Maximize your Christmas experience by embarking at the height of the holiday market season with daily or near-daily visits to Christmas Markets.
Get "just a taste" of the holidays in mid-November or late December with visits to one or two Christmas Markets during your river cruise.
We are pleased to offer guests the opportunity to experience Floriade in 2022 while sailing along the Rhine River and Dutch and Belgian Waterways between April 14 and October 9. Right outside Amsterdam, this rare experience calls for its visitors to “explore, touch and change” as part of their journey into Floriade – which is set to feature stunning gardens, innovative sustainable gardening exhibits, live entertainment, talk shows, souvenirs and food stalls.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Rhône with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
Based on the overwhelmingly positive response received from the announcement of our first-ever “Soulful Experience” on the Rhône River in 2023, we are delighted to announce four new opportunities for guests to celebrate their heritage and discover Black history and culture along the rivers with us in 2024.
Join award-winning television host and travel expert, Samantha Brown, Godmother of AmaMagna, as we cruise through four countries along the Danube River. Special events and Travel Talks are included on this exclusive sailing.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Danube with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
Explore the rich history of classical music along the Danube River where famous composers lived, worked and performed. Plus, be treated to a variety of live performances on this melodious journey.
Based on the overwhelmingly positive response received from the announcement of our first-ever “Soulful Experience” on the Rhône River in 2023, we are delighted to announce four new opportunities for guests to celebrate their heritage and discover Black history and culture along the rivers with us in 2025
Join award-winning television host and travel expert, Samantha Brown, Godmother of AmaMagna, as we cruise through five countries along the Danube River. Special events and Travel Talks are included on this exclusive sailing.
We invite you to join our incredible cruise on the Douro with a Latin Touch, featuring bilingual cruise managers, daily tours with Spanish-speaking guides, Latin-inspired music nights and other distinctive elements.
We invite our loyal past guests to join us once again on these special Loyalty Cruises, offering unique experiences in multiple ports, commemorative gifts, and many more surprises and delights.
Imagine if there was a way to combine luxury river cruising on the Danube with the opportunity to indulge your passion and play golf? We have created the perfect package to enable you to do just that! Our exclusive Concierge Golf Programme includes 7 nights onboard one of the highest rated ships in Europe, complete with award winning cuisine, a choice of excursions in every port and our unique Twin Balconies, as well as up to 5 rounds of golf at some of the leading championship courses on the continent. Our Programme takes you straight from your ship to the course and back making your golfing experience seamless – Golf and River Cruise truly is a marriage made in heaven.
Hello! "I'm Kristin Karst, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of AmaWaterways and I'm passionate about river cruising. Each month, I love to share with you my thoughts, personal stories, travel tips and latest news on the people and places that help turn every mile of our guests' river cruise experience into one of their most cherished memories!"
Mark Twain, Victor Hugo, J.M.W. Turner and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe are among the many artists and poets who took inspiration from Heidelberg. This despite much of the castle being in ruins.
Heidelberg Castle (sometimes called Schloss Heidelberg) was actually built in several stages. The earliest structure was built in the beginning of the 13th century and expanded into two castles less than a century later. These were further expanded in the years that followed until the armies of the French armies of Sun King Louis XIV burned and blasted them to the ground 400 years later.
In the 19th century, there were numerous discussions whether or not to restore the castle to its original glory. The Grand Duchy of Baden even established a “Castle Field Office” to develop plans to preserve or repair the main buildings. After all, these are among the most important and majestic Renaissance structures in the world and fit with the sweeping Romantic ideas of the time in taking pride in the nation’s illustrious history. However, upon review, these plans were decided as not feasible and only the Friedrichsbau (which was the one structure not completely destroyed) saw a restoration.
Along with the Friedrichsbau, visitors always drawn to the Ottheinrich Building in the Palace. Elaborate sculptures on the façade still stand, memorializing German rulers, figures from antiquity and Roman rule and even Elector Otthenreich himself. An artistically designed fireplace, door jambs and colonnades as well as a ballroom survive. The castle is also home to the German Apothecary Museum, Palace Gardens, a Goethe memorial tablet and two restaurants. Romance is alive here throughout the year – but certain months you can even elect to get married on the grounds.
Think you’ll be thirsty after all that castle exploring? Then the Great Vat, aka the Heidelberg Tun, will be a welcome sight – even if you can’t drink from it. The vat is the world’s biggest wine barrel, with the ability to hold over 58,000 gallons of your favorite pick-me-up. It’s so large that there’s even an adjacent staircase that you need to climb in order to reach to the top of the vat – while there, be charmed by the dance floor and some of the best views of the city. In the castle’s heyday, the vat was filled with wine, part of the taxing program the prince electors utilized. Sound delicious? Perhaps, but since each subject offered various blends of wine, the flavor certainly suffered. Not to mention some ‘taxes’ were likely watered down or mixed with other readily available liquids. Years later, unaware that the wine vat had long been drained and emptied, even Napoleon’s armies tried to get in on the wine fun, attempting to break through the barrel – their axe marks are still evident! (Literature lovers will remember that it is referenced in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables and Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick – as well as works by Mark Twain and Washington Irving).
Take in the romantic sight of the Heidelberg Castle while sailing on our Enchanting Rhine, Captivating Rhine, Rhine & Moselle Splendors, Rhine & Moselle Delights, Rhine & Moselle Fairytales, Rhine Castles & Swiss Alps and Christmas Markets on the Rhine river cruises.