Posts from — March 2009

As for many travelers, the idea of a cruise vacations may automatically conjure images of equatorial islands and cocktails sipped on the deck from a big oceangoing vessel. While this is a big component of cruises, there is a little-known alternative that is bound to delight you: European river travel.

Regardless of whether you are new to cruising on ships or if it is an activity you have indulged in often, one advantage of European river travel is that it’s an activity that you can enjoy in every season, unlike tropical cruises.

European river travel will let you observe parts of Europe which are simply unreachable to ocean class cruise ships. You’ll get a close look at some of Europe’s most momentous historical sites.

Most European river travel will involve visiting beautiful cities such as Vienna, Regensburg or Strasbourg, but you will also have a chance to sample nature’s delights in beautiful protected parks, and if you like mountains, the Alps and the Carpathians could only be a day trip away from your cruise boat!

Indeed there are plenty of options, and most of them are easily explorable from the comfort of your computer screen, where thanks to dedicated online travel agents you can select from wealth of different options, as well as packages that include tailor-made parts or wholly bespoke trips.

If you want to go the full way, the best trip that you can go on is a one-month voyage across the continent’s main rivers, the Rhine and the Danube, which are connected by canals in southern Germany. With this kind of trip, European river travel will take you all the way from Holland to the Black Sea.

You’ll visit Vienna, the origin of the waltz, and the thirteenth-century cathedral at Cologne. You’ll visit the overwhelming Danube Gorge and the Stone Bridge at Regensburg, which has been bearing traffic safely over the Danube for more than a thousand years.

One great extra bonus of long European river travel is that as the vessels are smaller then the cruise ships that go out to sea, you will receive a much more personalized and attentive service from the on-board personnel, and you will also get to know your fellow travelers more.

The region truly has a lot to offer to the discerning traveler who likes to enjoy refined culture, entertainment, and cuisine at a pleasant pace. And in fact, maybe after such a momentous trip you may even decide to come back for more European river travel on the continent’s other rivers.