The Rhine passes more Christmas markets than any other cruise river, from Basel's old-town squares to Cologne's cathedral market five minutes from the quay. The catch is that Strasbourg, Colmar and Heidelberg sit a shuttle or coach ride from the ship, so the sailing you pick decides whether you see them lit up or in daylight.
Six Rhine sailings worth booking, each for a different reason. We rechecked every fare on the line's own site on 3 November 2026 where it would show one, and the ones we couldn't recheck say so.
$5,449 for 7 nights
Christmas Markets on the RhineBasel to Amsterdam, 2–9 Dec, 7 nights
Coach trips to Colmar, Baden-Baden and Heidelberg take it to 12 markets in a week, and every one of them is open on the day. The weak spots are long walks in Strasbourg and Amsterdam, and the $5,449 fare is the one AmaWaterways' own site showed for this sailing on 3 November.
€1,093 for 5 nights
Rhein AdventszauberCologne round trip, 3–8 Dec
A-ROSA prints every port time on its own site, which almost nobody else does. This one stays in Rüdesheim until 18:00, gives you Strasbourg until 18:00 from the Kehl dock and parks in Koblenz from 18:30 to 21:30. Its cheapest cabins had sold out by 3 November.
€834 for 4 nights
Rhein AdventstraumCologne round trip, 2–6 Dec
Four nights with Mainz from 19:00 to midnight, Frankfurt until two in the morning and an evening in Koblenz. The 2 December departure has gone up from €634 to €834 since October, but the 18 December one still starts at €634.
£4,199 for 7 nights
Rhine Holiday MarketsCologne to Basel, 25 Nov – 2 Dec
Tips, excursions, drinks and transfers are in the fare, and Uniworld takes you back into Cologne and Rüdesheim after dinner. It sails early, so Strasbourg and Basel are open but only just into their first week.
Sold out for 2026
Christmas on the Rhine and MoselleTrier to Basel, 7–14 Dec
Trier, Bernkastel-Kues and Cochem before the Rhine, which makes it the only way on this page to see the Moselle's wine-town markets. Viking sells it as the river part of an 11-night trip from Paris to Zürich, and its site showed every 2026 departure sold out on 3 November. In 2027 it runs 12 times from $3,799.
£3,579 for 7 nights
Rhine Christmas MarketsBasel to Amsterdam, 16–23 Dec
The last Scenic departure before Christmas still lands on a working market every day, finishing with Düsseldorf on the 22nd and Amsterdam's Christmas Village on the 23rd. On 3 November it was the cheapest Scenic Rhine departure, with flights from the UK.
Every market a Rhine Christmas sailing stops at, from Basel down to Amsterdam, with CW's 2026 dates. Dark to close runs from sunset on 12 December to the market's weekday closing time, which is the window you want your ship to stay for.
| Market | 2026 dates | Dark to close | From the ship | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BaselRhine | 26 Nov – 23 Dec, Wienachtsdorf to 3 Jan | 16:38–20:30Daily 11:00–20:30 | 17–20 min on foot from the St Johann dock | Two old-town squares, Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz, plus the new Wienachtsdorf. Pricey and lovely, and your first or last night is the only time you'll see it lit up. |
| ColmarCoach from Breisach | 23 Nov – 29 Dec | 16:37–19:00Mon–Thu 11:00–19:00, Fri–Sun to 20:00 | Coach trip from Breisach, whose own Adventstreff is tiny | The prettiest town on any Rhine itinerary. If your ship offers Colmar instead of the Black Forest, take Colmar. |
| StrasbourgRhine | 27 Nov – 24 Dec | 16:34–21:00Daily 11:00–21:00 | 38 min on foot from Quai des Belges, longer from Port du Rhin, and a tram ride from Kehl | The best market on the river and the one ships serve worst. Take the shuttle in, eat there and get a taxi back. |
| Baden-BadenCoach trip | 26 Nov – 6 Jan | 16:31–21:00Daily 11:00–21:00 | Coach trip, usually on the Strasbourg day | Small and polished, in front of the Kurhaus. Pleasant, but not worth giving up an evening in Strasbourg for. |
| SpeyerRhine | 23 Nov – 10 Jan | 16:28–20:00Stalls 11:00–20:00, food to 21:00 | Coach from Germersheim or Mannheim, Speyer is short of berths | One long street between the cathedral and the Altpörtel, and it runs past New Year. |
