The 10 best Danube river cruises to book now

Jeannine Williamson
·9-min read
Passau in Bavaria
Many river cruises call at the beautiful town of Passau in Bavaria - Michael Runkel/Robert Harding

Rising in Germany’s Black Forest and meandering 1,170 miles through 10 countries and four capital cities – Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava and Belgrade – to the Black Sea, the Danube offers countless options for a relaxing river cruise.

The most popular itineraries are one-week sailings between the Hungarian capital Budapest and Passau, near the Austrian border in Germany, or week-long round-trip cruises from Passau. These are among the trips that take in the 20-mile, Unesco-listed Wachau Valley, between the Austrian towns of Krems and Melk, arguably one of the prettiest spots on the river.

A year-round destination, there are Christmas market cruises and New Year sailings filled with seasonal cheer, while longer itineraries venture into the remote Danube delta, where natural highlights include the chance to embark on exciting small-boat safaris to see Europe’s largest population of white pelicans.

Budapest by the Danube
Budapest is an enchanting city during winter - Getty

Whenever and wherever you go, the Danube’s banks are lined with castles, vineyards, apricot orchards, medieval villages and charming wine towns where you can sip aromatic grüner veltliner and riesling wines in cosy taverns.

All of the main river cruise lines sail on the Danube, offering a big choice of ships and sailings. Here are some of the best Danube river cruises.

1. Viking

Best for: Christmas spirit

Sip warming glühwein and nibble gingerbread against the backdrop of wooden huts strung with twinkling lights at some of the best Christmas markets. The Danube is particularly magical during the run-up to Christmas, and Viking’s Longship Viking Embla will transport you into the heart of the yuletide festivities. Shop for crafts in Vienna’s atmospheric market and look out for the life-size nativity scene at the market in Linz.

A German Christmas market
The Danube is particularly magical during the run-up to Christmas

In Budapest, join skaters on the outdoor rink or warm up in one of the city’s thermal spas. With excursions, drinks with meals and gratuities included, this cruise is guaranteed to fill you with festive cheer.

How to do it

Viking (0800 458 6900) offers a seven-night Danube Christmas Delights cruise from Passau to Budapest. From £3,645pp, including flights; departs December 15 2024.

2. A-Rosa

Best for: families

While many lines cater solely, or mostly, to adults, A-Rosa River Cruises has always welcomed families. For stress-free mealtimes, A-Rosa Donna offers relaxed, buffet-style dining with long opening times and a huge spread of dishes to suit everyone. School holiday sailings include a kids’ club, while parents can chill out in the oversized (for a river ship) spa.

Youngsters will enjoy getting a taste of the Viennese lifestyle with a large slice of chocolate cake in one of the city’s cafés and any excess energy can be burned off on cycle rides along the banks of the Danube.

How to do it

A-Rosa River Cruises (0800 098 2968) offers a round-trip seven-night Danube Classics sailing from Passau. From £4,699 for a family of four including flights; departs July 31 2025.

3. Viva Cruises

Best for: foodies

Savour the delicious delights of the Danube onboard and ashore on Viva Cruises’ game-changing vessel Viva Two. Unusually for a river ship, it has three distinctive restaurants to choose from. In addition to the main dining room, which showcases dishes from destinations visited, there’s the intimate Moments venue on the lower deck, with Mediterranean-style food at lunchtime and a slow-paced tasting menu with paired wines served in the evening. The third outpost is a tempting fish and seafood bistro.

A Viva Cruises cabin
Viva Cruises offer a chance to see the Danube in total comfort

Flexible shore excursions mean you can opt to explore independently and stop at cafés serving plump Wachau Valley apricots in everything from cinnamon-sprinkled dumplings to jam, chocolate and fiery liqueur.

How to do it

Viva Cruises (0330 818 7271) offers a seven-night Danube Panorama round-trip Budapest sailing. From £1,650pp excluding flights; departs August 24 2025.

4. Avalon Waterways

Best: for keep-fit enthusiasts

Get up and go with Avalon Waterways’ exhilarating Active & Discovery sailings and experience the Danube from a different perspective. Get your teeth into a hike to visit Count Dracula’s Visegrád prison tower or paddle a canoe around the Danube Bend flanked by green hills. You can leave Avalon Passion to cycle along the Wachau Valley and return to the ship farther down the river.

Back onboard, you can tuck into healthy meals from the Avalon Fresh menu, featuring locally sourced and seasonal food. However, after all that exercise you’ve got the perfect excuse to indulge in the daily afternoon tea.

How to do it

Avalon Waterways (0330 058 8243) offers an 11-night Active & Discovery on the Danube (Westbound) cruise from Budapest to Vilshofen. From £2,150pp excluding flights; departs June 11 2025.

5. Amadeus River Cruises

Best for: nature lovers

The Danube is a river of two distinct halves. Amadeus River Cruises pioneered sailings to the mouth of the Danube on sailings venturing through Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. These voyages take place on the line’s newest vessels, which have elegant Austrian cafes reflecting the company’s heritage.

