Viking Rhine River Excursions from Breisach, Germany

Would love to get impressions/experiences of those who have gone on these excursions.

4 hour - Black Forest included excursion

4 hour - Colmar in World War II: Museum & Memorial optional excursion

4 hour - Medieval Village of Colmar optional excursion

The Black Forest was a waste of time. It's a bus ride through the forest then stop a place where one of the two world largest Cuckoo Clocks are. There's a hotel and a couple shops. Didn't do WWII Colmar, but, the town of Colmar is a must do.

I did the Black Forest in December. There was snow and beautiful mountain views. We stopped at the St. Peter Abbey as well as the Clock Shop - bought some great German folk and Christmas music CDs there. Don't go if you don't like riding through mountains. There are no mountains where I live so for me it was a treat.

Did the Colmar village tour (included when I took it). Beautiful traditional Alsatian architecture and the Unter dem Linden museum. It has the fabulous Isemheim altarpiece which is definitely worth a look.

Not a WWII buff so I didn't the WWII tour.

Colmar WWII was fantastic. The museum is a must-see if you have any interest in WWII. Even if you don’t, it was so interesting to see the places where Audie Murphy was, and hear his unbelievable story. You also see a good bit of picturesque Colmar and the lovely countryside.

Ditto on the Colmar WWII tour - One of the best excursions we have taken w Viking. As Americans, we often fail to remember the impact that WWII had on the European countryside and citizens . Well worth it.

I wish the cruise lines would offer a tour of Neuf-Brisach from Breisach. Neuf-Brisach is a fortified town built after the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, when france lost the town of Breisach. It is one of the historic fortifications designed by Vaubon. It is only 7 km from Breisach.

Another tour from that port could be to nearby Riquewhir, maybe combined with the Colmar tour.

We took the town of Colmar tour. Excellent. Walked the picturesque Little Venice section of Colmar. Beautiful.

Next Rhine cruise I'd do the Colmar WWII tour which everyone says is el primo.

I did not do Black Forest (too long on bus for too little, although wife liked it) but I walked off the ship after lunch and explored the town of Breisach, the best part being climbing up the hill for the overlook and walking back down the other side to the ship walking through the river park. Doing stuff like this on my own is why I love river cruising.

Another tour from that port could be to nearby Riquewhir, maybe combined with the Colmar tour.

We took the town of Colmar tour. Excellent. Walked the picturesque Little Venice section of Colmar. Beautiful.

Next Rhine cruise I'd do the Colmar WWII tour which everyone says is el primo.

 

I did not do Black Forest (too long on bus for too little, although wife liked it) but I walked off the ship after lunch and explored the town of Breisach, the best part being climbing up the hill for the overlook and walking back down the other side to the ship walking through the river park. Doing stuff like this on my own is why I love river cruising.

AMA used to combine both Colmar and Riquewihr as one option, but their itineraries only mention Colmar now. We really liked Riquewihr -- it is a one-street village, very cute and that street is lined with shops offering free wine tastings plus a couple that had fresh macaroons [real coconut macaroons, not those namby-pamby Parisian macarons ;) ]. Colmar is a good size town with beautiful old half-timbered buildings; it touts the fact that the sculptor Bartholdi was born there and has a museum with a model of his Statue de la Liberté. We didn't have a ton of time doing both. If I had to chose only one it would be Riquewihr, but I would also be happy doing just Colmar.

I walked off the ship after lunch and explored the town of Breisach, the best part being climbing up the hill for the overlook and walking back down the other side to the ship walking through the river park. Doing stuff like this on my own is why I love river cruising.

Agreed, good suggestion. We also explored Breisach after lunch and enjoyed it very much. The Viking front desk was handing out nice, large maps, with several suggested walking routes and sights clearly indicated.

On our Rhine cruise we did the Black Forest excursion in the morning and Colmar village in the afternoon. We enjoyed both. We liked the scenery on the way to the Black Forest location, drove through several small villages and stopped at a scenic overview. We indulged in Black Forest cake for me and a bottle of local beer for DH. On the bus ride back our excellent tour guide told us about her growing up years in East Germany, fascinating look at history. She made the trip back seem a lot shorter because of her interesting information. Our trip to Colmar was also wonderful. We signed up for the "gentle" walking tour and got to ride around Colmar in a small tram-like train. We had time on our own to visit the large church which at the time was housing the Issenheim altarpiece along with other art while the museum was being renovated. We felt that both excursions were well worth our time (and money in the case of Colmar).

We did the Black Forest tour and Colmar Village in September - enjoyed both. LFS517 reminded me of one of the best aspects of any of the included tours - the guides. They all shared bits of their personal lives and experiences which was so interesting in addition to the expected historical info.

 

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I wanted to ask the host why the thread on "how to contact your river cruise" doesn't include Viking? Am I missing it somewhere?

Good catch! [Easy for me to say, I didn't write the article...] I'll try to get the relevant info and add a post to the thread.

Update: Boy was that a lot of work! I found 8 river cruise lines that are mentioned in CC's articles describing and comparing lines but not listed in the "contact" article. I've probably missed some others – but I'm sure their fans among this wonderful community will point them out so I can add them too!