Rhine Cruise Cancelled. Need Suggestions

some info on Bruges: 36 Hours Bruges, Belgium

We loved Bruges! Canal Deluxe B&B was amazing!! Highly recommend it :)

Side trip to Bruges would be wonderful. Then I would drive or take train to Alsace area of France, then Strasbourg, then to Zurich via Basel.

I would add at least another night in Ghent and do a day trip to Bruges (depending on what day of the week...avoid Monday if you want to see their museums) or just move to Bruges for 2 more nights. Or stay in Ghent for 4 nights.

Are you interested in Paris? I'd go for a week in Paris. Have you been anywhere in France? Maybe 3 nights in Colmar or more if you are wine folks? Lyon? Dijon? All are in the direction of Zurich.

I'm sorry your cruise was cancelled but glad you have been asking questions here so you can get good advice for a clean slate, lol!!

you could very easily spend two or three nights in Bruges.

Maybe I am missing something but why do you not add on two or three more nights in Brussels. Can you change your hotel dates in Ghent. Why not one more night in Ghent?

How about going to Amsterdam or Paris? You are in Europe where there is great train service and it is easy enough to go from one country to the next? Even if it is out of your way, go and come back.

How about another city in Switzerland? How about a city in Germany or maybe two cities in Germany?

But I admit that I do not have a map of Europe in front of me and I do not know what is in between Ghent and Zurich.

I am throwing out some ideas

Have you been to Lucerne before? It’s an easy train ride from Zurich and a gorgeous area.

Great suggestions, everyone. Thanks and keep them coming.

We have been to Paris, so by my wife's rule, we can't go back. Also we've been to Lucerne several times.

We have: 1 night in Brussels (that is set in stone because I made non-cancellable reservation.) Same with the 2 nights in Ghent.

So for the 14 days in between Ghent and Zurich: 3 nights in Bruges, 4 nights in Strasbourg, 3 nights in Colmar, and 4 nights in Heidelberg? Of course, there are travel days in between these places, so it's not that long in any place.

One option could simply be to book the cities you would have visited on the river cruise.

If it’s a river cruise that started in Ghent, there’s a good chance that Antwerp, Amsterdam, Cologne, Strasbourg, Breisach, and Basel were on the route.
All of these places can also be reached by train.

Ok so you are figuring it out

But if you really like Ghent, you can. probably add on another night or two and if you really liked Brussels, you could probably return from Ghent for another couple of nights before continuing on..

I have only been to Bruges and I can tell you that you will love it and it could be very easy to spend three nights there from what little I saw. I botched my only visit but am going to return in 2027.

Your situation is probably one more good reason why you should always book hotel rooms with free cancellation.

I agree with Windyram: follow the path of the cruise.
On your proposed itinerary, I think a whole week split between Strasbourg and Colmar is too much. Choose one or the other and stay max 5 nights. Heidelberg is out of your way. Maybe Freiburg im Breisgau or Augsburg? Baden Baden or another spa town?
At this point, it might be a question of where you can get a room.

One train change from Bruges to Strasbourg. I'd do:

Strasbourg. Worth a couple of days with the museums and wandering around. Gengenbach and Wissembourg are both close by (in different directions). Baden-Baden and Freiburg both just over an hour.

Colmar, although very close to Strasbourg, has easy and fairly frequent public transport to the more famous wine villages; Riquewihr, Ribeauville, Keyserberg, Bergheim. The bus service to Eguisheim is not frequent but it's only about a ten minute taxi ride. Basel is close by (nice old town, museums, and day river cruise).

Bern. I was there for a week as a youth, can't imagine the old town architecture has changed. A splendid place with attractive streets and many museums. I'd make the effort to get to see Gruyeres (small but in a wonderful location). Fribourg is close by. Thun for the lake, plus the other lakes west of Bern. Direct train from Bern to the airport.

After Ghent, you could spend a few days exploring Luxembourg. It’s a lovely little country, and all public transportation is free. You can stay in Luxembourg City or in tiny Ettelbruck, if you’re planning on exploring. Ettelbruck is a transportation hub — all trains and buses seem to connect there. It has a charming plaza and even a good gelato shop. If you have any interest in WWII, there’s an amazing huge museum in nearby Diekirch. Or you could visit Vianden, with its castle. Or Clervaux, where the “Family of Man” photographs are on permanent exhibit.

Then hop on a train to Metz, and Strasburg, Basel and Zurich.

"So for the 14 days in between Ghent and Zurich: 3 nights in Bruges, 4 nights in Strasbourg, 3 nights in Colmar, and 4 nights in Heidelberg? Of course, there are travel days in between these places, so it's not that long in any place."

The cancelled Rhine CRUISE does not mean you must give up on the Rhine, which is what this plan above will do, sadly.

