Ocean Realm

For most tourists the phrase “cruise vacation” conjures images of indolent time spent on deck chairs sipping tropical drinks while being transported across warm seas to the next sun-drenched tropical islet. But there is a different sort of cruise, which can bring an entirely new experience to the excitement of cruising: European river travel.

You may be organizing your first cruise trip, or maybe you have spent a holiday aboard a ship every year for some time. In both cases, European river travel has a lot to offer, allowing you to discover not only the joys of cruising but also the pleasure of an unconventional visit to Europe.

With European river travel, you will avoid the constant hassles of car gridlocks, changing accommodation every other day, and having to take lots of flights. And you will see wonderful places that are inaccessible to a seagoing cruise across Europe’s coasts.

While many trips involving around European river travel center on the visit of urban areas, there are valid alternatives if you prefer to visit more laidback areas, or even unspoiled nature in natural parks and sparsely settled areas. You can even combine urban and rural sights.

An Internet search will guide you to some first-rate reductions on European river cruises, especially if you are able to wait until the last moment before reserving your trip.

One of the most fantastic European river travel that you can take goes all the way from Amsterdam, in Holland, to the Black Sea, in Romania. On such a trip, you will travel on three of the continent’s mayor waterways, the Rhine, the Main and the Danube, as well as on connecting canals.

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.