European River Travel - The Graceful Side of Cruising

For most people 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.

If you are a old hand cruise patron looking for a transformation, European river travel will present you with a way to stay on the water when the tropical cruise period has ended, and 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.

European river travel is available both in the highly urbanized areas of Europe and in its backwoods. You will be able to choose from an assortment of journeys to suit your specific interests. And you can also choose the degree of sumptuousness you want on your ship, from complete to more Spartan. 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.

European river travel is achievable along some of Europe's oldest and most romantic watercourses. A two week cruise of the Danube River, for instance, will take you from Amsterdam to Budapest, through Holland, Germany, Austria, and Slovakia. You'll in fact be cruising on three waterways, the Main and Rhine Rivers as well as the Danube.

You'll pass Dutch windmills, and enchanted German fortresses on your way to sophisticated Budapest. You'll stop for excursions along very old paved streets winding through antique villages. 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.

The vessels used for European river travel are far smaller than their ocean-cruising counterparts, usually having space for less than two hundred travelers. So you will be treated with a far more bespoke service, and you will see sights that you couldn't glimpse at from the decks of the ocean ship giants. You may be so overcome by the slower, more graceful experience of European river travel, in fact, that you permanently trade in all your tropical apparel for something a bit warmer!