The best river cruises in central Europe and Russia for 2019
Keen to expand your river cruising experience? Whether you're looking to join a popular voyage on the Danube complete with music and musuems or if you dream of seeing Russia's grand architecture via a sojourn on the Volga, we've got you covered.
Taking in a vast region and numerous rivers, here are the best cruises in central Europe and Russia for 2019.
Danube
Music on the danube
Celebrate Danube Day on June 29 – when riverside residents honour the waterway with a mini-Oktoberfest in Vilshofen in Germany – on board the new river ship AmaMagna. The cruise starts with a night in Budapest and visits Vienna and Linz, for a Sound of Music-themed day in Salzburg or a trip to medieval Cesky Krumlov, in the Czech Republic. In Passau, there are guided bike tours and hikes to a fortress high above town. Launching in May, AmaMagna is twice the width of other river ships, which means room for spacious cabins, four restaurants and a large spa.
The seven-night Melodies of the Danube cruise from Budapest to Vilshofen costs from £4,070 per person cruise-only departing June 23 2019 (0800 320 2335; amawaterways.co.uk).
Art on the river
Indulge your inner artist on Titan Travel’s A Danube Waltz cruise on board the river ship, Bellejour. A night in Budapest allows time for a visit to the reopened Museum of Fine Arts in Heroes Square, housing a fine collection of Old Masters and Hungarian art. Next stop is Bratislava, where the Primate’s Palace displays six priceless 17th-century tapestries that were sewn in Mortlake, in south-west London. During an overnight stay in Vienna at the end of the cruise make time for a visit to the Belvedere Palace (£14) to see Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss and Judith. You’ll find more examples of Klimt along with his protégé Egon Schiele in the Leopold Museum (£11.60).
From £1,749 per person for a seven-night cruise from Budapest to Vienna departing May 15 2019 (0800 988 5823; titantravel.co.uk).
Birdwatching in the Delta
Take a small boat cruise through the Danube Delta, where the river meets the Black Sea, to see some of the thousands of birds that inhabit the marshes or nest here in summer. The trip is one of the highlights of a cruise through Eastern Europe on Riviera Travel’s new river ship William Wordsworth, which visits towns and cities in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia for tours to cathedrals, palaces and forts. A full day is spent cruising the Iron Gates Gorge, an 83-mile (134km) valley separating the Carpathian and Balkan Mountains.
A 15-day Budapest to the Black Sea cruise round-trip from the Hungarian capital costs from £2,899 per person departing May 10 2019 (01283 742300; rivieratravel.co.uk).
A taste of Austria
Food steals the show on Crystal Cruises’ one-week Danube cruises from Vienna, with lessons in how to make the local speciality Linzertorte, a culinary walking tour of Bratislava and an Austrian cooking class in the Kempinski Hotel in Vienna. A four-course epicurean extravaganza with wine at Vienna’s Michelin-starred restaurant Das Loft costs €249 (£218) per person (free for those in the highest-rated suites). The cruise on Crystal’s all-suite Crystal Ravel includes two days in Budapest. Ravel has a Vintage Room that serves wine-pairing dinners for up to 12 people for €280 per person.
Crystal Cruises’ seven-day Danube Dreams and Discoveries cruise costs from £4,735 per person excluding flights and departing April 21 2019 (0207 399 7604; crystalcruises.co.uk).
Douro
Dinner in the vineyards
A traditional Portuguese dinner at the Quinta da Avessada (winery) is a highlight of a week sailing the Douro with Jules Verne. The cruise, on the Douro Prince, sails mostly by day so passengers can enjoy the sight of steep craggy cliffs and verdant vineyards.
There’s time to explore Porto and visit a port wine cellar there on day one and there’s an excursion to Salamanca in Spain part-way through the cruise. In between, calls into Regua, Pinhao and medieval Castelo Rodrigo allow tours to churches, castles and the Douro Museum, which narrates the region’s wine story.
An eight-day Iberian River Journey round-trip from Porto costs from £1,945 per person, departing April 27 2019 (020 3131 5187; vjv.com).
Opera on the Douro
The works of Gilbert and Sullivan take centre stage on the Douro. Singer Carole Anne Wells and musician Leon Berger will give five performances during the seven-night sailing, and host two talks about the composers. The cruise, for the over-50s, is a round-trip from Porto, with outings to churches, villages and quintas (wineries) and cellars to taste the port. A day excursion to Salamanca in Spain includes a tour of the city’s cathedrals, lunch and a flamenco show.
