Day 1Basel
Welcome to Basel. We will meet you at the airport and transfer you to your ship.* After boarding, enjoy free time and get acquainted with the city. (D)
Day 2Basel
After breakfast, join a tour of this multicultural city. See its historic Middle Bridge, cathedral and steep winding streets. Then, tour one of the city’s many art museums. Enjoy afternoon free time. Lunch and dinner are served aboard. (B, L, D)
Day 3Basel & Breisach
This morning, arrive in Breisach, gateway to the Black Forest. After breakfast, enjoy a motorcoach excursion through the area’s mountain landscape, meadows and dense forests and see a cuckoo clock-making demonstration. You have free time this afternoon. Or, join our optional guided walking tour of Colmar, a quaint Alsatian town. Dine aboard and dock overnight. (B, L, D)
Day 4Strasbourg
After breakfast take a guided tour of Strasbourg. See the Place d’Austerlitz and European Parliament, and enjoy a guided visit inside the city’s famed cathedral. Free time allows you to further explore the old section of this French-German city. Dinner aboard; cruise through the night. (B, L, D)
Day 5Heidelberg & Rüdesheim
After breakfast, take a motorcoach to Heidelberg, home to Germany’s oldest university founded in 1386. Your guided tour features imposing Heidelberg Castle, a red sandstone ruin overlooking the Neckar River. Continue with a walking tour through the Old Town and marketplace. Return to your ship for afternoon cruising. Lunch and dinner aboard. Dock late in Rüdesheim. Enjoy free time to stroll along the Drosselgasse, a pedestrian-only street lined with restaurants, bars and shops. Dock overnight. (B, L, D)
Day 6Rüdesheim, Braubach & Koblenz
After breakfast, take a mini-train to tour Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Museum. Following free time, eat lunch aboard as you cruise through the afternoon past legendary Lorelei Rock. This afternoon, visit 700-year-old Marksburg Castle and tour its museum. Return to your ship in Koblenz, at the intersection of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers. You have free time before dinner aboard. Sail this evening to Cochem. (B, L, D)
Day 7Cochem
After breakfast, take a walking tour through this quaint village. See its medieval town gate and marketplace. Then, visit a winery and taste some local vintages. Return to your ship for lunch; cruise through the afternoon, arriving in Cologne tonight. Enjoy free time; remain docked overnight. (B, L, D)
Day 8Cologne
After breakfast, your walking tour takes you past St. Martin’s Church to Cologne’s Old Town. Your guided tour visits the magnificent Gothic cathedral. Then tour a local brewery and sample the beer. Lunch and dinner are served aboard, but dockside there are many taverns, cafés and shops for you to explore. Depart late tonight. (B, L, D)
Day 9Arnhem
Arrive during breakfast in Arnhem and join a motorcoach excursion to the Dutch Royal Family’s former summer residence, Paleis Het Loo.† Tour the palace’s lavish rooms; then stroll through the picture-perfect gardens fashioned after those of Versailles. (B, L, D)
†Closed on Mondays; battlefield visit or museum tour will be substituted.
Day 10Amsterdam
This morning, enjoy a glass-topped canal cruise past merchant houses and the famed “Skinny Bridge.” Visit the Van Gogh Museum and explore works by the famed artist and his contemporaries. Enjoy free time. Lunch and dinner are aboard. Dock overnight. (B, L, D)
Day 11Gouda & Rotterdam
After breakfast, take a motorcoach to Hoogerwaard Cheese Farm† for a guided tour and cheese-making demonstration. Continue to Gouda, world-renowned for its cheese. See the Gothic Town Hall and St. John’s Church. Return to your ship in Schoonhoven and eat lunch aboard. Enjoy afternoon free time. Sail through dinner to Rotterdam. (B, L, D)
†On Sundays, Cheese Farm will be replaced by a Kinderdijk Windmills tour.
Day 12Delft
From Rotterdam, take a motorcoach to Delft, famous for its blue-and-white pottery. Stop at one of the last Delftware factories for a pottery demonstration. Then, see the Nieuwe Kerk and the Prinsenhof on your guided tour. Return to your ship to cruise through the evening, arriving late in Ghent. Lunch and dinner aboard. (B, L, D)
Day 13Brugge
Take a motorcoach tour to Brugge. See the medieval Béguinage courtyard and gardens, the Church of Our Lady, Gruuthuuze Palace and Simon Stevin Square. Enjoy a Belgian meal in a local restaurant, followed by free time. After dinner aboard, your evening is at leisure. Depart this evening, arriving in Antwerp at midnight. (B, L, D)
Day 14Antwerp
This morning, you tour Antwerp. See Our Lady Cathedral, the Town Hall and Steen Castle. Then, visit the Rubens Museum, filled with works by Peter Paul Rubens. After lunch aboard, the rest of your day is free. Stay docked overnight. (B, L, D)
Day 15Antwerp
After breakfast, disembark and we will take you to the Brussels airport for your return flight.* (B)