| HeidelbergCoach from Mannheim | 23 Nov – 22 Dec | 16:26–21:00Sun–Fri 11:00–21:00, Sat to 22:00 | About an hour each way by coach | Six old-town squares under the castle. One of the prettiest on the river, so take the trip when it's offered. |
| MannheimRhine | 23 Nov – 23 Dec | 16:27–21:00Daily 11:00–21:00 | Ships often moor in industrial docks | Mostly the coach park for Heidelberg. Its own market is the fallback if you stay on board. |
| MainzRhine | 26 Nov – 23 Dec | 16:25–20:30Sun–Thu 11:00–20:30, Fri–Sat to 21:00 | Dock not confirmed, the city has five berths | Right below the cathedral and full of locals. Best on a sailing that stays into the evening, like A-ROSA's. |
| FrankfurtMain | 23 Nov – 22 Dec | 16:23–21:0010:00–21:00, Sun from 11:00 | 11 min on foot from Untermainkai | Big, central and easy, with the Römerberg carousel. It shuts on 22 December. |
| RüdesheimRhine | 19 Nov – 23 Dec | 16:27–20:0011:00–20:00, Fri–Sat to 21:00 | The market starts a few streets from the riverfront | The Market of Nations in a tiny wine town. Touristy and fun, and far better after dark than at lunchtime. |
| KoblenzRhine | 20 Nov – 3 Jan | 16:27Sunset. Hours not in our data yet | 7–11 min on foot from Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer | Several old-town squares an easy walk from the ship. After 22 December only the food and drink stalls stay. |
| BonnRhine | 18 Nov – 23 Dec | 16:27–21:00Stalls 12:00–21:00 | Dock not confirmed | Münsterplatz and the streets around it. A good evening stop on Riviera's sailing, which moors here overnight. |
| CologneRhine | 13 Nov – 23 Dec, two run into January | 16:26–21:00Most 11:00–21:00 or 22:00 | 5 min on foot from Frankenwerft, 13 from Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer | The easiest great market stop on any river, with several markets in walking distance and the cathedral one right by the quay. |
| DüsseldorfRhine | 19 Nov – 30 Dec | 16:26–20:00Sun–Thu 11:00–20:00, Fri–Sat to 21:00 | Dock not confirmed | Themed markets spread through the old town and along the Königsallee. Closed on Sunday 22 November. |
| AmsterdamStart or finish | 3 – 27 Dec | 16:27–21:00Daily 12:00–21:00 | Across the city from the Piet Heinkade terminal, take the tram | One Christmas Village on Museumplein rather than a market town, and before 3 December there's nothing to see. |
Dates and hours are from CW's market data, checked against the organisers in October and November 2026. Sunset times are for 12 December.
Every bulb is a day of the sailing. Gold means the market at that stop is open that day, red means it isn't, and dark means there's no market to speak of. Open any sailing for port times, where the ship really docks and how far it is to the stalls.
Scenic · Scenic river ship
Budapest to Amsterdam · 25 Nov – 9 Dec · 14 nights · from £4,766 per person with UK flights, checked 3 November 2026
Embark
Disembark
Scenic sells this route in both directions on 24 and 25 November, so check you're booking Budapest to Amsterdam. Its own day list gives the ports but not the times.
AmaWaterways · AmaPrima
Basel to Amsterdam · 2–9 Dec · 7 nights · from $5,449 per person on AmaWaterways' own site, checked 3 November 2026
Embark
Colmar trip
Market and old town, Baden-Baden in the afternoon
Heidelberg or Speyer, then on to Rüdesheim later in the day
Rüdesheim by day, then the Rhine Gorge to Lahnstein
Afternoon ashore, optional Cologne
Utrecht in the morning
Disembark
The 25 Nov sailing of this route boards in Basel on 25 November, a day before Basel's market opens. The $5,449 fare for the 2 December AmaPrima sailing is from AmaWaterways' own site, checked on 3 November 2026.
Avalon Waterways · Avalon Imagery II
Basel to Prague · 10–21 Dec · 11 nights · from $6,384 per person in October, not rechecked
On board by 5 pm
Black Forest or Freiburg, optional Colmar in the afternoon
Optional Heidelberg
Optional Rüdesheim
A Main village stop
Docked overnight
Off the ship after breakfast, coach to Prague
Free afternoon for the markets
Tour ends
The cruise ends in Nuremberg, then two hotel nights in Prague. Avalon's site blocked our check on 3 November 2026, so the price is October's, from a booking site.
Scenic · Scenic river ship
Basel to Amsterdam · 16–23 Dec · 7 nights · from £3,579 per person with UK flights, checked 3 November 2026
Fly into Zurich, board in Basel
Colmar or Freiburg market tour
Heidelberg trip
Rhine Gorge, then Cologne
Disembark
Scenic's own day list for this departure names the ports but not the times, so ask Scenic for them. Its 24 November departure on the same route had sold out by 3 November, and the 15 December one started at £4,630.
A-ROSA · A-ROSA SILVA
Cologne round trip · 3–8 Dec · 5 nights · from €1,093 per person, checked 3 November 2026
Sails 17:00
10:00–18:00
08:00–19:00, transfer to Speyer
07:00–18:00, transfer to Strasbourg
Mainz 06:00–12:00, then Koblenz 18:30–21:30
Arrives 05:00
"Strasbourg" is the dock at Kehl and "Speyer" is the dock at Germersheim, so both need a transfer. The cheapest cabins on this departure had sold out by 3 November.
Viking · Viking Hild
Trier to Basel · 7–14 Dec · 7 nights · sold out on Viking's site, checked 3 November 2026
Embark
Disembark
Viking sells this as the river part of its 11-night Christmas on the Rhine & Moselle from Paris to Zürich, and its site showed every 2026 departure sold out on 3 November 2026. In 2027 it runs 12 times from $3,799.
Uniworld · S.S. Antoinette
Cologne to Basel · 25 Nov – 2 Dec · 7 nights · from £4,199 per person, checked 3 November 2026
Embark
Tour, then an optional evening at the markets after dinner
Koblenz in the morning, optional evening at Rüdesheim's market
Baden-Baden
Coach tour, free afternoon, shuttles to and from the ship
Walking tour with the market
Disembark
A-ROSA · A-ROSA AQUA or BRAVA
Cologne round trip · 2–6 Dec · 4 nights · from €834 per person, checked 3 November 2026
Sails 17:00
Rüdesheim 10:00–16:00, then Mainz 19:00–23:59
In port 06:00 to 02:00 the next morning
Loreley at 10:00, Koblenz 15:00–21:30
Arrives 05:00
Other departures of the same sailing start lower, from €634 on 18 December and €684 on 6 December.
CroisiEurope · Standard or premium ship
Strasbourg to Cologne · 1–5 Dec · 4 nights · from £793 per person in CroisiEurope's 2026 brochure, checked 3 November 2026
Boarding 18:00
Speyer or Mannheim, optional Heidelberg
Optional trip, gala dinner
Off at 09:00, no market time
Riviera Travel · MS Riviera Resplendence
Cologne round trip · 5–9 Dec · 4 nights · from $1,699 per person in October, not rechecked
Board late afternoon
Arrive after lunch, in port overnight
Arrive in the afternoon, moored overnight, ashore after dinner
Moors in the morning, afternoon at the markets, overnight
Disembark
Riviera says the ship moors by Cologne Cathedral. We didn't get a fare from Riviera's own site on 3 November 2026, so the price is October's, from a booking site.
Scenic · Scenic Jewel
Basel to Amsterdam · 24 Nov – 1 Dec · 7 nights · booked out on Scenic's UK site, checked 3 November 2026
Board, evening welcome
Arrive in the afternoon, Colmar or Freiburg market tour
Arrive early, Heidelberg trip
Arrive in the morning
Rhine Gorge at dawn, sails after dinner
Arrive early morning
Disembark
The 8 Dec sailing in the other direction docks at Kehl, across the river from Strasbourg. Scenic's 16 December departure on the same route was still on sale, and it's on this page too.
Viking · Viking Eldir
Amsterdam to Basel · 2–9 Dec · 7 nights · $3,999 per person, sold out on Viking's site, checked 3 November 2026
Embark
Disembark
Resellers list different port mixes for this sailing. Check the day list before you book. Viking's site showed this departure sold out on 3 November 2026, like every other 2026 Christmas on the Rhine date. In 2027 it runs 71 times from $2,999.
APT · APT Solara
Budapest to Amsterdam · 18 Dec – 2 Jan · 15 nights · from $9,801 per person in October, not rechecked
Embark
Evening palace concert
Linz or Salzburg trip
New Year's Eve
Tour ends
This is a Christmas and New Year sailing, so most of its markets have closed by the time it reaches them.
No sailings match. Try another week or direction.
Pick a Rhine port and the day you're there. We'll tell you whether its market is open and how far it is from the dock.
Each bulb below is one day. The brighter it glows, the more of the 23 Rhine, Main and Moselle markets on these sailings are open. Tap any day to see what's trading.
From Thursday 3 December to Sunday 20 December 2026. Sail inside those dates and the only stops left to match are Miltenberg's three weekends and Dordrecht's four-day market.
23of 23 Rhine markets open
Every Rhine market on these sailings is open. Any port day on this date lands on a working market.
Strasbourg, Würzburg and Nuremberg open on Friday 27 November, and Amsterdam's Christmas Village waits until Thursday 3 December. Basel opens on 26 November, a day before Strasbourg, so a sailing that leaves Basel before then reaches both markets before they've opened.
Sunday 22 November is Totensonntag, and on our data only 1 of the 23 markets is open that day. Cologne, Koblenz, Bonn, Trier and Düsseldorf all stay shut, and most of the rest haven't opened yet.
The Moselle closes first. Bernkastel-Kues and Cochem finish on 20 December, then Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Trier on the 22nd and most of the Rhine on the 23rd. Strasbourg and Nuremberg stay open into Christmas Eve, Strasbourg until 18:00 and Nuremberg until 14:00.
On Christmas Day only Colmar, Baden-Baden and Amsterdam are open, so Christmas-week Rhine sailings are about the ship, not the stalls. If the markets are the point, sail in the first three weeks of December.
Lines sell most Rhine itineraries both ways, and the direction decides which market you reach on which day. On these sailings it matters more than the line you pick.
DownstreamDownstream suits a first trip. You start with an evening at Basel's market and finish in Cologne or Amsterdam, where a hotel night by the stalls is easy to add. AmaWaterways leaves Basel on 2 December and every one of its 12 markets is open on the day.
Just don't go too early. Scenic's 24 November departure reaches Basel and Strasbourg before either has opened and finishes in Amsterdam two days before its Christmas Village does. Its 16 December departure on the same route lands on an open market every day.
✓ Our pick for a first Rhine cruiseUpstreamUpstream is where the dead stops hide. Viking's Amsterdam to Basel sailing on 2 December starts the day before Amsterdam's Christmas Village opens and calls at Dordrecht a week before its four-day market. AmaWaterways sails the other way the same day without a single closed stop.
Upstream works when it starts later or further south. Viking's Moselle sailing from Trier on 7 December and Uniworld's from Cologne on 25 November both reach an open market every day.
A-ROSA and Riviera run four and five-night loops from Cologne, with the cathedral market at both ends. They're the cheapest way onto the Rhine at Christmas and the best for evenings, because both lines say when they're in port and both stay late. Only A-ROSA's five-night loop reaches Strasbourg.
Markets are at their best after dark. On 12 December the sun sets at 16:23 in Frankfurt and 16:38 in Basel, so what decides your evenings is how long the ship stays.
No Rhine port publishes a ship register like Passau's on the Danube, so the hard evidence is what the lines print. A-ROSA prints every arrival and departure, Riviera and Uniworld describe their overnights and after-dinner outings, and the rest keep their times to themselves until you're on board.
Nights each line's own day list has the ship in port after dark or overnight, out of the nights on board. AmaWaterways, Viking, CroisiEurope, APT and Scenic's December departure don't publish port times.
Leave at four and you sail before dark. Stay until six and you get an hour and a half of lit-up market.
A whole evening below the cathedral, or one hour of market before the ship leaves at noon.
Ask for port times before you pay. Lines have them months ahead even when the website doesn't, and the direction you sail can turn a lunchtime stop into an evening one. If they won't say, ask what time the last coach or shuttle goes back to the ship, which matters most in Strasbourg.
Some Rhine sailings turn off into the Moselle at Koblenz or the Main at Mainz. That's where the small wine-town and Franconian markets are, and where the dates need the most care.
Opens 20 November and closes 22 December, on the Hauptmarkt and the square in front of the cathedral, both free to walk in. It's shut on Sunday 22 November. Viking's Moselle sailing starts here on 7 December.
A Moselle wine town with a market from 20 November to 20 December, 11:00–19:00 and until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. It finishes on the 20th, so the last sailings before Christmas miss it.
Open 27 November to 20 December, with the same hours as Bernkastel-Kues. The castle above the river is the reason to come, and the market is the bonus.
Viking's sailing stops here, but we haven't found 2026 dates for a market, so treat it as a walk through a wine village.
The easiest walk on the Main, six minutes from the Alter Kranen berths to the market by the Marienkapelle, from 27 November to 23 December. Some ships use the river port 6 km downstream instead.
Open on three weekends only, 4–6, 11–13 and 18–20 December. A weekday call gets you a pretty town and no stalls.
The market runs 24 November to 23 December, but ships tie up in the industrial port. Lines coach you to the Konzerthalle, and a taxi is about €12.
The canal port is 8 km out. Take a taxi, about €24, or bus 60 and the U1, and go back after dark if your ship stays the night, like Avalon's does.
The walk from the berth each line names to the main market square. Under 15 minutes means you can wander back at dusk on your own. Further out means a shuttle, and shuttles keep their own hours.
Some ships tie up across the Rhine in Germany. Tram D gets you into the centre in about 20 minutes.
About 15 km upriver, so the cathedral market is a coach ride away.
About an hour out by coach, so check which dock your booking names.
For the most markets, AmaWaterways' Christmas Markets on the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam on 2 December. Its coach trips to Colmar, Baden-Baden and Heidelberg add up to 12 markets in a week, and all of them are open on the day.
For evenings, A-ROSA's five-night Rhein Adventszauber from Cologne stays in port after dark at four of its five stops, and it publishes every time.
Strasbourg, Cologne and Colmar are the big three, with Basel, Heidelberg and Rüdesheim close behind. Cologne is the easy one, five minutes from the Frankenwerft quay.
Strasbourg is 38 minutes' walk from the nearest berth and Colmar is a coach trip from Breisach, so check that your sailing actually takes you in rather than just stopping nearby.
From late November to just before Christmas. A-ROSA's first Advent sailing leaves Cologne on 23 November, and the 13 sailings on this page leave between 24 November and 18 December.
For the markets, sail between 3 and 20 December, when every full-season Rhine market is open.
From €634 per person for four nights on A-ROSA's Cologne loop leaving on 18 December, and €834 on its 2 December departure. CroisiEurope's four-night Strasbourg to Cologne sailing starts at £793 in its brochure.
Seven nights costs £3,579 with Scenic including UK flights, £4,199 with Uniworld, whose fare includes tips, drinks and excursions, and $5,449 with AmaWaterways. Viking's seven-night Rhine sailings had all sold out. All of those were checked on the lines' own sites on 3 November 2026.
The Rhine if you want the most markets, the Danube if you want more of them after dark. Rhine sailings pass more than twice as many markets, while the Danube gets dark about half an hour earlier and more of its markets are a short walk from the ship.
Our Danube Christmas market cruises page checks every Danube sailing the same way.
Most longer ones stop for Strasbourg, though the ship ties up 38 minutes' walk from the market or across the river in Kehl. Colmar is a coach trip from Breisach, offered by AmaWaterways, Avalon and Scenic on these sailings, sometimes as an option against Freiburg or the Black Forest.
On some sailings. A-ROSA publishes its port times and stays into the evening at most stops, Riviera moors overnight in Rüdesheim, Bonn and Cologne, and Uniworld takes you back into Cologne and Rüdesheim after dinner.
The other lines don't publish times, so ask before you book, and add a hotel night in Basel or Cologne at either end for a guaranteed evening.
Lines swap ships, bus you between ports or keep the ship docked and coach you out each day. At noon on 3 November 2026 the official gauge at Kaub read 19 cm, which is below its average low-water mark according to Germany's federal waterways administration, so read your line's policy before you book.
Riviera pays compensation automatically, A-ROSA lets Premium fares rebook free until 15 days before departure, and Uniworld's terms give no right to a refund.
From the south, Basel, Strasbourg, Speyer, Mannheim, Mainz, Rüdesheim, Koblenz, Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf sit on the river itself, with Colmar, Baden-Baden and Heidelberg a coach ride away and Amsterdam at the end.
Frankfurt and Würzburg are on the Main, and Trier, Bernkastel-Kues and Cochem on the Moselle.
Sleep in the old towns and you're at the stalls every evening, whatever a ship's timetable would have allowed. These are the fastest checked times in CW's rail data, and our trip planner strings them together.
Colmar and Strasbourg are 27 minutes apart by train, so Colmar becomes your evening instead of a coach excursion.
You miss the Rhine Gorge, the one stretch a ship does better, but you get Heidelberg's squares and the Römerberg after dark.
Two big market cities 20 minutes apart, then a direct ICE to Amsterdam's Christmas Village.
Every confirmed 2026 opening date and Christmas-week hours in one email. Once a season, no drip.