Global Resorts Blog Network

Suggest taking a cruise and most people will think of sailing the Atlantic, cruising the Greek islands and the balmy waters of the Mediterranean or the ultimate ambition of the Caribbean cruise.  But long before motorway networks, railways and air travel the rivers of Europe were the arteries of the continent.  Liquid freeways that facilitated commerce and travel for thousands of years.The Danube, the Don, the Volga, the Seine and even the Thames were alive with the traffic of commerce and tourism.

No European river is as steeped in this heritage as the Rhine.  Rhine river cruise are one of the best ways to enjoy the sights or not just one, but four European countries.A journey can begin in the sophisticated city of Amsterdam, with its canals and lively ambience and take you along the Upper Rhine to Cologne and Koblenz where the Rhine meets the Moselle and on to Strasbourg and Basel in Switzerland.

It’s in Germany though that the Rhine gains most of its tributaries and it’s here that the Middle Rhine flows through the stunning Rhine Gorge, travelling into Rhine country past wine villages like Rudesheim then to Mainz with the imposing Heidelberg Castle.  The Rhine Gorge must be one of the highlights of any luxury cruises on the Rhine with fairytale castles perched at intervals along the banks of the river.

Few River cruises can compete with the legends that surround the Rhine, such as the famous Lorelei Rock, or the Wagnerian epic of the Rhine Maidens and the Rhine Gold – the mysterious ring that Siegfried discovers pre-dating Tolkien by several decades.  The romance and mystery fades a bit when the Rhine enters its lower reaches around the Rhur and the major ports of Holland, but even so the Rhine remains one of the most romantic and rewarding waterways in Europe for a river cruise to remember.