From £1,549 per person, departing July 31 2019 (0800 096 0082; saga.co.uk/rivercruises).
The Queen of Fado
A day to explore Porto and a tour of Mateus Palace − the manor house depicted on the label of Mateus Rosé, are among highlights of new one-week cruises from Shearings. Naturally there are port tastings. The sailings are on the Amalia Rodrigues, a new river ship launching this spring.
A six-night Porto and the Douro Valley cruise costs from £1,203 per person departing April 17 2019 (0344 824 6351; shearings.com).
Two for the price of one
Most Douro cruises sail out and back from the northern city of Porto; AmaWaterways’ AmaVida sails one way from Porto to Vega de Terron on the border with Spain, where passengers disembark and transfer to Madrid for three nights (the itinerary also starts with three nights pre-cruise in Lisbon). There’s time to enjoy the scenic cruising, visit palaces, churches and museums, imbibe a drop of port, try local delicacies such as bolas de Lamego (bread filled with smoked ham) and have a lunch in a quinta. In Madrid an included excursion visits the walled city of Toledo.
From £3,586 per person, excluding flights, for a 14-day Flavours of Portugal and Spain holiday departing April 13 2019 (0800 320 2335; amawaterways.co.uk).
Elbe and Po
Spy swaps on the Elbe
Noble Caledonia’s Passage along the Elbe cruise from Prague to Berlin sails beneath the mountains of Saxon Switzerland and includes tours of Königstein Castle, a fortress on a rock towering above the Elbe, and Dresden, the city rebuilt in its former glory after being destroyed by Allied bombing during the Second World War.
As the Elbe Princesse II sails under the Glienicke Bridge, where spy swaps were made during the Cold War, the era will be brought to life by professor of history, Jeremy Black MBE.
From £2,795 per person for an eight-night cruise departing on Sept 2 2019 (020 7752 0000; noble-caledonia.co.uk).
Art on the Po
Appreciate Venice from the water, on a cruise on the Po river aboard the 20-passenger barge, La Bella Vita. There’s time to explore La Serenissima on foot from an overnight mooring outside the Naval Museum before setting sail for the island of Pellestrina as the barge makes its way across the lagoon to the mouth of the Po. There are calls into Chioggia, Taglio di Po, Adria and Zelo for trips to churches, markets, museums and wine estates. In Mantua be sure to visit the 14th-century Ducal Palace.
From £2,750 per person cruise-only for a six-night sailing from Venice to Mantua departing April 7, 2019 (01753 598555; europeanwaterways.com).
Russia
Volga and Dnieper
Treasures of Russia
There are so many museums and palaces to admire in St Petersburg that Travelmarvel includes a four-night stay there on its 224-passenger ship Russia ahead of a cruise through the canals, rivers and lakes that connect the city to Moscow. In between, there are port calls at Mandrogi, Goritsy, Yaroslavl and Uglich, for visits to churches, monasteries and a vodka museum. The Treasures of Russia cruise also includes two nights in Moscow with sightseeing at the Kremlin and Red Square.
The 12-day cruise costs from £3,795 per person departing Aug 22 2019 (0800 012 6683; aptouring.co.uk).
Moscow to Volgograd
Learn about Russian history and Soviet heroism on a Volga Dream voyage from Moscow to Volgograd. There are visits to world-class art galleries, museums and churches during two days in Moscow and calls at Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara and Saratov (the home of astronaut Yuri Gagarin) for a visit to the Radishev State Art Museum. In Volgograd, the former Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War is remembered on a trip to the memorials on Mamayev Hill.
An 11-night Moscow to Volgograd cruise costs from £3,145 per person, departing Sept 26 2019 through Fred River Cruises (0808 021 3186; fredrivercruises.co.uk).
Sailing the Dnieper
The Dnieper is to Ukraine what the Volga is to Russia. Sail on one of Europe’s longest rivers on a new Saga cruise from Kiev to the Black Sea. The cruise, on the Dnieper Princess, is an immersion into Ukrainian culture, with trips to cathedrals, caves and concerts in Kiev and Odessa, a Cossack horse-riding show in Zaporizhzhya, and language lessons and a local food tasting while sailing. In Dnipro, see the Rocket Park, which celebrates the city’s role in the Soviet space race, and the Menorah Centre that remembers those killed in the Holocaust. Small boat trips seek out bird life in the Dnieper and Danube deltas.
From £1,299 per person for 12 nights departing May 23 2019 (0800 096 0082; saga.co.uk/river-cruises).
