The Rhine, the Rhone, or the Duoro?

My friend and I have done 3 river cruises with AmaWaterways - Tulip Time, the Danube, and the Paris to Normandy. All have been spectacular. We want to book a 4th and several folks on our Seine cruise, including the Cruise Manager, raved about Lyon to Arles (the Rhone). We have never been to Portugal, so the Duoro is in the mix, as is the Rhine. Thoughts?

Allyson

Hmmm. Interesting question. Both great but totally different. The France trip docks at picturesque ports with interesting tours and traversing from one port to the next is mostly at night. The Douro cruising does a lot during the day with beautiful scenery plus great ports. Whatever you choose be sure to have the one you didn’t choose on your bucket list. We are returning to the Douro in 2018 because we loved our first cruise on that river.

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My friend and I have done 3 river cruises with AmaWaterways - Tulip Time, the Danube, and the Paris to Normandy. All have been spectacular. We want to book a 4th and several folks on our Seine cruise, including the Cruise Manager, raved about Lyon to Arles (the Rhone). We have never been to Portugal, so the Duoro is in the mix, as is the Rhine. Thoughts?

 

Allyson

Also should have mentioned that the Rhine is a spectacular river with multiple castles along the Rhine Gorge. If the ports are most important to you I would choose the Rhine.

Cole

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Also should have mentioned that the Rhine is a spectacular river with multiple castles along the Rhine Gorge. If the ports are most important to you I would choose the Rhine.

Cole

 

 

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Thanks, Cole. This is helpful.

Allyson

I would venture to say that the Rhine ports are similar to the Danube but with more castles. The local cuisine is much more interesting in France than Germany/Netherlands. I would lean towards the Rhone unless you are consider the Rhine AND Moselle...Alsatian cuisine and wines are very interesting!

I would venture to say that the Rhine ports are similar to the Danube but with more castles. The local cuisine is much more interesting in France than Germany/Netherlands. I would lean towards the Rhone unless you are consider the Rhine AND Moselle...Alsatian cuisine and wines are very interesting!

Great info. Thanks. I am making note of all comments!

Allyson

Since you have seen the Netherlands and Normandy I would say that a trip to the Douro or the South of France for variety is a good idea. The Douro has been likened by someone to the Moselle: quiet, lots of wine on steep slopes. I believe the ports are often not that big and bussing is to other places in the hills on the Douro, only daytime sailing as well. That is where the two rivers differ as the Moselle has small ports (lovely villages) on its banks and nighttime sailing depending on company and itinerary. I mention this in detail as the Moselle is similar to the Rhine but quieter and not as industrial. I would tend to go with GourmetGal and say choose a Rhine/Moselle itinerary, possibly one that only goes down to Cologne for disembarkation, not Amsterdam.

The Rhone is a beautiful river with great landscape, interesting food culture and Roman antiquities thrown in. I loved it on a land trip. The South of France can be busy and hot in Summer so I would consider the season you want to go in. I prefer the Rhone in Spring (and would probably also do the Douro only in low season - have never been to Portugal) and I like the Rhine in early Summer and Autumn. The Rhine can be unpleasantly cold in November and December but you might consider a Christmas market cruise on that river. If you have time add a few post-cruise days to really make it worthwhile seeing even more Christmas markets.

Have fun planning.

notamermaid

We have done 16 river cruises and our hands down favorite is the Rhone. We have done the itinerary twice, once with AMA and once with Uniworld. Enjoyed both but preferred AMA for food, service, excursion options and entertainment.

We did the Douro with AMA and while the scenery was stunning, it was not a favorite. Too much bus time for our liking, no docking overnight in interesting places that we could explore, ports themselves not our favorites, except for Porto. We will return to Portugal but on a land trip and we will focus on the Algarve.

We do enjoy the Rhine and liked the variety of cultures and countries. The Alsace was the highlight for us.

We have done 16 river cruises and our hands down favorite is the Rhone. We have done the itinerary twice, once with AMA and once with Uniworld. Enjoyed both but preferred AMA for food, service, excursion options and entertainment.

 

We did the Douro with AMA and while the scenery was stunning, it was not a favorite. Too much bus time for our liking, no docking overnight in interesting places that we could explore, ports themselves not our favorites, except for Porto. We will return to Portugal but on a land trip and we will focus on the Algarve.

 

We do enjoy the Rhine and liked the variety of cultures and countries. The Alsace was the highlight for us.

Thanks, Caviargirl. We will be sailing with Ama for sure and will continue to gather comments from those of you who are experts!

Allyson

For the Douro cruise, those who are active might consider Backroads, which offers both hiking and biking tours in conjunction with AmaWaterways' Douro river cruises. For those who would prefer an active walking tour without the river cruise, consider VBT. Each of these seems to solve some of the complaints I have heard on this forum about Douro cruises.

We just got back from a Viking Douro Cruise yesterday. We have also done a Viking Rhine Cruise.

In comparing the 2, the Rhine has 1 spectacular stretch with castles while Douro is overall more breathtaking. The Rhine has better ports for exploring on ones own. The weather is probably better in Portugal but summers can be unbearably hot. Germans speak better English but I thought the Portuguese we’re friendlier. Enjoyed German food better than Portuguese. The Douro ships are smaller which means easier to meet other passengers. Portugal has more of an old world flavor.

As you can see, both were fun. Choose an itinerary you will like most.

While we are relatively new to river cruising, we have just returned from a river cruise on the Rhone (September). And we took a river cruise on the Rhine and Moselle in November 2015. We enjoyed both trips and can see why people often revisit these places.

Friends of ours have taken almost every GCT and OAT trip available and are repeating the Rhine and Moselle trip now. (They were with us in 2015 but wanted to go again.)

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