River Cruises from Budapest – Perfect Voyages for First-Timers

Cruises Editor

Destinations

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It might surprise you to know that some 45 of the world’s rivers can be cruised. So much choice can be confusing for novices, but there are some very good reasons why a cruise from Budapest should be top of your list.

 

1. Choices

The Budapest-Amsterdam run takes you along the Danube River, Main-Danube Canal, Main River and Rhine River to Amsterdam (or the reverse, of course). It’s the most popular river-cruise route, and the bread-and-butter of river-cruise companies. As a result it’s competitively priced and provides a huge choice of ship categories and styles.

 

2. Length

Most Budapest-Amsterdam trips last 15 days, allowing you to settle into the cruise experience and giving you time to see if this type of trip really is for you. Because it’s a long cruise, it also offers more sailing time than short rivers in Portugal, France or Italy: the equivalent of a relaxing ‘day at sea’, but with added passing scenery.

 

3. Variety

You get a taste of five European countries, namely Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. They provide a huge variety of landscapes, cities and towns, and shore excursions. Every destination is safe, pretty and well kept; rich in cultural, historical and musical heritage.

 

4. Cityscapes

You begin and finish your cruise in two of Europe’s most wonderful cities, Budapest and Amsterdam, and take in the grandeur of Vienna along the way. Port calls are often made at interesting smaller cities, too, such as Bratislava (capital of Slovakia) and Cologne in Germany, notable for its magnificent Gothic cathedral and good shopping.

 

5. Small towns

Just about every Budapest-Amsterdam cruise stops at baroque-era Passau and Würzburg and gorgeous medieval Regensburg, and many also call in at Nuremburg, which also has a lovely and lively old town. Other destinations vary between companies but might include vineyard village Rüdesheim, old town Bamberg or the former capital Bonn in Germany, plus Dürnstein in Austria, a scenic Danube wine town.

 

6. Landscapes

In a nutshell, the scenery is gorgeous for nearly the entire trip, bar flat, industrialised northern Germany. A 65-kilometre section of river in central Germany, the Rhine Gorges, provides a full day of uninterrupted scenery from the top deck of your river-cruise ship, with soaring cliffs, lovely villages, terraced vineyards and dozens of castles floating by. Both this and Austria’s Wachau Valley on the Danube are World-Heritage listed.

 

7. And there’s more

While the vast majority of river cruisers travel between Budapest and Amsterdam, you can also do shorter, one-week cruises that end in Passau or Nuremburg in southern Germany. And if you’re one of those travellers who’d rather not follow the beaten track, another river-cruise route heads south from Budapest on a long journey through Eastern Europe, finishing near Bucharest. You’ll visit just as many countries (Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania), sail through the magnificent ‘Iron Gates’ gorges and Bulgarian mountains, and get another perspective on Europe.

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