Horticulture and river cruising on the Rhine

Award-winning river cruise line AmaWaterways is offering its guests the chance to visit one of the world’s most spectacular flower shows on seven of its Rhine cruises next summer.

Germany’s Federal Horticultural Show (BUGA 2011) in Koblenz, one of the most popular Rhine ports, runs from April 15 to October 16. The show takes place every two years and is a major event in Europe’s horticultural calendar, with more than two million visitors expected.

Over the duration of the 2011 show, seven AmaWaterways itineraries will include Koblenz, with a chance to spend the day wandering through around hundreds of stunning landscape garden displays, which will take over the whole town, normally better known for its wood-timbered houses and many wine taverns.

Dazzling displays of exotic gardens will be created at the Kurfürstliches Schloss (Electoral Palace) and the Blumenhof (Flower Garden) at Deutsches Eck in Koblenz itself, but the most dramatic exhibits will be at the Ehrenbreitstein Castle, perched high on a hilltop on the opposite bank, with sweeping views down over the Rhine and Moselle. Lavish exhibitions and romantic gardens will turn the castle’s plateau into a floral paradise, with themes including nature and the environment and even wine-growing. As an added bonus, large parts of the Prussian fortress have been opened to the public for the first time. A brand new cable car across the Rhine has been constructed specially for the event, offering breathtaking views of the surrounding hills and vineyards.

Entry to the show will be included as one of a range of complimentary excursions on the seven AmaWaterways cruises that call throughout the summer.

The itineraries are:

Vineyards of the Rhine and Moselle (nine departures)
Europe’s Rivers and Castles (10 departures)
Magnificent Europe (five departures)
Portraits of Europe (one departure)
Enchanting Rhine (15 departures)
Ultimate River Cruise (11 departures)
European Treasures (three departures)

From £1,569pp, for the seven-night Enchanting Rhine cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, excluding flights.

For more information, visit: amawaterways.co.uk