Viking river cruise review: Christmas on the Rhine (part 2)
If you’re considering a Viking river cruise to see Europe’s famous Christmas markets then you’re in the right place! In our comprehensive Viking river cruise review we’re going over everything to expect on the Christmas on the Rhine sailing. This river cruise takes guests to several Christmas markets in Germany, France, and Switzerland. It also includes stops in the Netherlands.
This is part two of our Viking river cruise review, which will cover days 4 through 5 on the cruise. These days took us up famous Middle Rhine and to several different Christmas markets. Click this link for Part 1 and 3 of our review of the ‘Christmas on the Rhine’ sailing. Part one includes days 1 through 3 on the cruise. Part three includes the last three days, as well as our final thoughts and overall review of the sailing. Our final review includes what we liked and didn’t like about the Christmas market river cruise.
Our Christmas on the Rhine sailing was hosted by Viking Cruises. All thoughts, opinions, and experiences are our own.
Christmas on the Rhine river cruise review
We’ve already covered days 1-3 of our Christmas on the Rhine river cruise, which you can read about here. Below we’re covering days 4-5 of our Christmas market river cruise with Viking. These days included stops in several cities in Germany, and a multitude of Christmas markets (many of which we loved, and one of which we felt missed the mark).
Day 4 of our Viking river cruise – Castles and Christmas in the Middle Rhine
Morning excursions to castles and Christmas markets
Day 4 of our sailing started off with breakfast in the ship’s restaurant. While the ship had a lot of hearty options, I prefer a lighter breakfast. My go-to breakfast was berries and mascarpone, coffee, and hearty brown bread with butter, cheese, and cucumbers. Amiana tended to favor heavier fare, with a bagel and lox being her go-to. Breakfast was served from 6:00 – 10:00 am.
The morning of our fourth day of sailing featured a wide variety of shore excursion options. The ship first docked in Koblenz at 8:00 am. Guests opting for the included shore excursion ‘historic Koblenz at Christmas’ departed at that time. Shortly afterwards guests doing the optional excursion ‘Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein’ departed at 8:30 am. From there our ship sailed on to Braubach, Germany, where we docked around 9:40 am. Guests could depart to explore the town, or go on an optional excursion to tour the Medieval Marksburg Castle. This was the tour we opted for, which I describe below.
Optional excursion: Medieval Marksburg Castle
We spent the rest of the morning taking a tour of the Marksburg Castle, a medieval castle overlooking the Rhine. A tour bus picked us up at the ship around 9:45 AM, and drove us about 10 minutes to the castle. We were then dropped off for the walking tour.
The Marksburg Castle was constructed in the 13th century. It is the only castle along the Rhine that had never been destroyed by fire or war. Our guide led us along a fantastic hour and a half tour through the castle. We got to see the old living quarters, armory, kitchen, wine cellar, and chapel. We also got to see one of the first ever toilets that had a “poop chute”. That meant waste exited the building, as opposed to sitting in the chamber pots typical of the time… Afterwards we had a few minutes to peruse the gift shop before the tour bus took us back to the ship.
It’s important to note that this tour required a decent amount of walking and standing. Some of the walking included significant slopes and uneven ground.
Afternoon castle viewing on the Middle Rhine
Our afternoon was spent viewing castles from our cruise ship! Guests were required to be back on board the ship at noon. At noon we departed from Braubach, Germany to sail up the middle Rhine.
We started our afternoon with lunch at noon aboard the ship. We enjoyed red lentil and coconut milk soup and rigatoni with eggplant. For dessert I had a brownie with French vanilla ice cream. I’ll admit this was a bit dry, and it ended up being my least favorite dessert of the trip.
We then donned our warmest layers and headed up to the sun deck for our ‘scenic sailing’ along the Middle Rhine, which started at 1:00 pm and lasted most of the afternoon! During our scenic sailing the boat passed by dozens of castles and scenic towns in a historic part of the Rhine. This area, which is a UNESCO heritage site, is truly beautiful!
During the scenic sailing expect to see rocky cliffs, scenic churches and towns, and beautiful castles overlooking the Rhine. Our cruise director, Lee, also provided commentary and history lessons throughout letting us know what we were seeing. Pictured above is the famous ‘Statue of Loreley,’ which Lee described the significance of. Additionally, the staff came around and delivered hot chocolate to everyone on the sun deck. Spiking it with a shot of Amarula cream liqueur (free of charge) was also an option.
Rüdesheim coffee making demonstration
At 3:45 pm we came back inside to warm up and enjoy a Rüdesheim coffee making demonstration in the lounge. During the demonstration we learned about how this traditional alcoholic coffee originated in Rüdesheim am Rhein (the next stop on the trip!). This drink combined coffee, brandy, sugar, whipped cream, dark chocolate, and brandy to make a special treat. While we watched the demonstration the staff delivered pre-prepared drinks so everyone could try this delectable treat.
Evening exploring the Christmas market in Rüdesheim
We arrived in Rüdesheim at 5:30 PM, and were able to disembark shortly thereafter to explore the Christmas Market. Guests could choose to take the free “choo-choo” train from the ship to the market (a very cute, but crowded, contraption), or walk about a mile along a paved walking path to the market. We chose to walk, which was a nice way to stretch our legs and see the charming riverfront!
