The Rhine, Swiss Alps & Amsterdam - Southbound

Tour begins: 6:00 PM. A transfer is included from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport or the train station to your riverboat. Settle in, meet your riverboat crew for an orientation briefing, then join us this evening for the welcome reception which is followed by dinner.

This morning, embark on an Amsterdam orientation tour that includes a visit to the world-famous Rijksmuseum, home to many art masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age, including Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. Amsterdam is often called the "Venice of the North" for its elaborate network of canals that wind through a romantic historic center of cobbled streets and stunningly well-preserved Dutch Renaissance architecture. Following your Rijksmuseum visit, you'll boarding a canal boat for a cruise of the city from the inside, along 17th-century waterways lined with trees, gabled merchant houses and vibrant urban life (a great way to see it – including a slice of Dutch apple pie). Later, you’ll have time to explore the city on your own; Amsterdam’s compact urban landscape is made for exploring, brimming with art museums, coffeehouses, and eclectic architecture. Enjoy cocktails and onboard musical entertainment prior to dinner tonight, before sailing for Dordrecht.

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 for lunch, with time to relax and enjoy onboard activities as you sail to Cologne, Germany. Dine aboard ship this evening.

Cruise the lowlands of the Rhine this morning before arriving in Köln (Cologne) for a walking tour. 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 its Romanesque churches, the 12th century town hall, and the towering Köln Cathedral, a twin-spired masterpiece of High Gothic architecture. Enjoy free time to discover Köln's urban treasures, such as its beer gardens, wine taverns and chocolate museum. Then depart for Engelskirchen and 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, gracious 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. Return to the riverboat, which sails tonight for Rüdesheim.

The romantic Middle Rhine with its castle ruins, wine-towns, and steep sloping vineyards unfolds on this morning’s cruise, with commentary by your Tauck director; the landscape is alive with myths and legends, from the Nibelung to the siren of Lorelei Rock. After lunch onboard, dock in the winemaking town of Rüdesheim, at the foot of the Niederwald, where the ruins of Ehrenfels Castle and the lofty Niederwald monument preside over the Rhine Gorge. Here, you may choose a walking tour of this 1,000-year-old town with its cobblestone streets of storybook houses, cozy cafés and wine taverns; among its unique, must-see attractions is Siegfried’s Mechanisches Musikkabinett, a museum dedicated to antique self-playing musical instruments, which you'll visit. Siegfried’s mesmerizing collection includes orchestrions, musical clocks, player pianos, fairground organs, self-playing violinas, and the world’s largest automated doll orchestra. Stop in for wine-tasting and snacks at Rüdesheimer Schloss, an historic hotel and restaurant with its own vineyard and family wine estate. Alternatively, you may choose to join us for a one-hour bicycle excursion* along the Rhine. Return to the riverboat for a reception and the chef's Signature Dinner this evening as you sail for Karlsruhe.

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 two excursions in this grand dame of a German spa town that includes a guided walking tour with 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 an Ebike excursion where you'll explore the surrounding areas of interest riding past lush woodlands that stretch out along the flat Rhine valley with views of forested mountains in the distance. Return to the ship late afternoon for social hour in the lounge followed by dinner and musical entertainment onboard.

Dock in the rivertown of Breisach, Germany this morning, then drive to the village of Colmar, France, in Alsatian wine country. The principal industry in Colmar is food and wine, but its irresistible charm lies in its beautifully preserved medieval architecture that conjures an idyllic place out of time: colorful houses and gardens, rambling cobbled streets and alleys, sculpted fountains, and canals that wind through a corner of town called Little Venice; aside from its winemaking heritage, Colmar is known as the hometown of Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty. A walking tour includes a visit to the Unterlinden Museum, housed in a Gothic convent, whose impressive collection includes Matthias Grünewald’s famous Isenheim Altarpiece, paintings, engravings and sculpture from medieval to modern (including works by Dürer and Holbein, Picasso and Léger), and a wealth of archaeological artifacts; join us for a private reception in the museum, a Tauck Exclusive! Later, sample the art of Alsatian cuisine at lunch on your own, then return to the riverboat for a cruise through the dramatic Upper Rhine Plain where sentinel castles, forests and rising mountain ranges drift past. Join the crew tonight for a farewell reception which is followed by dinner.

Disembark your riverboat in Basel, Switzerland, a major industrial and cultural center where France, Germany, and Switzerland meet. The scenic mountain backdrop rises in stature and drama as you leave Basel and arrive in Lucerne, nestled beside a breathtaking blue lake in the alpine foothills. Explore Lucerne’s medieval old town (picturesque market squares, burghers’ houses, spired churches, and restored ramparts) during a walking tour which includes the 14th-century Chapel Bridge, the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, and a lake cruise on shimmering Lake Lucerne. Depart for Bern, the capital of Switzerland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where an orientation tour discovers its spectacular medieval and Renaissance architecture (limestone buildings, arcades, bridges, fountains, and cathedral), beautifully restored and ringed by the Aare River. Check into the Bellevue Palace, a grand luxury hotel built in 1913, favored by celebrities and heads of state and featured in John le Carré’s spy novels. Your evening is free to spend as you please tonight in this city of cosmopolitan tastes and offbeat, intimate restaurants.

You have a choice of sightseeing adventures today. Head for the snow-capped Alps on a full-day’s excursion to the lofty Jungfraujoch, known as the "Top of Europe" – journey to Grindelwald for a train ride to Kleine Scheidegg, then board a cogwheel train for the scenic climb through the Eiger tunnel to Europe’s highest railway station; here you’ll find a restaurant, observatory, research station, a gallery of ice sculpture, and stunning views of glacier-clad peaks that go on forever. Or explore the eclectic charms of Bern on a walking tour, followed by time on your own: medieval and modern mix artfully in this unhurried atmosphere where sights 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 medieval astronomical clock featuring animated dancing figures. Join us this evening for a farewell reception and dinner at the hotel.

Tour ends: Bern. Fly home anytime. Transfers are included from the Bellevue Palace Bern to the airport or train station (Bahnof Bern). Allow at least 3 hours for flight check-in.