Viking Longship - Danube Waltz

Where this cruise calls, day by day

8 ports over 7 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Budapest

   HungaryDepart

   Two cities on opposite banks - flat, commercial Pest and the hills of Buda - with the Danube running straight between them, so the ship ties up inside the view rather than outside it. Berths line the Pest embankment near the Chain Bridge, often two or three vessels rafted together. Most itineraries hold overnight for the floodlit Parliament from the top deck.

   • Buda Castle hill, Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion terraces
   • Soaking at the Széchenyi or Gellért thermal baths
   • The Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial, a short walk from most berths
   • The Great Market Hall and the ruin bars of the old Jewish quarter

   Getting ashore

   Ships moor on the Pest embankment near Vigadó tér and the Chain Bridge, walking distance to the centre, but rafting means you may cross another vessel's lounge to get ashore.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; late Nov-Dec for the Vörösmarty tér Christmas market

2. Day 2

   Budapest

   HungaryPort

   Two cities on opposite banks - flat, commercial Pest and the hills of Buda - with the Danube running straight between them, so the ship ties up inside the view rather than outside it. Berths line the Pest embankment near the Chain Bridge, often two or three vessels rafted together. Most itineraries hold overnight for the floodlit Parliament from the top deck.

   • Buda Castle hill, Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion terraces
   • Soaking at the Széchenyi or Gellért thermal baths
   • The Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial, a short walk from most berths
   • The Great Market Hall and the ruin bars of the old Jewish quarter

   Getting ashore

   Ships moor on the Pest embankment near Vigadó tér and the Chain Bridge, walking distance to the centre, but rafting means you may cross another vessel's lounge to get ashore.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; late Nov-Dec for the Vörösmarty tér Christmas market

3. Day 3

   Bratislava

   SlovakiaPort

   A small capital that folds its old town into a few blocks beneath a boxy white castle, with ships mooring on the embankment right below it. The contrast is the interest: Habsburg coronation streets on one bank, the Petržalka high-rise slabs and a flying-saucer observation deck on a bridge over the other. Prices drop sharply here after Vienna.

   • Bratislava Castle and the view over the Danube to Austria
   • St Martin's Cathedral, where Hungarian kings were crowned for centuries
   • Michael's Gate and the Čumil bronze peering out of a manhole
   • The UFO deck on the SNP Bridge, or Devín Castle ruin out at the Morava confluence

   Getting ashore

   Berths are on the city-centre embankment, a five to ten minute walk from the pedestrian old town, though rafting is common when several vessels overlap.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Dec for the Hlavné námestie Christmas market

4. Day 4

   Vienna

   AustriaPort

   The catch with Vienna is that the Danube does not actually run through the city it built. Vessels moor on the Handelskai and Praterkai stretch northeast of the centre, and the Ringstrasse is a shuttle or a few U-Bahn stops away, so budget the transfer both directions. At the other end is imperial Vienna at full scale, plus coffee houses that treat sitting for three hours as the point.

   • Schönbrunn Palace and its gardens
   • The Hofburg complex, the Spanish Riding School and the Kunsthistorisches Museum
   • St Stephen's Cathedral and the lanes around it
   • Café Central or Demel for Sachertorte and a newspaper on a wooden stick

   Getting ashore

   Berths are on the Handelskai/Praterkai reach several kilometres from the historic centre; expect a coach shuttle or the U1 rather than a walk.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; late Nov-Dec for the Rathausplatz Christmas market

5. Day 5

   Krems

   AustriaPort

   Krems sits at the downstream end of the Wachau where the terraced vineyards give out onto flatter country, and it is a real working town rather than a wine hamlet - a medieval gate, a long pedestrian street, and a run of contemporary art museums in converted industrial buildings. Göttweig Abbey watches from the hill on the far bank.

   • The Steiner Tor gate and the old lanes of Stein next door
   • The Kunstmeile museums, including the Karikaturmuseum of cartoon and satire
   • Göttweig Abbey across the river, with a terrace over the Danube valley
   • Grüner Veltliner from the Kremstal and Wachau apricot schnapps

   Getting ashore

   Berths are on the Danube out toward Stein, a fifteen to twenty minute walk from the centre or a short shuttle.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Sep-Oct for the harvest

6. Day 6

   Linz

   AustriaPort

   Linz is a working steel city that spent seriously on culture, and the results line the bank where ships moor: the Ars Electronica Center's media labs on one side of the river, the glowing glass slab of the Lentos art museum on the other, with the old main square a short walk inland. Plenty of passengers skip all of it for the coach to Salzburg.

   • Ars Electronica Center, a hands-on museum of digital and machine art
   • Lentos Kunstmuseum on the Danube bank
   • Hauptplatz, its Trinity column, and Linzer Torte at a Konditorei
   • The Pöstlingbergbahn tram grinding up to the pilgrimage church above town

   Getting ashore

   Ships tie up on the Donaulände by the Lentos, roughly ten minutes' walk from the Hauptplatz.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Dec for the Hauptplatz and Volksgarten markets

7. Day 7

   Passau

   GermanyPort

   Passau is squeezed onto a narrow spit where the Inn and the small dark Ilz meet the Danube, and from the fortress above you can watch the three currents hold separate colours for a while before mixing. The old town behind it is Italian Baroque - Salzburg architects rebuilt it after fires - and it is a common start or end point for Danube itineraries.

   • St Stephen's Cathedral and its organ, among the largest in the world, with midday recitals in season
   • The three-rivers point at the Dreiflusseck
   • Veste Oberhaus fortress, reached on foot or by shuttle bus, for the view down onto the spit
   • Flood high-water marks painted up the wall of the old town hall

   Getting ashore

   Ships tie up along the Danube promenade below the old town, and you step straight off into it - no tender, no terminal.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Dec for the cathedral square Christmas market

8. Day 8

   Passau

   GermanyArrive

   Passau is squeezed onto a narrow spit where the Inn and the small dark Ilz meet the Danube, and from the fortress above you can watch the three currents hold separate colours for a while before mixing. The old town behind it is Italian Baroque - Salzburg architects rebuilt it after fires - and it is a common start or end point for Danube itineraries.

   • St Stephen's Cathedral and its organ, among the largest in the world, with midday recitals in season
   • The three-rivers point at the Dreiflusseck
   • Veste Oberhaus fortress, reached on foot or by shuttle bus, for the view down onto the spit
   • Flood high-water marks painted up the wall of the old town hall

   Getting ashore

   Ships tie up along the Danube promenade below the old town, and you step straight off into it - no tender, no terminal.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct; Dec for the cathedral square Christmas market