Rhine River Cruises

Few journeys tell a story quite like a Rhine river cruise. From the moment you sail out of Amsterdam into a flat patchwork of windmills and waterways, the landscape transforms around you, the gorge narrows, fairy-tale castles rise from forested crags, and vine-terraced hillsides tumble down to the water's edge. Whether you're drawn by the romance of the Middle Rhine, the grandeur of Cologne's cathedral, the elegance of Strasbourg or the magic of a German Christmas market, a Rhine river cruise holiday delivers Europe at its most vivid and unhurried.

Rising in the Swiss Alps and flowing nearly 800 miles to the North Sea, the Rhine passes through some of the most storied scenery in Europe. Rhine river cruises typically sail the river's most spectacular middle and lower reaches - a route that takes in Germany's great cathedral cities, the wine villages of the Rheingau and Alsace, and the cosmopolitan energy of Amsterdam and Rotterdam at either end.

The undisputed highlight is the Rhine Gorge, a 65-kilometre stretch between Bingen and Koblenz that is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. More than 40 castles and fortresses line the cliffs here, and the legendary Lorelei Rock, from which sirens were said to have lured sailors to their fate, rises sheer from the river. No Rhine cruise is complete without sailing this extraordinary passage, ideally with a glass of local Riesling in hand.