We were lucky enough to spend a week cruising the Rhine on a river cruise with my husband's family. This is the second river cruise we have done with his family and it is a fantastic experience for everyone. The benefits of river cruising are many: you get to see many different locales while sleeping in the same bed every night, breakfast and dinner (and some lunches) are taken care of, and there is plenty of time to socialize with family along the way.

A few of the river cruise companies offer certain weeks as "multi-generational" or family cruises, and that was what we were on this time with Uniglobe and previously a cruise of the Danube with the Tauck cruise line. This trip began in Basel and ended in Amsterdam with stops along the way in places such as Strasbourg, Koblenz, and Cologne. At almost every stop there was an extra activity available designed for families, i.e., more interesting for the young ones. These included a children's museum in Cologne, a transportation museum in Speyer, and a visit to a medieval castle in Marksburg.

The cruise included stops in small, quaint villages in the Alsatian wine region,

a day in Strasbourg,

a stop in the town of Speyer, a visit to a vinegar estate and a local transportation museum,

a walk through the vineyards of Rudesheim,

and a visit to a fortress and a castle, where the kids tried on the latest in medieval fashions.

I can't recommend river cruising enough for families with school-age children and above. We thoroughly enjoyed our time on the Rhine and the kids are already studying the map to see what other rivers we can cruise in the future!