Rivers have a magical quality. Unlike oceans, they are intimate, closely tied to the life of the thousands of villages and cities that grew up along their banks. And in the morning, when the river mists lift, the surroundings that are revealed are often breathtaking — from the rock where the legendary Lorelei leaped to her death to ancient Egyptian tombs.
Uniworld Boutique River Cruises sails along the Rhine.
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In addition, fertile soil lines each river’s banks, producing some of the finest regional food and drink in the world with festivals built around them.
Cruise lines are increasingly offering extensive overnights with the vessel serving as a floating hotel — often docked in the heart of a major city. It’s a tremendous value, particularly in European capitals where hotel and dining prices can be downright shocking.
Here’s a look at what types of experiences your clients might find along some of the world’s most popular waterways.
The Danube
The Danube is the longest river in the European Union and second only to the Volga in all of Europe. From Strauss’ "Blue Danube" to the Bulgarian national anthem, its praises have been sung through the centuries. Since the opening of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, the river connects the Black Sea with the industrial centers of Western Europe.
For Americans, the Danube is more exotic than the Rhine, leading to Central and Eastern Europe’s lesser-known destinations. Flanked by the Austrian Alps and crowned with forts, castles and vineyards, the river carries travelers to cultural centers like Vienna and Budapest from its origin in the Black Forest to the Black Sea.
The Danube connects Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. Along the route are areas of great scenic beauty and natural attractions.
The Danube courses through Austria’s wine-bearing Wachau Valley between Melk and Krems, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Wachau is particularly well known for its apricots and unbelievably good apricot liquor, jams and cakes.
Best Suited For: History lovers and experienced travelers who want to really see Central European countries and their cultures. Music flourishes along the Danube, and those who appreciate a mixture of beautiful nature and great cities will be very happy with this area, too.
The Rhine
The Rhine experience is the quintessential European dream: medieval castles and dark forests in dramatic surroundings — the stuff of pure romance.
Born as a wild river in a Swiss Alpine glacier, the Rhine cuts through gorges as it flows northeast, dropping 75 feet in a stunning waterfall to wind through Germany’s Black Forest and join the Main in Mainz. It follows the Rhine Valley from Bingen to Bonn, flowing through the Rhineland Plateau and eventually emptying into the North Sea after connecting Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands. Along its banks formidable German cities have grown: Cologne, Dusseldorf and lovely Rotterdam, the leading port of continental Europe, near the mouth of the Rhine. Amsterdam is accessible through the Rhine Canal, as well.
River cruises can sail from the North Sea to Basel, Switzerland, which is a distance of about 500 miles. There are longer cruises between Basel and the diamond center of Antwerp, Belgium, as well as shorter ones between Nuremberg, Germany, and Basel.
In the fall, hundreds of wine festivals along the Rhine celebrate new vintages with fireworks, boat races, regattas, local food and music.
The region’s fairytale castles, half-timbered buildings and cobbled village streets satisfy a traveler’s romantic dream, and there are attractions that appeal to multigenerational groups. Among them are Siegfried’s Mechanical Museum, which contains one of the largest collections of self-playing musical instruments in the world, and the Speyer Technical Museum with an explorable Boeing 747, a historic Soviet spacecraft and a U9 German Navy submarine.
Best Suited For: The Rhine is a wonderful river for romance. It encompasses mythic Germany and is a natural choice for German-American fraternal groups. Its appeal to wine-lovers and foodies is obvious, but anyone who loves scenery and fun combined with oom-pah bands and hearty, delicious food can appreciate a trip through the Rhineland.
Europe: The Rhone
The Rhone River flows from the mountains of Switzerland through Provence, France, taking in the wild beauty of the Camargue and some of France’s most famous cities. It is the only major river flowing directly into the Mediterranean.
The Danube is a good choice for history and music lovers.
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The capital of the Camargue is Arles, located at the extreme north of the delta where the Rhone forks into its two branches. The town was established by the Greeks in the 6th century B.C. and made famous in modern times by Vincent van Gogh, whose paintings come to life in the scenery along the river’s banks.
Lyon, France, famous for its culinary magnificence and silk, is another popular port on the Rhone. Along with its medieval architecture, Lyon is also known for its fields of lavender, white horses and "cowboys." The great red wines of the region come from vineyards between Lyon and Avignon.
Best Suited For: Those who enjoy really magnificent French food and wine will find a Rhone itinerary heavenly. It also reveals a much more complex picture of France than the usual stereotype. History and architecture lovers can join food and nature fans in learning about the great artists who left their mark on the region.
The Seine
From Burgundy through Normandy to Paris and on to the English Channel, the enchanted Seine penetrates the heart of France at a leisurely pace. Its banks are laden with history, wineries and an appreciation for the arts. The river flows among rich orchards and idyllic pastures appreciated by many famous artists including Monet, whose home can be toured in Giverny. Above the Seine stand wonderful medieval ruins, including Castle Gaillard at Les Andelys, where myth meets reality in the form of Richard the Lionheart (the real-life owner of the castle and friend of the fictional Robin Hood).
Some cruises spend a few overnights as a floating hotel in Paris before setting sail; others emphasize the sights of Normandy, sailing from Paris to the famous beaches of World War II and the well-preserved medieval Le Mont-Saint-Michel, an island carved into a church and its cobbled town.
Best Suited For: Seine cruises are among the best for multigenerational travel, history buffs, art lovers and those who appreciate classic fine food and wines, not to mention World War II veterans. And who can resist the magic of Paris, especially when coupled with the value of the ship as a home base?
