3
Daniel Leinbach -
4 years ago
We did the day long Rhine Valley boat tour.
TL;DR The river tour is 2 of the 8 hours. Driver is good. You are paying for convince, since they arrange transportation and food. Probably worth it.
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The description said an 8 hour tour with lunch included and a wine tasting. All of that is technically correct.
We left Frankfurt in a very nice bus, on time, and drove to Rüdesheim. When we got there the driver/guide took us up to the top of the vineyards for a chair lift ride. This was and additional charge and my pictures are from the off season, but I still don't think it was worth the extra charge.
After we got off the lift we went for lunch. There were two options turkey schnitzel and Vegetarian.
The place we went to had the most eclectic and gawdy display of maritime and wine themes. The food was included, but all drinks and desserts were an additional charge, even water.
Keep in mind this was a river tour and we have now spent about 4 hours driving and eating of our 8 hour tour.
After lunch we walked around for a bit and then made our way to the peir. The boat was nice and the speakers played in German, English, French, Spanish and Japanese. Seeing the Rhine from the river is just amazing. Drinks on board were additional. The boat tour was about 1.5 hours.
The same bus driver picked us up and brought us to the same gawdy place for the "wine tasting". We got one red, two white, and ice wine. Each sample was a thimble size and barely enough to taste. I realize it is a tasting, but this was a thimble.
Finally we drove back to Frankfurt.
The driver was very funny and informative. At this point we spent maybe 2 hours of the river tour on the river. I would say it is worth the cost because of the hassle of getting to Rüdesheim, finding a boat, eating, and getting back is a lot of work. The river tour was over the best part of the Rhine, but a majority of your time is spent traveling.