Contact one of our Tour Specialists for more information. Offer valid on new bookings only. Savings vary per cabin category on select river cruises. Cannot be combined with any other offer, promotion or discount. Capacity controlled and may be removed at any time without notice. Certain restrictions may apply; ask at time of booking.
Follow the romantic Rhine River on its winding journey through Central Europe, taking in the sights, history and culture of Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands and France, as your riverboat glides along the river.Experience medieval winetowns, cathedrals, castles, museums, and river landscapes of the kind that inspired JMW Turner and Richard Wagner. Enjoy a two-night stay at a luxury hotel in Bern, with a choice of a city tour or a trip up to the Jungfraujoch in the Alps, and an idyll in Lucerne; sail from Basel with visits to Colmar, Baden-Baden, Rudesheim and Cologne... a Tauck Exclusive evening of dinner and music at Schloss Ehreshoven... a visit to the windmills of Kinderdijk, and exploration of Amsterdam including a canal boat tour along the city's historic waterways.
Tour begins: 6:30 PM. A transfer is included from Zurich Airport or the train station (Zürich Hauptbahnhof) to the Bellevue Palace Bern in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, which is surrounded by the Aare River and distant Alpine peaks. Your two-night stay is at an historic luxury hotel favored by celebrities and heads of state, and featured in master spy novelist John LeCarré's spy novels. Join us this evening for a welcome reception and dinner.
You have a choice of sightseeing adventures today. Head for the snow-capped mountains on a full-day's excursion to Jungfraujoch, known as the "Top of Europe." Drive to the village of Lauterbrunnen for a train ride to Kleine Scheidegg, then board a cogwheel train for the scenic climb to Jungfraujoch, highest railway station in Europe; here you'll find a restaurant, observatory, research station, a gallery of ice sculpture, and breathtaking views of the glacier-clad Bernese Alps. Alternatively, explore the eclectic charms of Bern on a walking tour – with a focus on chocolate! Bern played a key role in the commercial world of chocolate, with residents such as Lindt, Tobler and Bloch – and chocolate tasting is included. Sights on your walking tour include open-air markets and cozy underground bars, the Parliament Building, the Gothic cathedral, a bear park (in honor of the town's symbol and mascot), a house where Einstein lived and wrote his "Theory of Relativity," and the Zytglogge, a 16th-century astronomical clock featuring animated figures. Spend the evening as you please; the vibrant nightlife includes trendy clubs and restaurants, and a grand casino.
Arrive in Karlsruhe this morning and depart by coach to the spa town of Baden-Baden where curative waters and an air of olde-world luxury have attracted royals, the rich and many celebrities over the years. The Black Forest town boasts grand colonnaded buildings and whimsically turreted art nouveau villas spread across the hillsides framed by forested mountains. You'll enjoy a choice of three excursions in this grand dame of a German spa town that includes a guided walking tour, an opportunity to visit Caracella Spa with indoor and outdoor thermal baths, a rock grotto with hot and cold water, Roman sauna, steam bath and more, or a biking excursion to Karlsruhe, where you'll explore the surrounding areas of interest riding past lush woodlands that stretch out along the flat Rhine valley, highlighted by views of the baroque palace and its spectacular gardens. Return to the ship late afternoon for social hour in the lounge followed by dinner and musical entertainment onboard.
Depart Bonn this morning for a short cruise to Köln (Cologne). One of Germany's oldest cities (founded in the 1st Century AD), Köln was once a Roman provincial capital, and later a fabulously wealthy medieval trading port; the city was almost totally destroyed during World War II, but many of its architectural treasures have been restored, including the towering Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) – a twin-spired masterpiece of High Gothic architecture – which you'll visit today, along with the nearby Roman Germanic Museum. Enjoy a choice of excursions during your adventures around the city; one highlights the historical architecture of the city by coach; the other brings you on a walking tour focusing on the city's Jewish heritage including a visit to the National Socialist Documentation Center Museum. Return to the ship for lunch. Drive to Engelskirchen for a visit to its neighboring castle, Schloss Ehreshoven. Built in the 14th century and later expanded in the style of a grand Baroque manor house, the estate is surrounded by a moat, landscaped gardens, and a castle park. Schloss Ehreshoven is frequently used as a film location but this evening it's the elegant setting for a Tauck Exclusive cocktail reception and dinner with entertainment. Later this evening, cruise the lowlands of the Rhine en route to Dordrecht in the Netherlands.
