many other people love it. Hence the Amsterdamers complaining of overcrowding. I have been to Groningen in the Netherlands which appears to have a similar feel to Amsterdam from what people have described to me. One day I shall see Amsterdam for myself but it will not be in the near future. It is always good when repeat guests explore the lesser known parts of a popular city. When I go to Cologne these days I walk the minor streets for the same reason, tourists crowding the main arteries.

notamermaid

I am currently in Amsterdam. We just finished the B-A cruise yesterday and are doing 3 days post cruise here independently. Basel was a nice little historic town to recover from jet lag so here in Amsterdam we were ready to roll. It’s a wonderful city to walk, see museums and eat at many of the outdoor cafes. Friends we are with did Lucerne pre cruise and said it was spectacular! I’m sure you will enjoy it either direction!

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Thank you so much for all of the thoughtful replies! I will look carefully at the port stops to see whether upstream or downstream is more important to us. Also, with last minute availability, we may not have too much choice, so it is reassuring to know it will be great, either direction.

We are retired, so the workdays missed is not an issue for us anymore. I have been to Amsterdam once for almost a week (stayed b & b outside of town by myself when my ex SIL bagged out of our planned trip together on the day before I left (but that's a different story...) and 2 years ago, visited again, unintentionally, just for the day when my airline badly handled a flight delay and my friend and I missed our connection to Nairobi and ended up with 10+ hrs of free time at the airport. We took a train into town from the airport, took a canal cruise tour, had lunch at a lovely little café with cappuchinos and wine and gourmet pizzas and found that salty black licorice that my friend loves, but I have to say is an acquired taste... Anyway, we lemons to lemonade for that flight although we missed the first night at our lovely hotel in Kenya and were wiped out for our first tour day, we survived it and the airline sent us some compensation. I will check on European holidays and Sundays in ports as well to see if we can plan around these as much as possible.

I am excited about a visit to Lucerne and will definitely book the pre/post package to get the most out of a few days in that area. DH wants to explore Amsterdam and I would like to take him to the Anne Frank House and the wonderful museum, as well as a spending time hanging out in cafes and walking along the canals.

Thanks for all of your great comments!

We are doing a Crystal, Basel to Amsterdam....Have been to Amsterdam, and will stay 2 extra nights at the end. We have not been to Switzerland in 11 trips to Europe, so we are spending 8 days prior to our Rhine cruise in Switzerland.

We have done both directions, just 18 months apart. Differences were slight and I wouldn't base my decision on that. Make your choice based on your flight, perhaps. Some people like to fly non stop into the start city to avoid the stress of a misconnect. Some people like to fly non-stop going home because... they're just ready to get home. We had more time in Amsterdam by ending there (without doing any sort of extension.) We didn't see much point benefit in ending in Basel so we didn't stick around. We had an early flight out of Zurich.

In June, we will start out in Basel and end in Vienna. Third Avalon in five years. Can't wait!

Just go with whatever fits your schedule best and don't fret about the other choice. It's going to be great, either way.

It was mentioned in another post, from Amsterdam to Basel you move with the weather. From Basel to Amsterdam you move through it.