The Volga
Together with small towns and villages that straddle the line between old Russia and a startlingly new one, 11 of the 20 largest Russian cities have developed on the banks of the Volga, the longest river in Europe.
Starting in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow, the Volga flows east past Tver, Dubna, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan and then south to Ulyanovsk, Samara and Saratov into the Caspian Sea below Astrakhan. Volgograd, the former Stalingrad, is at the "Big Bend" where the Volga turns toward the Don River.
Passengers on Volga cruises can explore St. Petersburg and Moscow, from the Hermitage to Red Square and the Kremlin. The trip along the Lower Volga to Volgograd brings together quaint riverside villages of Russia’s Golden Ring and the bustle of modern Russia. Peasant homes, domed churches and the flavors of the cultures that have swept through the country are accessible from the river. From Astrakhan, where East meets West in an ancient stronghold of the Mongols, to the Island village Kizhi, with its collection of ancient wooden buildings, visitors will be amazed at the sights they’ll see.
Best Suited For: The experienced traveler is an ideal cruiser for the deeper insight into Russia available on these river cruises, as are architecture and art lovers. Having a stateroom and meals onboard is a boon to anyone, as prices in major Russian cities can be exorbitant on shore. Also, the cruise programs make it easy to get better insight on local cultures.
The Yangtze
In the wake of the Olympics, even more Americans have discovered modern China. And along the great Yangtze, the longest river in Asia, visitors can witness firsthand the tremendous juxtaposition between the ancient and the modern.
The river is almost 4,000 miles long and flows from its source, in Qinghai Province, eastward into the East China Sea at Shanghai. The Yangtze has always been historically, culturally and economically important to China. It is probably best known in the West because of the publicity surrounding the Three Gorges Dam. The largest hydroelectric power station in the world, the creation of the dam has obliterated a number of ancient villages but brought power to the region and opened previously unreachable areas of the Yangtze to reliable shipping.
Today’s Yangtze river cruise ships are far more sophisticated than their predecessors, offering all-balcony ships with elevators, alternative dining rooms and highly rated onboard programs that include local history, crafts and tai chi lessons among other activities.
Among the ports of call on the route are new relocation towns, where people whose homes were submerged by the dam have been reestablished. There are also ancient villages, spiritual centers and "the ghost city" of Fengdu, where 75 Buddha and Tao temples are centered on Ming Mountain. Fengdu also has China’s largest collection of Han tombs, dating from around the time of Christ. The dam itself is also a major attraction, with its 7,500-foot concrete wall standing 330 feet high.
The preferred months for a Yangtze cruise are April, May, September and October, when the weather is pleasant and cool. Upstream routes are more leisurely and are priced lower than downstream itineraries.
Best Suited For: Because the Yangtze is a beautiful and poignant summary of Chinese history, it appeals to adventurous travelers and experienced passengers who have seen it all. For Americans, it is usually coupled with tours of large cities and provides a look into Chinese development that would be hard to match.
The Nile
There are more than 300 vessels that offer cruises on the Nile, known as the Mother of Egypt. Whereas other rivers nourish the countries they pass through and offer a means of transport and shipping, the Nile is the difference between life and death in Egypt. And even today, along the Nile, traditional farmers can be seen working with wooden plows.
As the world’s longest river at 4,160 miles, the Nile has thousands of river cruises departing each year to absorb its 5,000-plus years of history. Almost all cruises operate between Aswan and Luxor on three- to seven-day itineraries. The shorter cruises are typically one-way trips from Aswan to Luxor or vice versa, and the longer ones are usually roundtrips between the two cities.
Luxor, built on the site of ancient Thebes, brings travelers to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. There are dozens of features that leap out of the history books along the route, including the enormous 3,000-year-old Great Hypostyle Hall inside the temple of Amon-Re and the Valley of the Kings, which includes Tutankhamon among its 60 entombed pharoahs. The huge statues of Ramses II guard the temple entrance at Abu Simbel and the 2,000-year-old Temple of Horus at Edfu is far more impressive than its images in art history books. Many cruises take guests on an excursion aboard a felucca, the traditional Egyptian sailing vessel, to the Temple of Isis on Philae, and some visit the impressive Aswan Dam.
Best Suited For: Art, archaeology and history lovers will have their dreams fulfilled by a Nile cruise. Incredibly romantic, it’s also a lifetime experience for honeymooners and a cultural icon for parents or grandparents to show children.
The Columbia and Snake Rivers
In the Northwest, the New World has much to offer in the form of river cruises.
The Snake River is a major tributary of the Columbia, flowing 1,040 miles from its source in Yellowstone National Park through Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. People have been living along the Snake River for at least 11,000 years, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806 explored the lower portion of the river.
This is a wilder river than most others cruised by riverboats, and well suited to a younger clientele. Most Columbia and Snake river cruises operate between Lewiston, Idaho, and Astoria, Ore., near Portland. Itineraries on both rivers take in Washington wineries, the region’s spectacular scenery and wildlife and usually offer the option of a jet-boat ride to see the dramatic vertical cliffs of Hells Canyon. Traveling through locks and canyons, the riverboats generally anchor in strategic spots to explore by kayak. Other attractions include shopping, microbreweries of the windsurfing capital in the world, Hood River, Ore., and seeing the striking Columbia Gorge and the Bonneville Lock and Dam. Local historians, Native American storytellers and artists come on board or entertain on shore as well.
Best Suited For: Columbia and Snake river cruises are adventure travel — better for a younger demographic than some of the European river itineraries and well suited for fit and active baby boomers. Those who want to see natural America and who appreciate scenery much like what the early explorers saw, can combine these experiences with wine tasting and quirky towns along the way.
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