3 of us are planning on cycling from Basel to Amsterdam next year following the Rhine cycle route. Have any of you cycled this route and would you recommend it? My concerns are whether going in this direction will means tackling headwind all day and the amount of people on the route.

Interested to see any responses, I plan to ride a short section from Cologne to Ludwigshafen in September on the way to Munich.

I’ve cycled it from koblenz to the hook

and i did a little bit again this year.

would recommend it, the first time it was october and the weather kinda ruined it but last time the weather was lovely and i was really enjoying it, so much so i nearly changed my plans mid ride as i wanted to continue.

It’s nicely busy i would say, there are lots of cyclists but nowhere really is it packed.

It’s going to get windy in Holland but you cant avoid that really – i don’t think it will spoil the ride.

I’ve done it between the source near Andermatt and Cologne. Between Basel and the coast it’s flat and easy cycling. I would recommend it. We diverged from the route proper in Alsace to follow some of the tracks through the wine country which were nicer than the river route but a little more hilly. In early June there weren’t too many people about. Wind direction is just a lottery I think. The Koblenz/Mainz section is the most picturesque outside of Switzerland. The section north of Cologne to the Dutch border is apparently very industrial, therefore less scenic, but still easy cycling. Navigation is easy and road surfaces are generally good. A good first tour.

Thanks for the advice. I am the only regular cyclist out of the 3 of us which is why I suggested a flattish route.

I cycled Basle to Rotterdam just a few months ago.

I planned on following Eurovelo 15 all the way and had the route saved on my phone but for maybe 20% of it I made my own way along some B roads as a combinations of missing the signs and getting lost and some not so good surfaces meant it was sometimes easier to just follow a quiet road vaguely parallel to the cycle path.

I am by no means that fit but did it over 10 days doing between 45 to 85 miles a day, I stopped quite often for wee breaks, especially in the cities where I usually had a wander round and had a bite to eat for 30 minutes or so before going on my way again if I was not staying there.

Being really flat if you just take it easy and spin along I found it a good mixture of feeling tired at night but by no means being so beat I couldn’t go out for a beer or a wander round the cities I stayed in, whilst cycling I don’t think I was really struggling that badly once, which is rare for me.

For a lot of the route you are actually cycling alongside the flood defence of the river and the Rhine is not actually visible, it was always a treat for me to cycle along the actual river as the wind was refreshing and it was a bit more stimulating. The mix of farmland, industrial areas, cities, the scenery of the Rhine gorge and the parks you go through made it pretty changeable from day to day.

I found it really enjoyable and there was a real sense of achievement at the end, I had never cycle toured before and was winging it with minimum research beforehand but it was a great experience.