Europe’s Rivers and the Lines That Sail Them
Danube to Douro, Rhine to Rhône: each river’s character, ports and the lines that sail it.
Get Free Quotes From Any LineEurope is where river cruising is busiest and where you have the most choice. Below, each river or waterway with its character, typical start and end points, and the lines from the directory that sail it regularly.
| River | Character | Typical ports | Lines that sail it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Danube | The classic first river cruise: imperial capitals, abbeys and the Wachau Valley | Passau, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest; the Lower Danube to the Black Sea on longer trips | Nearly all: AmaWaterways, Avalon, CroisiEurope, Emerald, Grand Circle, Riverside, Riviera, Scenic, Tauck, Uniworld, Viking |
| Rhine | Castles of the Middle Rhine Gorge, Cologne, Strasbourg and the Swiss end at Basel | Amsterdam, Cologne, Koblenz, Rüdesheim, Strasbourg, Basel | Nearly all of the lines above |
| Main | Franconian towns and the Main-Danube Canal linking Rhine and Danube | Frankfurt, Würzburg, Bamberg, Nuremberg | Most lines, usually as part of a longer Rhine–Danube route |
| Moselle | Steep vineyards and half-timbered wine villages | Koblenz, Cochem, Bernkastel, Trier | AmaWaterways, Avalon, Emerald, Riverside, Riviera, Scenic, Tauck, Viking |
| Seine | Paris, Monet’s Giverny, Rouen and the Normandy beaches | Usually round-trip from Paris | AmaWaterways, Avalon, CroisiEurope, Riviera, Scenic, Tauck, Uniworld, Viking |
| Rhône & Saône | Burgundy wine, Lyon’s food, Roman Provence | Chalon-sur-Saône, Lyon, Avignon, Arles | AmaWaterways, Avalon, CroisiEurope, Emerald, Riverside, Riviera, Scenic, Tauck, Uniworld, Viking |
| Douro | Terraced port vineyards, big locks, quiet countryside | Round-trip from Porto, often with Spain’s Salamanca as a day trip | AmaWaterways, CroisiEurope, Emerald, Riviera, Scenic, Uniworld, Viking |
| Elbe | Dresden, Meissen and Saxon Switzerland, sometimes to Prague | Berlin area, Dresden, Meissen | CroisiEurope, Riviera, Viking |
| Garonne & Dordogne | Bordeaux wine country, Saint-Émilion and the Gironde | Round-trip from Bordeaux | AmaWaterways, CroisiEurope, Scenic, Uniworld, Viking |
| Dutch & Belgian waterways | Tulip season, windmills, Antwerp and Ghent | Round-trip from Amsterdam | AmaWaterways, Avalon, Emerald, Riviera, Scenic, Tauck, Viking |
| French canals | Barge country: Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace, Canal du Midi | Varies by barge | European Waterways, CroisiEurope |
Which European River Has the Most Choice?
The Danube and the Rhine, by a distance. Almost every line in the directory sails them, with departures from spring through the Christmas market season. That breadth is useful: you can pick the line you like and still find dates that work.
The Seine, Rhône and Douro come next. Each is shorter and often sailed round-trip, which keeps flights simple. The Douro also has a different feel — fewer big cities, more countryside, and locks among the tallest on any European cruising river.
The Elbe, the Garonne and Dordogne, and the Loire are sailed by fewer ships. That makes them quieter, but also means fewer dates; if one of them is your goal, plan earlier.
Combining Rivers
Many longer European itineraries join two or more rivers. The Main-Danube Canal lets ships sail all the way from Amsterdam to Budapest on the Rhine, Main and Danube; the Moselle is often paired with the Rhine; and the Rhône and Saône are usually treated as a single route. Our sister site River Cruise Voyages sorts these by length, from one-week classics to grand voyages of several weeks.
The rivers of Russia and Ukraine, once part of this map, are not sold by U.S.-market river lines today and are not included in the directory.
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