Viking Rhine cruise, Black Forest tour v optional tour of Colmar

[Northumbrialass]

We are taking this cruise next Summer on the Helvetia. I've heard not so good reports about the tour to the Black Forest. That it takes about 90 mins to get there on the bus and once you arrive at the village you visit a cuckoo clock shop. I don't want to spend a long time on a bus then to go shopping, I have no intention of buying a cuckoo clock. The other option is to take the Colmar tour. I've looked at photos of this town on the internet and it looks pretty. Having said that I know all places in the Summer will be very busy. Has anyone taken the Viking Black Forest tour or the optional Colmar tour and what did you think? This will be our first river cruise and I'm looking forward to our holiday next Summer.

[id4elizabeth]

Definitely take the optional Colmar tour! We were on the longer (2 week) Viking Rhine cruise and did both tours. The Black Forest trip is a total waste of time and very irritating. You have the story right there from previous reviews; only the little Black Forest "village" you stop at consists of nothing more than the cookoo shop and an eating place - no village. You're trapped. The Black Forest cake you have to pay for, and I've tasted better from my local supermarket here in the USA.

 

The town of Colmar is delightful however. Lots of charming streets and canals, with half-timbered houses, and beautiful scenery. Tour itself was good with enough free time to explore on your own, but not so much you feel like it's wated time. We really enjoyed Colmar!

[dons_shopper]

Being German I would still say: The Black Forrest is very beautiful but without doubt I would go to Colmar. Also nice countryside, but those houses and flowers,lovely!

Ofcourse I don't know the tours, just the areas.

Enjoy your cruise-river cruises are fantastic!

[Northumbrialass]

Thanks for both replies. We'll give the Black Forest tour a miss, even though I think it will be picturesque, as I do love the great outdoors. However the tour is to go to a Cuckoo clock shop and not walking in the Black Forest. Colmar does look lovely, so looking forward to that tour. I do thing forums are are very good idea, shareing information and experiences. Thanks once again.

[Paulinda]

dons shopper is absolutely correct. The Schwarzwald (Black Forest) is absolutely beautiful. We drove thru the forest several years ago and I was amazed at all the wild Foxglove and other flowers that were in bloom. It was stunning! I remember driving up winding roads and looking out the window to see steep drop offs and was sure we were going to somehow slide off the road. It was truly tranquil and amazing.

 

Last year we also did the 'Black Forest' tour with our cruise line and it was simply a 90 min. bus ride. Interesting but not at all as memorable as when we did so on our own.

 

And the shop we visited was disappointing. We had the black forest cake and it was about as good as the cake we buy at Aldi's. The carvings were nothing special and to us looked like cheap imports. The clocks were nice but not at the price they wanted.

 

Do yourself a favor and do the Colmar tour. If you want to see the Schwarzwald, rent a car and go on your own. Happy travels!

[Barrheadlass]

We went to Colmar on a Uniworld cruise last year, and it was lovely. We particularly enjoyed the farmer's market.

[suspaul]

Hello. We will be on Viking's Helvetia - Rhine Getaway to visit the Christmas markets, Basel to Amsterdam in early December. Does anyone know where the ship docks in Breisach? Not interested in the ride to visit the cuckoo shop and have been to Colmar several times so I was wondering if it's possible to just visit Breisach on our own? Anyone done this and interesting in commenting? Thanks in advance for your time.

Susan

[Paulinda]

suspaul, although we didn't travel on Viking I remember the Viking ship being docked behind our ship. We were docked very close to Breisach, it was a 5 minute walk to the center of town.

 

We arrived in Breisach on a Saturday and did the Black Forest 'tour'. I've said this before....big disappointment. We should have stayed in town because by the time we got back the farmers market and surrounding stores were just closing up. IMO you can't beat going to a local markets. There was some sort of Fire Dept fair taking place too so we hung around the square and had a couple afternoon beers.

 

Not sure that there is a lot to see in Breisach, maybe at Christmas time they have a market?? Have a great time!

[laverendrye]

I agree with the other posters that the Colmar trip is much preferable to the Black Forest tour as described. The Black Forest is indeed beautiful and there are many attractive towns and sights to see, but it doesn't seem that the tour will cover any of them.