Amadeus's Danube Rhapsody
Amadeus ships reflect the company’s Austrian heritage

Dramatic highlights include the Iron Gates gorge, sandwiched between the Carpathian and Balkan Mountains, which form a natural border between Serbia and Romania. There are visits to wildlife-rich, Unesco-listed Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, which is home to Europe’s largest population of white pelicans and hundreds of other bird species.

How to do it

Amadeus River Cruises (0800 035 6411) offers a 15-night Beautiful Blue Danube and Danube Delta round-trip Passau cruise. From £3,299pp including flights; departs September 12 2025.

6. AmaWaterways

Best for: space

You can’t fail to spot AmaWaterways’ striking flagship AmaMagna. Double the width of mainstream vessels on the Danube, it only accommodates 196 passengers; just a few more than ships half its size, so there is plenty of room to spread out and enjoy all the extra amenities it offers.

AmaMagna only sails on the Danube and, along with the largest suites on the river, it has four restaurants to choose from, a cinema room, large airy gym, adjoining juice bar and a full-size pickleball court. The expansive outdoor deck is a perfect spot to enjoy the passing scenery in the Wachau Valley.

How to do it

AmaWaterways (0800 520 2250) offers a seven-night Best of the Danube round-trip Budapest cruise. From £2,619pp including flights; departs February 23 2025.

7. Uniworld

Best for: luxury

With beautiful beds dressed in ornate swags and white-gloved butlers pampering suite guests, you do the Danube in style with luxury line Uniworld Boutique River Cruises. The sumptuous SS Maria Theresa, named after the former Austrian Empress, oozes style with historic artwork and antiques and is akin to a floating boutique hotel.

Hit the river in style with luxury line Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
Hit the river in style with luxury line Uniworld Boutique River Cruises - Rainer Witzgall

Passengers are equally spoiled on dry land. VIP shore excursions include a private tasting of organic wines at Nikolaihof, one of the oldest wine estates in Austria, and a tour led by an art historian to see masterpieces at the Vienna Art History Museum before the doors open to the public.

How to do it

Uniworld Boutique River Cruises (0808 168 9231) offers a seven-night Enchanting Danube sailing from Budapest to Passau. From £3,599 including flights; departs July 6 2025.

8. Riviera Travel

Best for: solos

As well as offering single cabins at no extra cost on all Danube sailings, Riviera Travel has dedicated solo sailings with no supplements across the entire ship – so you can bag a suite on the William Wordsworth and have it all to yourself with no hefty single surcharge. Riviera’s stress-free sailings include flights from regional airports, excursions, drinks and more.

Music fans can visit Salzburg to see sights linked to the city’s most famous son, Mozart, and The Sound of Music filming locations. Other highlights include Dürnstein, famous for its ice-blue tower and the castle where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned.

How to do it

Riviera Travel (01283 688406) offers a seven-night The Blue Danube for Solo Travellers round-trip sailing from Budapest. From £3,249pp including flights; departs August 8 2025.

9. Scenic

Best for: cultural immersion

Whether you’re interested in history, the arts, local culture or cooking, you can discover the Danube your way on one of Scenic’s contemporary Space-Ships. Providing a deep insight into the destinations visited, each cruise features nearly 30 Scenic Freechoice activities. Discover the secrets of making traditional Slovak dumplings in a cookery class, or go to a traditional sausage-making workshop in Regensburg. Alternatively, embark on a photography safari in picture-perfect Passau and pick up tips to get your best-ever holiday snaps.

Room service inside a Scenic Space-Ship on the Danube
Scenic’s route meanders from Budapest to Nuremberg - Mark Viszlay

Each sailing also showcases a special Scenic Enrich experience, such as a private classical concert at the ornate Palais Liechtenstein, Vienna’s largest secular baroque hall.

How to do it

Scenic (0161 516 3231) offers a nine-night Danube in Depth cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg. From £2,995 including flights; departs July 26 2025.

10. CroisiEurope

Best for: the Danube and more

Take in the two most popular rivers and more with CroisiEurope. In just over a week you can sail on the Danube, Rhine and the interconnecting Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, one of the longest inland waterways in Europe.

Stops include Passau, known as the “city of three rivers” as it sits at the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz. From the waterfront it’s an easy walk to the Old Town, where the cathedral is famous for having the largest church organ in Europe, with nearly 18,000 pipes, and there are stirring daily concerts at noon.

How to do it

CroisiEurope (01756 691269) offers a nine-night Through the Heart of Europe from the Rhine to the Danube cruise from Strasbourg to Vienna. From £1,959pp including flights. Departs April 12 2025.

Latest stories

  • Vincent Valdez: the controversial artist tackling racism, violence and America

    Artist rose to prominence for his Ku Klux Klan painting and now his provocative, powerful work is on exhibition

  • How to spend the perfect holiday in Tenerife

    Like Majorca and Ibiza before it, Tenerife is finally succeeding in shedding its tacky chrysalis, and morphing into a sophisticated destination happy to hold its own in the company of high spenders, gastronomes and choosy golfers. That’s not to say the ‘old Tenerife’ has met its maker, it just self-perpetuates in the background while Michelin muscles into the restaurant scene, chic beach clubs claim bucket-and-spade territory, and boutique boltholes provide windows to the previously bypassed and

  • Gymshark Black Friday 2024: Get 20% off sale items today

    From the brand's famous compression leggings to best-selling sports bras, the Gymshark Black Friday sale is packed with gems. Here are the best savings in 2024.

