Accessible River Cruising
- acrosbie57
- Apr 18
- 3 min read
A river cruise can offer you a great way to explore some of the most beautiful scenery and famous cities around the world. However, it can also come with a lot of accessibility challenges. This helpful article produced by the Wheelie Good Travel company highlights these challenges further.
While I have no personal direct experience of a river cruise yet. I have however, over the years visited many of the ports served by a typical Rhine Cruise. This is one of Europe’s most famous rivers while traditionally thought of as a German river, a typical week long cruise will also take in Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. The good news is that all of these destinations are easy to access from the UK and have various accessible options for your travels.
Most cruises begin in the Swiss city of Basel. This city is situated at the point where Switzerland meets with Germany and France. There are lots of nice buildings and things to see in the city and I have included some photos from my visit there in 2016 for the Christmas markets.
The next port often visited is Breisach. This offers excursions to both the Black Forest and the fairytale town of Colmar in France. I have included some photos from my trip in 2016. The Black Forest is home to various accessible things to do and places to stay and are accessible for those with disabilities so it is well worth a longer trip to explore further.
Still in France the next port often visited is Strasbourg. This is a large city and home to a large gothic cathedral and European parliament. This is a beautiful city and well worth a visit as shown in my photos from 2014.
These areas have previously featured on two of my blogs allready as hyperlinked below for more access information
Moving onto Germany the next port is often Spyer. This leads onto excursions to the historical city of Heidelberg famous for its castle. The cruise then takes you through the most scenic part of the river, famous for sites such as the Lorely rock and the castles alongside the river. You then reach the city of Koblenz where the Mosel flows into the river. This river is famous for its wine and is another popular cruise route.
You then sail onto the largest city on the Rhine, Cologne which is famous for its cathedral and is home to lots of fun and interesting things to do. A must visit near the cruise port is the Chocolate Museum.
Finally you then continue up the river to the Capital of the Netherlands, famous for its canals. Most cruises often spend a full day in the city before ending after breakfast the following morning for you to begin your journey home. More access information for the city can be found on this blog I collated at the start of the year
There are many other rivers to explore, each with their own scenery and unique features. To help with this we have been fortunate to find some good virtual tours which we have hyperlinked to below.
If there is any river anyone would particularly like to explore further through our monthly meet ups please let us know and we will look to see what we can do.
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