Stage 1: Gent > Koblenz, gateway town to the most scenic part of the Rhine, the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, and to multiple old-world wine towns. It's only 4 hours by train.

https://www.visit-koblenz.de/en/region/middle-rhine-valley

Right near Koblenz:

1) The village of Braubach and Marksburg Castle:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g642094-d268085-Reviews-Marksburg-Braubach_Rhineland_Palatinate.html
https://delveintoeurope.com/braubach-germany/

2) Cochem, on the Mosel River, a Rhine tributary:

https://img.fotocommunity.com/reichsburg-cochem-mosel-d3c1f03b-fafb-44ea-ae46-aa69ba7ebdb7.jpg?height=1080

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g198637-Activities-oa0-Cochem_Rhineland_Palatinate.html

(Take the "Cochemer Sesselbahn" - the chairlift - and/or walk up to Reichsburg Castle for awesome views of the town and river valley.)

Also - I strongly recommend a sightseeing cruise from Cochem to Beilstein and back (1 hour each way.) The beautiful Mosel River is not affected by low water conditions!

https://img.fotocommunity.com/die-mosel-bei-beilstein-001-8163544a-8fe6-4652-be5a-29bb9e65b7b3.jpg?height=1080

https://www.moselrundfahrten.de/en/trips/boat-tours/half-day-trip/55

A short train or bus ride will get you to Braubach and to Cochem.

After your stay in Koblenz, you will be much closer to the other destinations you have in mind.

Too right, Russ. The Mosel Valley does not disappoint.

I’m sorry your river cruise was canceled, but glad they didn’t string you along and put you on a bus tour when you got there. Which cruise company is it?

I’m also glad you are asking this question, because I think we are about to cancel the Rhine River cruise we have booked for next May (Basel to Amsterdam, on Viking). It was going to be our relaxation after 2 weeks of schlepping around Switzerland on the RS Best of Switzerland tour. Given the magnitude of the problem this year, I'm not confident that water levels will be sufficiently recovered by then. We had a lovely 2-week river cruise with Tauck 12 years ago that covered the best part of the Rhine, so we're not heart-broken to skip this one. So I'm contemplating doing basically the same thing you're doing, in reverse.

So I thank you and all the folks who are throwing out ideas!

I’d do the highlights of your original cruise. Spend several days between Cologne and Mainz, depending on your interests. This would include some on the Mosel and I also like the Lahn. Then I would skip to Strasbourg, Colmar and the Black Forest

Here is our latest thinking, not set in stone yet.

We are locked into the first night in Brussels, and the next 2 nights in Ghent, because when we were planning to take the river cruise, we decided to spend a couple of days in those places before getting on the boat, and we made non-cancelable reservations. So those are locked in.

So, in terms of what to do from day 4 to day 16, after lots of discussion and watching some videos, we are leaning very heavily towards spending all of that time in Strasbourg and Colmar. Find a direct train to Strasbourg, spend half the time in Strasbourg, move to Colmar, see Colmar, then rent a car and drive around the area for a few days. Then on to Zurich.

There seem to be plenty of nice hotels available in Strasbourg and Colmar for those days. And we've never been to the Alsace area, which looks really beautiful and interesting. Our style of travel is not to go go go from one place to another. We like to travel more slowly. So this is our tentative plan as of now. Subject to change at any moment.

Because my wife wants to go without reservations. To be spontaneous. And making the wife happy is essential to having a great trip.

Find a direct train to Strasbourg

That won't be possible for a trip between Ghent and Strasbourg. You'll have to change trains at least once (in this case, at Brussels-Midi).

I’m sorry your river cruise was canceled, but glad they didn’t string you along and put you on a bus tour when you got there. Which cruise company is it?

Grand Circle. We have taken one other cruise with them, Bucharest to Budapest, and we were very happy with it.

Travel without an itinerary. It’ll have to be w/o a car unless you can stomach one way drop off fees.

Visit the Harz Mtns….then the Alsace, then all of southern Germany, maybe loop into Italy. I’ve done portions of all of that by car. Rail would cause some contraction but still not impossible.

Travel light like RS does and make it a non posh adventure starting when you step off the plane in Brussels.

Good luck and have fun doing something different than a river tour.

Good to hear that about Grand Circle, other Marty. I’ll add that to my repository of info for future travel. We’ve done 2 river cruises with Tauck and they are top notch, but they are also top dollar!

A lot of great suggestions being given.
I understand that your hotel dates at the beginning of the trip are non-refundable but there could be a way around that. If you are looking to add nights to the reservation I think if you speak directly with the hotel they will be willing to accommodate your request. So you could then begin with 2 nights in Brussels and 3 nights in Ghent, which will cover Bruges.