  • The 10 best things to do in Tenerife

    Yes, there are a million and one beaches (well, 72 listed on the tourist board website at least) on which to stretch out, switch off and toast into a nice shade of bronze. But to do just that is nothing short of a crime on such a multi-faceted island. Up, down, inside, outside: everywhere you look there are man-made and natural attractions to be had, from stargazing in Europe’s clearest skies to conquering the planet’s third-largest volcano, and from splashing around in the world’s most popular

  • The best bars and nightlife in Tenerife

    If there's one thing the Tenerifians know how to do well, it's party. Enjoying life is a genetic disposition, evident if you venture into one of the many bars and nightclubs frequented by locals – and there are many. Check out the vibrant student scene in the cuadrilátero zone of La Laguna, test your stamina in the bop-till-breakfast clubs of the southern resorts, or limber up for Latin pop and hip-swaying salsa in the Spanish nightclubs of both north and south. Every year brings a new music fes

  • Snowdonia could be removed from national park’s logo after Welsh name change

    Snowdonia could remove its English name from the national park’s logo after it said that using its Welsh name had been a success.

  • The 13 best restaurants in Tenerife

    Long gone are the times when Tenerife tourism was only associated with familiar fodder listed on laminated menus. That food is still available for those looking for home comforts, but tastes in Tenerife have changed, and so has the quality on offer. These days creative Canarian is the dish of the day, with no less than eight Michelin-stars awarded to restaurants dotted around these shores and award-winning chefs from far afield joining the burgeoning foodie scene. There are still the traditional

  • I've been on 105-day cruises, but this 13-day one was the toughest. Its itinerary had a major flaw I'll avoid on future trips.

    The itinerary on my 13-day Norwegian cruise was too packed. Spending only two of the 13 days at sea left me exhausted, even as a seasoned cruiser.

  • Top cruise brands named at the Wave Awards – here are the winners

    The industry awards recognised the best cruise brands across several categories such as food, entertainment and family

  • Princess Charlene reflects on limitations aged 46: 'My body says no'

    Princess Charlene of Monaco was an accomplished swimmer before she retired in 2007, marrying Prince Albert of Monaco and relocating from South Africa. Reflecting on her former Olympic training, Princess Charlene gives a rare account of her relationship with exercise at 46

  • The Greater Manchester town named one of the UK's 'best places to live in 2025'

    House hunters planning a move next year are being encouraged to flock to this one part of our region

  • Flight attendant shares 'mind-blowing' secret about champagne served in business class

    Flight attendant Adriana Kinch has built up a fanbase of 17,100 followers on Instagram who love hearing all about her career. And she gave them some juicy information about the champagne that business class flyers get in a new reel

  • The Seychelles island with its own microclimate – for guaranteed year-round sunshine

    “Welcome to England,” my friend sighed as we walked out of Mahé airport into a rainstorm. After 18 hours of flying, our dream arrival into sun-soaked paradise was not proving to be a reality. “Just wait until Alphonse; it’ll be better,” our host promised. I smiled apprehensively, thinking, “I’ve heard that before.” But she was right. After a brief stop in Mahé, we boarded a prop plane and within minutes we were flying up and out of the rain clouds and into glorious blue skies.

  • Picturesque seaside town named best for last minute break

    Aldeburgh in Suffolk has by named as one of the best towns in the UK for a last minute break.

  • Florence cracks down on overtourism just as Italy hosts G7 tourist ministers in Renaissance city

    The city of Florence took new measures Tuesday to crack down on overtourism, just as the Italian government hosts the Group of Seven tourism ministers in the Renaissance city and seeks to significantly boost the country’s place as a top visitor destination. In a recent protest, Florentines taped red Xs over the keyboxes, outraged at the transformation of the city center and its magnificent palazzi and narrow streets into a collection of short-term vacation rentals that have displaced local residents and the long-standing businesses that served them. According to national statistics bureau ISTAT, 2023 saw the most visitors ever in Italy with 134 million arrivals and 451 million people staying in hotels or other registered lodgings.

  • Manchester Airport issues check-in guide for all passengers to follow

    Manchester Airport has issued a check-in guide for passengers with advice on what time to get there before a flight, accessibility and twilight bag drop-off.

  • New fish and chip shop opens its doors on County Durham high street

    High Fry Fish and Chips, based on High Street South in Langley Moor, Durham, welcomed its very first customers on Monday (November 11).

  • Cornwall aparthotel plans re-submitted after height backlash

    Plans for an aparthotel in the heart of Cornwall are back on the table after a previous application was withdrawn

  • Travel alert for Brits as Foreign Office advises caution in five countries

    Following recent military strikes by Israel on Iran and tensions in the Middle East, the Foreign Office has issued warnings for certain countries

  • Wales tourist tax: Proposed new law could have major impact on holidaymakers

    Councils could charge tourists staying at Welsh hotels if the law is passed