River cruisers dock in a variety of locations. Some tie up within steps of the city centers; others not so much. In 2019, I was on a Moselle cruise that I thought would dock in Trier. Turned out, we dropped anchor 12 miles away.
A friend and I decided to pedal the route to Trier. We spent most of the morning getting there and most of the afternoon getting back. While the ride took us through beautiful countryside, there were traffic-snagged sections to navigate.
We got to see very little of Trier, Germany’s oldest city. Fortunately, I had been there a few times before. On one of those river cruises, our ship docked within walking distance of Trier’s primary attraction, the old Roman gates known as Porta Nigra, originally constructed in the year 186. You can read more about Trier here.
Knowing where your ship will dock can come in handy when planning how you’d like to spend your time ashore. While I chose to cycle to Trier on that trip in 2019, others chose to “shuttle” in, a journey of about 30 minutes. Obviously, they had time to explore the city, and that was important to those who had never been there before.
In this post, I thought it would be useful to outline where your ship may dock at several of the ports of call on the Rhine and Moselle. This information is particularly useful to those of us on my Dream Cruise starting on October 2, 2024. I offer all of this with a caveat: Docking locations are subject to changes. This info is what was currently planned when I wrote this post.
By the way, if you’re viewing this on a mobile device, you may need to view the tables horizontally for the full display of data.
| Date | Port | Arrival/Departure | Dock |
| 10/3 – 3 | Amsterdam | O/N – 1 p.m. | Westerdoksdijk |
| 10/4-5 | Cologne | 2:30 p.m. – 5:30 a.m. | Adenauer 9 |
| 10/5-6 | Lahnstein | 2:30 p.m. – 5 a.m. | Riverdocks |
| 10/6 | Cochem | 2 p.m. – 8 p.m. | Stadt Steiger |
| 10/7 | Piesport (Trier) | 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. | |
| 10/7-8 | Bernkastel | 8 p.m. – 6 p.m. | Kues No. 1 / KD |
| 10/9-10 | Rudesheim | 2:30 p.m. – 2 a.m. | Stadt Steiger |
| 10/10 | Ludwigshafen | 12 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. | Riverdocks |
| 10/11 | Strasbourg | 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. | P12 |
| 10/12 | Breisach | 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. | Vogelgrun 1 |
| 10/13 | Basel | O/N | Steiger 1 / St. Johann |
*Subject to Change
Cruiseport Amsterdam can show you where ships are docked. For my Dream Cruise, current plans are for AmaPrima to be docked at Westerdoksdijk. You can find its location here. Westerdoksdijk is a 19-minute walk or 8-minute bike ride from Central Station, about the same distance away from Central Station as AmaPrima was in the photo above.
In Cologne, AmaPrima is scheduled to dock at Adenauer 9, a 17-minute walk (4-minute bike ride) along the river to the Cologne Cathedral. It’s a pleasant walk, and a flat one for the most part. See Britton’s story about Cologne excursions.
Lahnstein requires a motor coach transfer to visit Lahneck Castle, one of the included excursions on our Dream Cruise. There’s plenty more to do from Lahnstein, including the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress tour and cable car ride to Koblenz, the Lahneck Castle hike or the “Two Rivers” bike tour.
In Cochem, Bernkastel and Rudesheim, ships dock within walking distance of the charming city centers. For a full list of tours offered in these cities, see this post.
Ludwigshafen and Mannheim are cities that sideby side. You could walk to the city center of Mannheim, though it’s a long walk. No one does that. You’d be much better off to take one of the tours to Heidelberg.
From Ludwigshafen, you could also tour the Mannheim Baroque Palace, Schwetzingen Gardens, join the Heidleberg Philosopher’s Path hike or do the Ladenburg bike tour. I did the Philosopher’s Path Hike several years ago. It was worthwhile, though we only got to see a little of Heidelberg as most of the focus was on the hike, across the Neckar river from Heidelberg. In May, I cycled to Ladenburg while cruising AmaWaterways. I would recommend this only for experienced cyclists as some of the greenways were busy with couples pushing strollers, skateboards, other cyclists and all sorts of activity. I wrote about the cycling excursion here.
If you’re able to see the map above, you’ll note that on my Ama cruise this past May, we docked away from the city center. Most river cruisers do the same, with many docking on the German side of the Rhine in Kehl, Germany. In May, we docked on the French side in an industrial harbor. It was an easy pedal, however, into the city center, and in fact, it’s where our bike tour began.
For Breisach, we docked across the Rhine from the city. I’d recommend a bike or a coach transfer if you want to see Breisach. However, for those who have not done so, a visit to Riquewihr is a good choice, as is the Black Forest Hike. Other may want to visit Freiburg or join a Breisach wine country bike tour. I wrote a little about this bike ride here.
Our cruise ends in Basel, and Ama often docks at Steiger 1 / St. Johann. There is a tram service within a few steps of the white building in the background in the photo above. I used the tram to get from the central rail station (I was coming from Paris) to the ship for my Rhine cruise in May. Here’s a link to the Basel tram service schedule and route.
Those of us doing the four-night Swiss tour will get a tour of Basel. Otherwise, the ship arrives late (10 p.m.) and most guests are headed to the airport or train station early for their flights home the next morning. If you want to see Basel, add a day before flying home. Also worth noting is that there are fast trains to Zurich, Paris and Frankfurt for flights home or to extend your vacation.
Maybe you have had some great experience or have some tips and advice for these ports of call. If so, we’d love to hear from you.