Your riverboat arrives this morning in Dordrecht, a wealthy trading port in the Middle Ages, for an excursion that offers insights into windmills and their ubiquitous role in Dutch life... a visit to the village of Kinderdijk (Child's Dyke), where the flat landscape, crisscrossed with canals, presents the largest concentration of historic windmills in The Netherlands – which you can choose to explore on a walking tour and a boat ride, or on a two-hour bicycle excursion. The 19 windmills, most of them built in the 18th century, are national monuments; for centuries, their massive wind-driven mechanisms have been used to pump water out of the polder and into reservoirs and canals, reclaiming land from the river. Such ingenious methods of water management have enabled a country that is almost fifty percent below sea level to exist at all, lending weight to the local saying, "God created the Earth, but the Dutch created Holland." Return to the riverboat late afternoon and sail to Amsterdam.
Tour ends: Amsterdam. Fly home anytime; a transfer from your riverboat to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport or Central Train Station is included. Allow a minimum of three hours for flight check-in at the airport. For additional nights in Amsterdam, ask at booking.
Follow the romantic Rhine River on its winding journey through Central Europe, taking in the sights, history and culture of Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands and France, as your riverboat glides along the river.Experience medieval winetowns, cathedrals, castles, museums, and river landscapes of the kind that inspired JMW Turner and Richard Wagner. Enjoy a two-night stay at a luxury hotel in Bern, with a choice of a city tour or a trip up to the Jungfraujoch in the Alps, and an idyll in Lucerne; sail from Basel with visits to Colmar, Baden-Baden, Rudesheim and Cologne... a Tauck Exclusive evening of dinner and music at Schloss Ehreshoven... a visit to the windmills of Kinderdijk, and exploration of Amsterdam including a canal boat tour along the city's historic waterways.
The Tauck experience was everything we expected it to be. We also appreciated the warm reception as their first cruise on the Danube since the Covid shutdown. Their professional staff navigated the travel restrictions as we moved from country to country and overall elimated those worries for us. Their were 52 (of a possible 130) passengers on board so to say we were given VIP treatment is an understatement. We loved the crew on board the MS Joy as well as the talented Cruise Director and Tour Directors. The experience that they created for us is the reason why we will continue to travel with Tauck and recommend them to others. On a negative note, I was disappointed in the hotel selection in Prague. The InterContinental where we had originally been booked was under renovation. We were shifted to the Hilton which was average at best. Additionally as a Category 7 traveler, we were put in a standard room. Other Category 7 travelers were upgraded to the premium floors which I found irritating.
Once you take a Tauck tour, you'll never go with another Operator. The Tauck experience was incredible and totally worth the money. Can't think of one thing to complain about or would change.
Enjoyed all aspects of the Tauck Cruise.
It is wonderful to have every detail taken care of with a smile on the face of the staff.
Tauck is always an outstanding experience.
While watching a video on the history of Tauck during a coach ride portion of this tour, I was surprised to find out that this company pioneered land tours in North America, and was the first to offer European river cruises. Tauck takes care of even the smallest details, from tipping local guides to providing us with coins to use restrooms during walking tours of the various cities we visited. WiFi onboard is complimentary -- something even NatGeo doesn\'t offer on their cruises. And, an open bar to boot, where I ordered the most exotic cocktails and kept the bartenders grinning and guessing as to their ingredients. Our arrivals at hotels in separate coaches on land portions of the tour were coordinated beforehand with our rooms and luggage, so that we did not have to spend any time standing in large gatherings in the hotel lobby waiting for rooms to be assigned and room keys slowly doled out as in other tours. As we off boarded our coaches, we were handed our room keys and were able to proceed immediately to our rooms, with our luggage delivered soon thereafter. Each hotel stay was fabulous and impressive -- four stars all the way. Live orchestral music gave our dining experiences a truly special touch.
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We had a marvelous trip. Tauck thinks of everything!!