 

As for the question about Breisach, I would try to arrange a trip to Freiburg, a beautiful city which is perhaps a half-hour drive from Breisach. It will be much more interesting than Breisach itself.

 

I looked at the Viking itinerary and had to laugh at the description of "the quaint little city of Kehl". Kehl may be a little city (more like a town) but it is hardly quaint. Most of it was destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt in the 1950s in a modern style. It's neither quaint nor charming. If I wanted to spend an evening of the ship I'd take a taxi to downtown Strasbourg.

[suspaul]

Thanks to both of you for responding. We will just stay on ship and spend time wandering around Breisach. We have friends who live in Baden-Baden and maybe once we find how long we will be in port they will come visit us. As to Freiburg, that is a possibility, we have visited there often and it is a nice town. We have spent much time in Germany, usually traveling independently so have seen much of the area we'll be visiting but agree that the trip to a cuckoo clock shop is not huge on our list, been there - done that. ;)

Susan

[roger62305]

It seems that me and my wife are in the minority on this one. Although we were on a Avalon Cruise which may be very different then the Viking Cruise. We went on the Black Forest Trip having no preconceived ideas what we would see. The owner of the Clock Shop (Adolf Herr) was on the ship the night before giving a small presentation and carving some trees while you watched. Sense we were very interested in seeing a authentic hand carved German Cuckoo clock, we were the first in line for the trip. The trip took a little over an hour but to someone that had not seen much of the Germany country side the trip seemed to go very fast. The trip also showed us breath taking views of the Black Forest and many examples of the Swiss chalets architecture along the road. The Clock Shop at the end of the trip was a collection of buildings that somewhat resembled the cuckoo clocks that they sold. Mr. Herr and his staff greeted everyone at the door and knowing we had a very limited time they were very helpful. Everyone was treated to the special Black Forest Cake and coffee in the 2nd story restaurant above the Clock shop. On the Avalon tour there was no charge for the cake or coffee and we thought is was delicious. Mr. Herr and his staff stood in front of the shop and waved to everyone as we left.

I am not going to tell you that if you take the tour that you will enjoy the bus trip or even like the taste of the cake because we are all different in our likes and dislikes. We thought the Black Forest tour and Clock Shop was one of many highlight of our cruise and was very glade we took it.

To give you an idea what the Clock shop is like that was on the Avalon Cruise I found this link to it below. Have a great cruise.

 

Roger

 

http://www.cuckoo-clock.com/ueber-uns_e.asp?UID=158773273840&W=1&L=509

[lunula]

I am guessing Avalon goes a different route than Viking, because we thought the Black Forest excursion was not only worthless, but downright annoying. We expected to see the beautiful forest, make a stop or two at scenic spots for photos/history...but no, it was a long bus ride to tacky outpost that sold everything from cheap plastic swords to Crocs to cuckoo clocks. The black forest cake was served up (extra $$, of course) in a downstairs cafeteria and it was not good. Coffee was from a machine as you would get at a gas station.

 

In our case, we did both - the Black Forest and Colmar -- we enjoyed Colmar a lot more.

[Paulinda]

We were on the Avalon tour. The cake was served in an upstairs area. The free cake was less than good. The carvings in the shop appeared to be imported items. The bus ride included one 10 minute stop overlooking a valley. It was underwhelmingly nice. The bus ride was not special and actually fairly boring as most was thru asparagus fields.

 

Everyone is entitle to an opinion. This is mine. If you go on the tour, just know there are better options.

[roger62305]

We were on the Avalon tour. The cake was served in an upstairs area. The free cake was less than good. The carvings in the shop appeared to be imported items. The bus ride included one 10 minute stop overlooking a valley. It was underwhelmingly nice. The bus ride was not special and actually fairly boring as most was thru asparagus fields.

 

Everyone is entitle to an opinion. This is mine. If you go on the tour, just know there are better options.

 

There were no asparagus fields on our tour. Maybe they do take different routes according the time they have for the tour. The clocks were signed by Adolf Herr and if you would buy one they would customize it to your taste.

 

Roger