8 Night Cruise sailing from Cologne to Amsterdam aboard River Cloud II.

RIVER CLOUD II was built in 2001. The RIVER CLOUD II - a floating five-star hotel that takes you to the Po region's most beautiful destinations. To its many admirers, this cruising bella Donna appears as an Italian vision in white.

Effortless and fun-loving describe the atmosphere on board the RIVER CLOUD II. The main meeting point is the spacious sun deck, and not just for sunbathing and reading: The warm summer evenings beneath the southern stars are unforgettable.

Below deck, light woods and quality materials provide the Mediterranean ease that blends perfectly with the flair of 1930s travel.

Highlights of this cruise:

Cologne
Cologne is situated on the river Rhein in North Rhine-Westphalia and is the fourth largest city in Germany. It is one of the nation's media, tourism and business hotspots.

Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) is the city's most famous monument and the Cologne residents' most respected landmark. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. In 1996, it was designated a World Heritage site; it houses the Shrine of the Three Kings that supposedly contains the relics of the Three Magi. Also worth seeing are the city's twelve Romanesque churches. These buildings are outstanding examples of medieval church architecture. The origins of some of the churches go back as far as Roman times.

Cologne has several museums. The famous Roman-Germanic Museum features art and architecture from the city's distant past; the Museum Ludwig houses one of the most important collections of modern art in Europe, including a Picasso collection matched only by the museums in Barcelona and Paris. The Schnütgen Museum of religious art is housed in St. Cecilia, one of Cologne's Twelve Romanesque churches.

Antwerp
Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp province in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions. It is the second largest city in Belgium, after Brussels, and it has a major European port. It is renowned for being the "world's leading diamond city", more than 70% of all diamonds are traded in Antwerp.

A must-see attraction in the Port of Antwerp is the Diamond District where the streets are lined with jewelry shops and the Antwerp Diamond Exchange makes its home. The district is home to 1500 diamond companies. Visitors to the Port of Antwerp will also want to see the Plantin Moretus Museum, the home of Christoffel Plantin, a 16th Century printer and bookbinder. On the UNESCO World Heritage List, the Museum contains one of the best collections in the world of items related to printing.

Amsterdam
Amsterdam, the capital of The Netherlands is built around a concentric network of canals spanned by over 1000 bridges making canal cruises one of the most attractive ways of viewing the city. Many of the houses date back to the 17th century. These narrow-fronted merchants' houses are characterised by the traditionally Dutch ornamented gables.

The oldest part of the city is Nieuwmarkt, located near the first canals - Herengracht, Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht - built to protect the city against invasion in the 17th century. Today, Amsterdam's famous liberalism has survived in the city's 'coffee shops and thriving sex industry.

The city has also long been a centre of diamond cutting and it is still possible to see diamond cutters at work. Amsterdam has a booming cultural life, boasting 53 museums, 61 art galleries, 12 concert halls and 20 theatre. A special canal boat (the 'museum boat') links 16 of the major museums. In the local countryside it is still possible to see working windmills. There are annual events such as the Amsterdam Arts Week and the Holland Festival.