Onshore excursions

[Viajerosfelices]

Hello, my husband and I are risking a river cruise. I say risking because we are doing a 15 day grand european cruise.  I need help with these topics. From the point of disembarkment, more or less how far are the included tours? We are purchasing several and we don’t want to spend hours on the bus.  The Wachau winery is how long a ride? The otwn of Szentendren is how far away from where the cruise ship is? We just don’t want to waste so much time on a bus when we could be walking around the cities. Are these tours really well worth it? Can you recommend the ones that are really worth it? We just want a special first time river cruise and not experience all the horror stories I’ve read. Thank you! We will be on the may 27 Modi. 

[tashsmithvodafone]

Good question Viajerosfelices, I look forward to the answers as I will be doing the same cruise.

Also, is the Siegfried’s Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum in Rudesheim work looking at?  What else can you do in Rudesheim?

Thanks  🙂   

[tashsmithvodafone]

*worth

(not work)    

[gnome12]

7 minutes ago, tashsmithvodafone said:

Good question Viajerosfelices, I look forward to the answers as I will be doing the same cruise.

Also, is the Siegfried’s Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum in Rudesheim work looking at?  What else can you do in Rudesheim?

Thanks  🙂   

You can take the cable car up to the Germania monument, from which there is a lovely view over the vineyards and the Rhine. Otherwise, I found Rudesheim horribly touristy. (I didn't visit the museum.)

[Viajerosfelices]

We are doing viking river, grand european tour, and I didn’t see that town offered.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Siegfried’s Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum is kitschy – and wonderfully so!  We really enjoyed it.

[cruiselvr04]

I’m afraid there’s no easy answer for you.  We are doing the same river cruise, first time river cruise but lots of ocean cruises.

 

You need to invest some time reading reviews of the stops along the way and do some research.  For instance....we had thought about doing the “Top of Colonge”.  It gets great reviews.  However I looked at the city of Colonge and found the area near the dock to be quite walkable with lots of other interesting things to do.  Since time is short there we will instead visit a couple of museums. ( Chocolate anyone?)

 

On the other hand the Schobrunn palace is across the city in Vienna....we are not confident in our bus/tram navigation skills.  So we will go with Viking on that one. And in my reading I found about Sisi who was one of the Empresses who lived there.  We’re watching a mini series of sorts on her. Even with subtitles it’s keeping our interest.

 

 

in addition to that we’re also reading “ shoes on the Danube” and “Anne Frank’s diary “ again. I’m skimming thru “The Danube a cultural history “. And no we are not retired.  We just want to get the most from our trip.

 

Use trip advisor for reviews of cities along the way and top things to do. Use the search button here.  And read a wealth of info on some 90 pages from the roll call from 2018 for the grand European.   Or get books on the top 10 things to do in some of the major cities we will be visiting. Use google maps.

 

Good luck!

Edited February 27, 2019 by cruiselvr04

[knoxclone]

11 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Siegfried’s Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum is kitschy – and wonderfully so!  We really enjoyed it.

Agreed.  it was not what we expected, but we definitely enjoyed it. We did the little train ride as well and while it was not "culturally significant " we had a great time.

[Got2Cruise]

You’ll most likely have the opportunity to have some Rudesheim coffee. Take it. Yummy. Also Rudesheim has some cute Biergartens. Sit and enjoy. I don’t know how long your ship is docked but there is a path along the River to take a stroll or run. My hubby ran past a bridge destroyed during WWII and never repaired. 

[notamermaid]

13 hours ago, Viajerosfelices said:

We are doing viking river, grand european tour, and I didn’t see that town offered.

It looks indeed like you will not dock there. It is not clear from the description online, but I think you will sail through the gorge, not stopping before you reach the Main. The included excursion to Marksburg you can only do with Viking, not on your own logistically, I recommend the castle if you are reasonably fine with steps and uneven surfaces. Short time on a coach. The alternative tour of Koblenz is normally a walk and the ship docks at the old town. Some nice shops nearby. The alternative tour to Ehrenbreitstein might be on a coach if Viking wants to take you there up the hill. It is just across the river. You can do it on your own, take the cable car then you have no coach journey. Great for military history and the view over Deutsches Eck.

 

notamermaid

 

[Peregrina651]

15 hours ago, Viajerosfelices said:

Hello, my husband and I are risking a river cruise. I say risking because we are doing a 15 day grand european cruise.  I need help with these topics. From the point of disembarkment, more or less how far are the included tours? We are purchasing several and we don’t want to spend hours on the bus.  The Wachau winery is how long a ride? The otwn of Szentendren is how far away from where the cruise ship is? We just don’t want to waste so much time on a bus when we could be walking around the cities. Are these tours really well worth it? Can you recommend the ones that are really worth it? We just want a special first time river cruise and not experience all the horror stories I’ve read. Thank you! We will be on the may 27 Modi. 

 

Ditto what cruiselvr04 said. Use Google maps to judge distances. With a little help from satellite view and the map search nearby function you can figure out where the docks are. Then you can figure out where the various tours go and use the directions to figure out how far they are from the ship. Trip Advisor is also very helpful. Read about the places that tours will take you to decide if you are really interested in seeing these places. The more you research and read, the better prepared you will be.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Peregrina651

[OneSixtyToOne]

We were on the Modi in 2016 for the Grand European Tour and, as you, it was out first river cruise. We weren't sure what to expect but we had a marvelous time and have since taken two more Viking River Cruises. 

 

As far as excursions are concerned, one of may favorites was the Bruhl Palaces optional tour near Cologne.

http://loveisspeed.blogspot.com/2012/02/augustusburg-and-falkenlust-palaces.html

 

[Viajerosfelices]

Thank you all! Great suggestion with google map..