A river runs through it

What do a retired Australian tyre company boss, a Canadian oil worker and a Californian accountant have in common? Well, apart from possibly being the opening line of a joke, they and their partners were my fellow guests on a river cruise up the Rhine.

First things first: if you don’t like meeting new people from around the world and enjoying wide-ranging conversations, this sort of trip is probably not for you. Secondly: These are not Club 18-30 raves. The travellers are mostly more mature people who have seen life, know what they want and have put a few bob aside to enjoy themselves.

Our seven-day voyage from Amsterdam to just outside Zurich was aboard, in effect, a luxurious child-free floating hotel. Spacious but limited to around 160 guests, after a while you get almost blase about the stunning scenery floating past the windows. Couple all this with excursions into some breathtakingly picturesque German and French towns and villages, and this becomes a truly memorable holiday.

Don’t confuse it with an ocean cruise. On board our Avalon cruiser Felicity there were no casinos, clay shooting bays or black tie dinners. Instead, there was a spacious but comfortable bar, elegant dining room, quiet club lounge, huge sun deck taking up the full length of the ship, and our cosy and beautifully-equipped ensuite cabin came complete with floor to ceiling windows to enjoy the views.

The pattern of the holiday emerged on our first night. A seven-course welcome dinner saw us sharing a table with Australian builder Richard and wife Beth, who were taking the voyage during a four-week tour of Europe. Robust Aussie humour and a fair bit of the complimentary wine soon had us chatting as if we’d known each other for years.

Seating at dinner, and the equally expansive lunches, is open, so you’re not tied to the same table and people each day.

Free organised tours, available at places of interest all along the route, form an important part of the trip. Small groups are given their own guides and everyone gets a personal radio receiver and earpiece. First stop after the canals of Amsterdam was Cologne, where our vessel moored up right in the heart of the city and the cathedral was no more than a 10-minute walk away.

Koblenz, on the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, proved the perfect curtain-raiser to one of the most scenic parts of the trip – a five-hour cruise down the Middle Rhine. With its vertiginous valley sides alternating between vineyards and castles, seemingly drawn straight out of fairy tale books, perched on crags high above us, the whole stretch is classed as a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Its beauty used to be accompanied by a particular hazard. Tight, bendy stretches with little room to manoeuvre once gave parts of the river a killer reputation with sailors, especially around the massive Lorelei rock where a combination of swift current, dangerous shallows and narrow passages took many a boat to a premature end.

Safely through and onwards, our next port of call was the Alsatian capital of Strasbourg, a city stacked with marvellous restaurants and chic shops, just the place to give your credit card some exercise. Another memorable destination was the small town of Rudesheim in the heart of German wine country, where you can not only join a free guided tasting, but also take a cable car skimming above the fields of vines that sweep upwards from the Rhine.

On another day, our trip through the Black Forest took in a cuckoo clock maker and ended with a slice of the eponymous cake. And later on, we had a guided tour of the magnificent but ultimately useless French Maginot line of underground forts, that failed to save France from Nazi invasion at the start of the Second World War. After each excursion, you return to the peaceful haven of the ship to recuperate from your exertions, feet up and drink in hand to raise a toast to another day spent enjoying yourself. As a relatively new holiday option, I can certainly see why river cruising is catching on so rapidly.

GETTING THERE

Phil Derbyshire was a guest of Avalon Waterways, which offers a seven-night Romantic Rhine itinerary on MS Avalon Felicity from £1,225 per person. Price includes return flights from a range of 14 UK airports, seven nights’ deluxe accommodation, full board including complimentary regional wine, beer or soft drinks with dinner and private door-to-door home pick up by executive car to chosen airport of departure. Avalon Cruises 0800 668 1801 and www.avaloncruises.co.uk