Rüdesheim is a small town, and its Christmas market was quaint. Amiana enjoyed a hot Glühwein at this market, which cost about 4 Euros. She also had to make a 4 Euro deposit for the reusable mug, which she got back when she returned the mug. Some people forfeit their deposits to keep the mugs as souvenirs! Glühwein itself is a mulled wine that is very popular during the holiday season. If you don’t drink alcohol you can get non-alcoholic kinderpunsch instead.
The Rüdesheim Christmas market offered lots of traditional German food, and many of our cruise-mates opted to enjoy dinner at the market! There were also a lot of crafts at this market, and overall I really enjoyed the vibe of this holiday market location. While the market was busy it wasn’t nearly as packed as the markets in Cologne. In all, we walked about 3.5 miles around Rüdesheim, so unless you take the “choo-choo” train, you will have to walk a decent amount.
Dinner and evening festivities on our ship
After about an hour and a half exploring the market and the streets of Rüdesheim, we walked back to the ship for dinner. Amiana’s meal consisted of some traditional German foods. My meal featured a salad with quail eggs, eggplant rolls stuffed with buffalo mozzarella, as well as a delicious dessert whose name I didn’t catch.
There was live piano music in the Lounge after dinner, but we were too tired from the day to join. There were no other planned activities after dinner, and the ship set sail again at 1:00 AM.
Day 5 of our Viking river cruise – Christmas markets of Mannheim and Speyer
A morning at the Christmas market in Mannheim, Germany
The morning of our fifth day of our Christmas on the Rhine river cruise was a bit slower to start, which was nice because the previous day was packed! After sailing overnight, and enjoying breakfast in the ship’s Restaurant (click here to read more about the breakfast options on Viking river cruises), we arrived at the Mannheim, Germany docking location at 10:00 AM.
After breakfast we opted to partake in the included shore excursion, which was a walking tour of downtown Mannheim and the Yuletide Market. For this excursion, we boarded a tour bus at the ship and drove about 20 minutes into Mannheim for the walking tour. The docking location is far away from Mannheim, so signing up for this tour is the only way to get into town without paying for alternative forms of transportation.
Missing the mark at the Christmas market in Mannheim, Germany
I’ll be honest, Mannheim was my least favorite city and market to visit on the whole trip. We broke away from our tour group early to walk around the Christmas market on our own. While there were definitely some gems at this market, overall it didn’t resonate with me.
You might be wondering what about this market turned me off. I found parts of the Mannheim Christmas market felt very commercialized and generic compared to other markers we visited. Note, for example, the Lilo and Stitch plushies pictured above, which were for sale at the market! We also only had an hour and a half to explore before heading back to the ship. Ultimately, this was too short a time to really do anything meaningful. If I could have skipped any city on this trip, it would have been this one – and after talking with several other of our cruise-mates, they also agreed. This might be a good day to consider the paid optional excursion ‘Highlights of Heidelberg.’
Around 12:15 we hopped back on the tour bus which brought us back to the ship. We set sail at 12:45 PM heading toward Speyer, Germany.
A relaxed afternoon of sailing
After getting back from Mannheim we had a late lunch on board our river cruise ship the Viking Kara. We were lucky enough to snag one of the coveted tables in the Aquavit Terrace, which was light and bright and a bit more intimate than the on-board Restaurant.
For lunch Amiana enjoyed an espresso martini and the Cannelloni al Forno, which resembled lasagna, and Gwyn enjoyed the orange and carrot soup, an energy bowl salad, and the coconut cream passionfruit dessert, which was delicious! We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying some downtime in our cabin. A port talk was offered at 2:45 pm. You can learn more about Viking river cruise port talks and onboard activities by clicking here.
An evening at a lively Christmas market in Speyer, Germany
After sailing all afternoon we arrived in Speyer, Germany at 4:00 PM. Given that the Speyer docking location was just a short walk from the Christmas market, we opted to walk about a mile into town to explore Speyer on our own. However, guests could have also joined the included excursion which was a walking tour of the Speyer and its Christmas market.
Speyer was incredibly cute and charming! The Christmas market was set at the base of a beautiful Speyer Cathedral. It spanned several city blocks until it reached the Am Altportel, the towering “old gate” of the city. This market felt much less commercialized than Mannheim, and the abundance of twinkle lights really made for a beautiful setting. We had plenty of time to walk around, explore the market, and window shop at a few local businesses including a fancy local chocolate shop. Because this was a smaller town, we felt that the two and a half hours we walked around was plenty of time to explore!
Dinner and drinks on the Viking Kara
While there was a lot of food and drink at the Speyer market, we opted to walk back to the ship to enjoy dinner at the Restaurant. Amiana had the French onion soup as well as a roast Chateaubriand bearnaise (which was fitting since tomorrow was our first stop in France), and Gwyn enjoyed the spicy bean chili and mango lassie cake for dessert.
All aboard time was 8:45 PM, at which point we departed for overnight sailing to Strasbourg, France. Lee, the ship’s program director, hosted a game of trivia in the Lounge at 9 PM. We enjoyed drinks from the bar in the Longe while being reminded of how bad we are at trivia!
Travel Tip: If you would like to explore the port towns on your own, stop by the ship’s front desk beforehand and ask for a map of the town. Guest services will provide a small paper map and highlight some of the main streets and “must see” locations.
I hope you found part two of our Viking river cruise review helpful! You can find parts 1 and 3 of our Viking Christmas river cruise recap here. You can also learn more about what to expect on a Viking river cruise, including the food, rooms, and included amenities and activities, by clicking here.
