Rhine Cruise a October 2016?

We are considering an Avalon Amsterdam to Basel cruise October 22,2016.

For you that have taken October cruises, how was the weather? I understand it will get darker early. Are there autumn colors?

Thanks in advance

Allow me to chime in, please. While I have not been on a river cruise at that time of year I can see the landscape when out and about. The autumn colours are beautiful, although October 22 is a little late for seeing the vineyards in full foliage and the harvest is nearly finished. The sunsets are sometimes stunning. You will see some better than others, depending on where you are sailing at that time on your cruise (or docking and walking about) hills could be in the way.

You can look up the times of sunset on http://www.timeanddate.com under the header sun & moon. By that time expect to have all dinners in the dark. Daylight saving time ends on October 25. November 1, All Saints' Day, is a public holiday in France and most of Germany, there is almost no shopping possible in those areas on that day.

Perhaps someone has taken some photos of the autumn landscape and might like to share them here.

I would recommend going at that time of year (I would not start my cruise in November though). It will be chilly at night and quite likely rain at least on some days of your trip but it can be really pleasant during the day. In Bavaria and Switzerland you could have the first snow of the season but the Rhine valley is warmer and unlikely to have any snow. Bearing in mind that the word never is a "no-no" when referring to weather these days. :(

Have a look at the photos that come up when you put into google photos Rhine in autumn (just the three words, not quotation marks). Shutterstock has some nice photos as well.

notamermaid

Thanks. I think we will spend a little more and go earlier in October, or late September.

Thanks. I think we will spend a little more and go earlier in October, or late September.

Late September and early October is gorgeous!!! One of our favorite times to travel: weather still good, everything is still open, kiddies are all back in school and everybody's in a good mood!!! Bring a hoodie.

we went from Basel to Amsterdam mid-October and weather was great-had one day of drizzle. Even went to top of Alps in Lucerne one morning. Great time to go.

bigpaluka

We are doing the Rhine River Cruise starting in Amsterdam on November 6, ending in Basel. We are staying over two nights in Lucerne, I would like to book a train ride to mountains do you have any suggestions?

bigpaluka

 

We are doing the Rhine River Cruise starting in Amsterdam on November 6, ending in Basel. We are staying over two nights in Lucerne, I would like to book a train ride to mountains do you have any suggestions?

At the main train station in Lucerne you can book packages to Mt. Pilatus combining train ("silver" package) or boat ("gold), cogwheel railway (up), and cablecar (down). If you aren't going to take a boat ride on Lake Lucerne otherwise, I would recommend the boat package. I don't think there is any need to try to arrange this beforehand, and this way you can make other plans if the weather doesn't cooperate. I believe you can get similar packages to one or two other mountains near Lucerne, but this is one we did -- we enjoyed it tremendously, even though the clouds were closing in as we went up [in fact, watching the weather was part of the fun!].

We enjoyed two nights in Lucerne post our Avalon Rhone cruise in September. It is easy to book the excursions to the mountains. We simply walked to the boat docks across from the train station and picked out our trip. It was a beautiful day to cruise across the lake and the cog railway was fun. We chose to come and go the same way rarer than the golden pass. They tell you what times you need to get to the boat. I also suggest waiting for the day of to book to see how the weather is. We went up on a clear day but the clouds enveloped us while we were on Pilatus.