AmaWaterways Rhine River Cruise Biking Tours

[Bowler Lady]

I will be on a September AMA Rhine river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel.

 

I would like to go on one or two of the  biking tours. Does anyone have any suggestions of which would be the most scenic?

Looking at:

Cologne, Rudesheim, Neckar River, or Strasbourg.

 

It is so frustrating trying to make choices when you want to make a clone of yourself and do 2 things in each locale🤣🤣.

Thanks for any input,

Carol

[Cruiser5280]

I will be doing this cruise in the opposite direction, Basel to Amsterdam, and I have the same question.  Hopefully someone will answer it soon!  🙂

[Bowler Lady]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:45 AM, Cruiser5280 said:

I will be doing this cruise in the opposite direction, Basel to Amsterdam, and I have the same question.  Hopefully someone will answer it soon!  🙂

We leave in 12 days. It doesn't look like there is going to be any answers. I am trying to look online , at pictures, etc. I think we are going to do the 21 mile ride along the Neckar River. Supposed to be pretty. Also of course part of the decision will be based on weather that day.

[Canal archive]

Sorry Carol it looks like your going to have to do the cruise at least twice. To do all offered excursions - and I expect they’ll offer a different one - and a there and back ie in reverse. Whichever you choose will be wonderful, I suspect all of us have had that  ‘what’s over the next hill’ feeling at some time. Enjoy your cruise.

[Bowler Lady]

20 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Sorry Carol it looks like your going to have to do the cruise at least twice. To do all offered excursions - and I expect they’ll offer a different one - and a there and back ie in reverse. Whichever you choose will be wonderful, I suspect all of us have had that  ‘what’s over the next hill’ feeling at some time. Enjoy your cruise.

Thank you! Yes, every time we go on vacation and there is something we couldn't do or have time for we joke that we have left it for the next time we get back there!

 

I hope you have a great time also!!

[Travalerie]

The bike tours have to be signed up for onboard. Does anyone have trouble getting a spot? I think we want to do all of them!!

 

[jimmymac613]

We were just on the Romantic Rhine and Moselle cruise with Scenic in June.  We were very excited about their electric bikes and the fact that about every other day they offered a cycling tour because we bike a lot in California and wanted and needed the exercise.  We realized that, after the third bicycling tour, we just weren't seeing enough of the towns and cities that we were visiting.  I'm sure it was for safety reasons but all of the bike tours that we went on tended to take you out into the countryside into rural settings where you saw farmland, horses, cows and sheep.  Not exactly the great European architecture and history that we were looking for.  After that we chose the city tours.

[marieps]

17 hours ago, jimmymac613 said:

We were just on the Romantic Rhine and Moselle cruise with Scenic in June.  We were very excited about their electric bikes and the fact that about every other day they offered a cycling tour because we bike a lot in California and wanted and needed the exercise.  We realized that, after the third bicycling tour, we just weren't seeing enough of the towns and cities that we were visiting.  I'm sure it was for safety reasons but all of the bike tours that we went on tended to take you out into the countryside into rural settings where you saw farmland, horses, cows and sheep.  Not exactly the great European architecture and history that we were looking for.  After that we chose the city tours.

Sadly the AMA bike tour guides do not provide audio head sets like the walking tours.  The bike tour of Vienna we did had too many bikes, such that the lead pack had to continually  wait for the trailing pack to get through traffic.  The group was too large for all to hear the guide.    We also dropped the bikes for the city tours with much greater enjoyment.

[Bowler Lady]

Thank you all for your great advice. We just started our cruise today.  This information will be very helpful!

[marieps]

On 9/15/2022 at 3:05 PM, Bowler Lady said:

Thank you all for your great advice. We just started our cruise today.  This information will be very helpful!

Have a great voyage.

[TriMomma]

I am an avid cyclist and was hoping to find a river cruise that would let me "loose" cycling.   Do you have to follow the guide?

[Daisi]

19 minutes ago, TriMomma said:

I am an avid cyclist and was hoping to find a river cruise that would let me "loose" cycling.   Do you have to follow the guide?

 

Can't speak for AMA, but if they have bikes on board they will usually let you take them off for tours....at least Avalon does. Most cycling "tours" are limited to #'s signed up at least a day ahead, in order that they can make sure they have enough bikes available. These are usually brought in from a rental company, not the ones they store onboard. For those tours, since you are out biking in a group, you may have to stick with the tour.

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, TriMomma said:

I am an avid cyclist and was hoping to find a river cruise that would let me "loose" cycling.   Do you have to follow the guide?

On my tulip time cruise with Uniworld, I took a bike out on my own for an excursion, although I can't remember exactly where. I also took one out in the afternoon of arrival in Vienna in 2011, although I just did a bit of the Danube park. Just note that these aren't generally light bicycles; they are fairly heavy Dutch one, or at least they were when I was there in 2010.

[Bowler Lady]

4 hours ago, TriMomma said:

I am an avid cyclist and was hoping to find a river cruise that would let me "loose" cycling.   Do you have to follow the guide?

On Ama Waterways you can check out bikes on your own. I don't know how much notice you need to give or process though.

[Bowler Lady]

I did the 21 mile bike cruise on the Neckar River. Loved the ride. Mostly flat with a couple of hills. I had to walk over part of one. Couldn't quite make it. But thats okay.  Took a lunch stop in the cute town of Ladenburg.  

 

Rained and hailed during our lunch stop and again on return for 5 minutes and we had to hide under trees. Was quite a day, but loved the ride!!

[Wings55]

On 11/3/2022 at 2:08 PM, TriMomma said:

I am an avid cyclist and was hoping to find a river cruise that would let me "loose" cycling.   Do you have to follow the guide?

@TriMommaWhen we sailed with Scenic, we were encouraged to take a bike out on our own if we wanted. Their little GPS devices even had pre planned routes to follow if needed. Very handy!

Paul