Six ports, including three magical capital cities, in four different countries in seven days. A cruise on the River Danube takes you right into the heart of Europe.
What struck us most was, given the size of the ship and the size of the river, how peaceful this cruise was, from start to finish. For hours on end the Riverside Mozart – nicknamed The Queen of the Danube – glided silently on the river through mile after mile of stunning scenery.
Most of the time we were in complete solitude other than the occasional squawk of a seagull, perhaps 100 miles away from the nearest coastline. It really is difficult to convey how relaxing and calm this cruise was.
We have been on several river cruises and this was the most scenic yet. One fellow passenger said if the Rhine “is as busy as the M1 coming out of north London”, the Danube “is like a sleepy Broad meandering through Norfolk”. The Danube is Europe’s second longest river and runs through 10 countries – more than any other river in the world.
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We started our journey in the Austrian capital, Vienna. after recent heavy rains the river levels were high and the captain had to take great care when transiting locks. As we passed through one in Jochenstein, at a press of the captain’s button the wheelhouse automatically lowered. We were allowed to stay on the upper deck but had to sit in deckchairs to avoid being hit by the overhead gangways passing just inches above us.
Some of our stops were in big cities but others were in tiny towns. Often we stopped right in the centre and were able to walk off and explore immediately. Ybbs is a sleepy little town which can’t see that many tourists but it was lovely.
An informal trail shows how the river has played such a huge part in the town’s history and how they used to take “wine tolls” from the boats heading up and downstream. In 1713 the “watchmaker’s wife” was accused of starting a fire while “roasting with lard on an open fire”.
Waters deep
On the side of one riverside building there are marks showing how high the Danube rose during devastating historic floods. One dated back to August 1501, more recent ones were in the Augusts of 1991 and 2002. We sailed west up to the Bavarian town of Passau where three rivers merge – the Danube, Inn and Ilz.
There is one central meandering street, adorned with colourful floor tiles, where artists’ workshops are located. When they move in they all are warned that at some stage they will be affected by Danube flooding. It’s a regular occurrence but is treated as part of life by the locals. Back aboard we headed back to Austria and Linz, which can easily be explored in a day.
Then it was back to the Austrian capital for a talk about the monarchies who ruled ancient Vienna. This means nothing to me, but many fellow travellers were fascinated by it. Our final two stops were in Slovakia and Hungary. First we docked in Bratislava, a city I’d never visited before but found very interesting.
A dotto-train took us around the centre and up to the castle and we stopped off at a brewery to sample some of the excellent local beer. Unusual statues are dotted around the city, including one barely 12 inches high of a workman emerging from a construction hole. Then it was off to our final stop – Budapest. It’s much more of a tourist trap, obviously, but still a delight.
We took a stroll to visit the poignant “shoes” monument by the river which commemorates some of the 3,500 people, including 800 Jews, who were shot here during the Second World War, their bodies left to float downstream.
Top-deck service
The food on board Riverside Mozart is exquisite and, in general, always uses the best local produce. Highlights were Austrian spinach dumplings and the savoury Hungarian hortobagyi paprika pancake. The portion sizes were just right too and every meal scored at least a nine out of 10.
The exceptional, unfailingly-friendly crew also scored highly. Each cabin is allocated its own butler and, to be honest, we were too embarrassed to use ours, Daniel from Bulgaria. He would just shake his head and gently remonstrate with me when he caught me sneaking to the reception area where I’d have the audacity to make our own coffees.
Riverside Luxury Cruises is relatively new in the market but is clearly trying to take river cruising to the next level. There is a garden on the upper deck where herbs for the galley are grown and cabins feature a fancy Japanese-style toilet with a heated seat and a remote control!
Another aspect we particularly liked was the lack of clanging “ding dong” announcements. In the first 36 hours there was one single tannoy call. After that there were barely two a day. A very welcome change from the numerous loud announcements which can punctuate and interrupt some cruises. All in all a very successful trip and one to be highly recommended.
Book the holiday
Riverside Luxury Cruises offers seven-night 2025 Danube itineraries on Riverside Mozart from March onwards; a round-trip from Vienna calling at Esztergom, Budapest (overnight), Bratislava, Tulln and Wachau starts at around £2,290pp.. Flights extra. riverside-cruises.com
More info at:
austria.info
visithungary.com
slovakia.travel