AmaCerto - Europe's Rivers & Castles

Where this cruise calls, day by day

8 ports over 7 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Nuremberg

   GermanyDepart

   Nuremberg's berth is out on the Main-Danube Canal, a coach ride from anything worth seeing, so this is a tour day rather than a wander. The city carries two histories at once and does not hide either - the rebuilt imperial castle and Dürer's house on one hand, the rally grounds and the trials courtroom on the other.

   • The Kaiserburg castle and Albrecht Dürer's house below it
   • The Documentation Centre at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds and the unfinished Congress Hall
   • Memorium Nuremberg Trials and Courtroom 600
   • Hauptmarkt, the Schöner Brunnen fountain, and Lebkuchen and grilled Nürnberger sausages

   Getting ashore

   Ships moor at the canal port outside the city, roughly a twenty to thirty minute coach transfer from the old town.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Dec for the Christkindlesmarkt, the market other markets copy

2. Day 2

   Bamberg

   GermanyPort

   Bamberg's old town spreads over the Regnitz with a painted town hall built on its own island mid-stream, but river vessels cannot reach it - they moor out on the Main-Danube Canal and you transfer in by coach. Once there it is a UNESCO site that came through the war almost untouched, and it brews a smoked beer that tastes convincingly of ham.

   • The Altes Rathaus standing on an island with frescoed walls
   • The four-towered cathedral and the Bamberg Horseman carving inside
   • Schlenkerla for Rauchbier, poured from the barrel
   • Klein-Venedig, the row of old fishermen's houses along the water

   Getting ashore

   The berth is on the Main-Danube Canal outside the centre, so expect a short coach shuttle rather than a walk off the gangway into town.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Dec for the Christmas market and nativity trail

3. Day 3

   Würzburg

   GermanyPort

   Würzburg is the capital of Franconian wine country and the Residenz is the showpiece - a prince-bishop's palace whose staircase is roofed by Tiepolo's fresco, the largest ceiling painting ever done. Ships moor on the Main promenade near the old bridge, which the town treats as an open-air bar: you buy a glass of Silvaner and drink it leaning on the parapet.

   • The Residenz, its Tiepolo staircase and mirror cabinet
   • Marienberg Fortress on the hill, reached by a climb through vineyards
   • A Brückenschoppen on the Alte Mainbrücke among the stone saints
   • Franconian Silvaner in flat Bocksbeutel bottles at the Juliusspital or Bürgerspital cellars

   Getting ashore

   The berth is on the Main quay near the Alter Kranen, five to ten minutes' walk from the old bridge and the Residenz.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; late May-Jun for the wine festivals

4. Day 4

   Wertheim

   GermanyPort

   Wertheim stands where the Tauber runs into the Main under a big ruined hilltop castle, and its historic trade was glass - the town museum still runs blowing demonstrations and the craft survives locally. The market square has a famously narrow leaning timber house, and a designer outlet village on the edge of town pulls a surprising share of passengers.

   • Burg Wertheim, the castle ruin above the town, with the Main and Tauber below
   • The Glasmuseum and its glassblowing demonstrations
   • The Spitzes Haus, the thin leaning timber house on the market square
   • Franconian wine from the Tauber valley, in the same flat Bocksbeutel bottles as Würzburg's

   Getting ashore

   Ships moor on the Main quay a few minutes' walk from the old town; there is no terminal and no tender.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct

5. Day 5

   Rüdesheim

   GermanyPort

   Rüdesheim is a Rheingau wine village that has fully committed to visitors: the Drosselgasse is a couple of hundred metres of tavern doorways and live music, and it is heaving by mid-afternoon. It also marks the mouth of the Rhine gorge, so most ships call here on either side of the castle run. Riesling is the local trade and it is genuinely good.

   • The Drosselgasse taverns and Rüdesheimer Kaffee, flamed with Asbach brandy
   • Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet, a house full of working automatic instruments
   • The vineyard cable car up to the Niederwald monument
   • The Rhine gorge run past the Loreley rock and the Mouse Tower

   Getting ashore

   The quay is a two-minute walk from the Drosselgasse, but Rüdesheim rafts hard in season - three vessels deep is normal, so you cross other ships to reach land.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Aug for the wine festival

6. Day 6

   Koblenz

   GermanyPort

   Koblenz sits at the Deutsches Eck, the wedge of land where the Moselle empties into the Rhine under a colossal equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I. It is the hinge between two river routes and the northern gate of the Rhine gorge, so a call here usually comes immediately before or after the castle stretch. A cable car crosses the river to the fortress above.

   • The Deutsches Eck confluence and the Kaiser Wilhelm monument
   • Seilbahn cable car over the Rhine to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress
   • The Baroque Electoral Palace and the Schängelbrunnen spitting-boy fountain
   • Sailing the Middle Rhine gorge south past Marksburg and the Loreley rock

   Getting ashore

   Vessels moor on the Rhine promenade at the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer or on the quieter Moselle bank, both a flat five to fifteen minute walk into the old town.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Aug for the Rhein in Flammen fireworks

7. Day 7

   Cochem

   GermanyPort

   A Moselle wine town under a castle that looks medieval and is not - the Reichsburg was bought as a ruin and rebuilt in the 1870s by a Berlin businessman, which the tour is upfront about. Vineyards rise behind the town on slopes steep enough to need rack monorails. Ships tie up on the promenade, a minute from the market square.

   • Reichsburg Cochem, up a steep twenty-minute walk or by shuttle bus
   • The Sesselbahn chairlift to the Pinnerkreuz for the river-loop view
   • Riesling tasting in the town's cellars and terraced Bremmer Calmont slopes nearby
   • The Cold War Bundesbank bunker, built to store emergency currency under the hillside

   Getting ashore

   Vessels moor directly on the town promenade with no terminal or tender; the square is a minute or two on foot.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; late Aug-Sep for the wine festival and harvest

8. Day 8

   Wasserbillig (Luxembourg City)

   LuxembourgArrive

   Wasserbillig is where the Sûre joins the Moselle on the German border, and it exists mostly as a strip of cheap fuel and tobacco for cross-border shoppers. Nobody lingers. It is the mooring for the run into Luxembourg City, half an hour southwest, where the old town stands on cliffs above a ravine and tunnels run through the rock beneath it.

   • The Bock casemates, tunnels dug through the cliff under Luxembourg City's old fortress
   • The Chemin de la Corniche walkway along the ramparts above the Alzette valley
   • The Grand Ducal Palace and Notre-Dame Cathedral in the upper town
   • The Luxembourg American Cemetery, where General Patton is buried

   Getting ashore

   Vessels moor at the small quay in Wasserbillig, which has nothing to offer; the day is a coach transfer of roughly 30km to Luxembourg City.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct