Best Christmas river cruises

Germany has loads of famous Christmas markets, which is why we’ve lined up a bunch of them on our Gluhwein on the Rhine itinerary. This four-night sailing strings together iconic gems – Cologne, Dusseldorf and Koblenz – like a festive greatest-hits playlist. You’ll set sail from Cologne – home to a UNESCO-ticked cathedral, a first-class beer scene and a charming old town. Come winter, the city goes full sparkle mode – festive markets take over, twinkling with lights and lined with stalls serving steaming mugs of mulled wine, hand-painted glühwein mugs and spiced lebkuchen (that’s gingerbread cookies to me and you). Dusseldorf’s a great place to get to know Germany’s modern and Medieval sides – the city mingles modern malls and boutiques with a storybook old town. Then it's on to Koblenz, where the celebrations go big. And by big, we mean the town hall’s transformation into a life-sized advent calendar.

The Mistletoe and Rhine itinerary ticks off Dusseldorf, Cologne, Rudesheim, Frankfurt and Koblenz. You can snap sights like St Paul's Square and the Römerberg old town centre while you’re in Frankfurt, and check out Christmas markets in Cologne. The line-up includes the one outside the city’s huge cathedral, where you can spend an afternoon picking up handmade gifts to the sound of holiday music from the fairy light-strung performance stage. Sounds dreamy, right? In Koblenz, located in the Rhineland-Palatinate wine-growing region, you can watch the rooftop advent calendar open at the town hall and sample traditional German stollen from the market stalls. You’ve also got a stop in Rudesheim, where things are a little quainter – don’t be fooled by this town’s cosy-looking costume, though. It comes alive in December with global-themed festivities dubbed the ‘Christmas Market of Nations’. The food-and-drink roster covers everything from Far Eastern to traditional German flavours. Top tip: check out the life-size nativity scene – it’s one of the biggest in Europe.

Check out our line-up of festive cruises on the Rhine.