Rhine Cruise with AMA in July: Amsterdam & Basel activities?

[acruisefan]

Just booked a last minute cruise on AMA in July, Amsterdam to Basel. So excited! We are arriving 2 nights days early and leaving 2 nights later. I have been to Amsterdam several times but DH has not. I plan to take him to the Anne Frank House and the wonderful museum. What else - and restaurant recommendations? We might stay at the Renaissance with a package that my travel agent is looking into - if not, any hotel recommendations? I normally like hotels with some local character and very comfortable, high quality bedding and location is important for walkability.

 

Basel-Lucerne-Zurich is a bit more of a puzzle. We will probably fly out the morning of our second night so will need to stay in Zurich. However, I am really intrigued with spending time in Lucerne and seeing a bit of Basel, so what to do? And what is not to miss in those towns?

[Host Jazzbeau]

This is a great cruise: you will love the itinerary and AMA!

 

Amsterdam – the Van Gogh museum is terrific: small enough to absorb but varied enough to amaze; the Rijksmuseum is overwhelming, but manageable if you work it with a plan [such as the Rick Steves guided tour].

 

Switzerland – of the three cities, Lucerne is the winner! Spend as much time as you can there so that you can enjoy it [the Lion Monument, the old town, Mt. Pilatus]. There is a train from Lucerne to Zurich airport that takes just over an hour.

[xmaser]

The Rembrandt House museum is a great "peek" into 17th century Amsterdam life with a nice collection of his etchings.

[4Lakes Lady]

We returned from Amsterdam a month ago- first visit after our river cruise. We stayed 3 nights at the Ambassade Hotel. I highly recommend it as it is a series of 10 historic houses on a central canal. The location was perfect- we walked to the Ann Frank House, Van Gogh Museum and Rembrandt House. The rooms, staff and breakfast were all outstanding. You won’t be disappointed!

 

 

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[Got2Cruise]

We loved Hotel Estherea. It’s a mansion on a quiet canal. We walked everywhere. The museum district was the furthest but still doable, plus everywhere you walk is beautiful and interesting.

 

 

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[Wings55]

Before our trip we stayed at the Sofitel Legend, It's right in the city center about a quarter mile from the Oude Kerk. For a little local color the RLD (Red Light District) is nearby.

 

Paul

[migelito]

We took this cruise in July 2016 and it was fun.

Unfortunately high water levels disrupted the start and finish a bit, which is a fact of life in cruising.

We did a couple days before in Amsterdam, staying at the Radisson Blu hotel, which was fine.

Indeed, the highlight of Amsterdam seems to be the Anne Frank house; definitely book tickets way ahead of time.

We did an extra day after in Basel, which was ok, nice probably not as interesting as either Zurich or Lucerne.

Have a great trip!

[acruisefan]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! I am looking into the hotels this week. Now it looks like a lovely couple that we met on our last Uniworld trip will join us for the 2 nights in Amsterdam - so excited!!

[henryrk]

We have booked the Hungry Birds Street Food Tours Amsterdam, it has great reviews. Prebooked Anne Frank (2 months out). Other than that we will wander and see what trouble we can get into. 2 Days in high season we are just going to take it as it comes. 2 Full days will go fast enough.

[barbierahrah]

Just booked a last minute cruise on AMA in July, Amsterdam to Basel. So excited! We are arriving 2 nights days early and leaving 2 nights later. I have been to Amsterdam several times but DH has not. I plan to take him to the Anne Frank House and the wonderful museum. What else - and restaurant recommendations? We might stay at the Renaissance with a package that my travel agent is looking into - if not, any hotel recommendations? I normally like hotels with some local character and very comfortable, high quality bedding and location is important for walkability.

 

Basel-Lucerne-Zurich is a bit more of a puzzle. We will probably fly out the morning of our second night so will need to stay in Zurich. However, I am really intrigued with spending time in Lucerne and seeing a bit of Basel, so what to do? And what is not to miss in those towns?

 

We were on a Viking Rhine river cruise May 9-16 from Basel to Amsterdam. We did a 3 day precruise in Como. Viking motorcoached us from Como to Basel with a several hours stop in Lucerne, which was a wonderful, beautiful surprise. We did not arrive in Basel in time to do any touring or exploring. We had originally planned to go directly to Basel and spend 3 nites there, but we changed to the Como pretour. I'm glad that we did, because Como was beautiful and there really didn't seem to be all that much to do in Basel for 3 days. Switzerland is quite expensive and has their own currency, not the euro. We arrived in Amsterdam via the boat. We then walked across the street to the train station. There is a good public tourist office there where you can get info, maps, transit and train tickets, etc. We purchased a multi pass for the transit so we could go all over town quite easily and out to our hotel which was a bit of a distance from downtown (a Residence Inn in Houthavens), and out to the museum area. Otherwise it would be a bit of a long walk. That worked great, saved money, and was convenient. We also purchased a fairly inexpensive ticket for the day we left Amsterdam to fly to Munich. We could use our transit pass for a bus back to the train station and then the train to go to the airport very easily and far less than a taxi, and we certainly weren't the only ones dragging our suitcase around!!! We did a HOHO bus one day, and explored the canal areas, the Jordaan district, stopped at the Gassen diamond factory for what we thought was a nice, free tour -- and nice, clean and free restrooms! I thought it would be a good place for a souvenir, but my husband thought otherwise! We went to the Bloemenmarkt, the Red Light District, and took the Heineken Tour, which also included a 1-hour canal boat ride. We REALLY enjoyed the Heineken tour and the canal ride was great. The houses and their cute windows and shutters are just adorable. If you are adventurous, go back to the tourist office at the train station and inquire about the 10euro per person day passes. There are several available for different routes and areas -- castles, beach, north of Amsterdam, etc. We purchased the pass that was good for the towns of Edam, Marken, Markendam, etc. We got the proper bus at the rear of the train station and had so much fun. Edam is an absolutely adorable little town with tiny streets, canals, cute shops and cafes. Markendam (I think) was the larger town, on the water, and we ate fresh herring and pancakes. It was more touristy, but Marken was also very, very cute. We could have booked a tour (much more pricey), but this was nice to just do things we wanted on our own time schedule without having to watch the clock all the time. Those buses run frequently and we seemed to manage it all just fine. We found people in Amsterdam to be very friendly and helpful, and most everyone speaks some English. Just watch out for the bicycles. Everyone rides them everywhere, and they have the right of way over pedestrians. Even electric scooters use the bike lanes. Make sure you know where the bicycles areas are and don't ever step back to take a photo, or you'll get run over! It's crazy! We walked by the Anne Frank house, but had not gotten tickets ahead of time as required. I was kind of glad that we didn't go in as it just seemed so different an so much more commercialized than it was when I was there 45 years ago. Have a great trip, and let me know if you have other questions.