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On Days 3 and 5, we took early morning rides before seeing the fairytale city of Český Krumlov and bustling Vienna. That’s the beauty of this Danube River itinerary. Sandwiched between the starting point of Prague and the end in Budapest, you can spend time in world-class cities, yet the bulk of the biking is in the countryside, pedaling through farmland or vineyards. It’s a fantastic combination and you cover so much ground, 5 countries in 8 days.
Backroads took over the entire AmaWaterways ship on this cruise. Translation: Only bikers were allowed on the ship. It also means that the Backroads trip leaders run the show and they were phenomenal. Malcolm has 23 years of Backroads experience under his belt and I was amazed at his ability to change the itinerary, even at the last moment. When water levels were too low to go further east on the Danube past Budapest, we had to skip our last morning of biking and, instead Malcolm had buses and guides waiting for us to tour Budapest. He was also a fantastic DJ, leading two epic dance parties during the week, featuring the best of 70s and 80s music. Lee should be in stand-up comedy, every line out of his mouth a witty joke. Loved the whimsy and sheer joy of Alex, especially when dancing. Stephan knew every bike route like the back of his hand and was often cheering me on during those hard uphill climbs. If it wasn’t for Jenn, I’d still be biking in Austria, lost on some route. She was always there to direct me in the right direction and answer all my questions. Fantastic group of trip leaders, the crème de la crème at Backroads!
More than half of the passengers on the cruise used e-bikes, which really wasn’t necessary after Day 2, when we had few uphill climbs unless you craved them. Most of the biking along the Danube River was relatively flat on bike trails.
My kids, Jake and Mel, ages 26 and 24 respectively, loved the cruise. The biking was challenging, the rural landscape was stunning, and the sightseeing and dining in the cities exceptional. Unfortunately, there was just one other family with kids their age aboard the ship. There was a younger group of 35 who pulled out at the last minute due to the war in Ukraine, but tourism was thriving in all cities, including Budapest. The only signs of the war were some refugees we met from the Ukraine. That left the average age aboard the cruise in the early 60s, which is not far from the usual demographic aboard a river cruise. My hope is that a younger generation will sample these Backroads itineraries because it’s really a wonderful bike cruise. You’re rarely on the boat, except for cocktail hour, dinner, dance parties, and sleeping. The rest of the time you’re meeting up with the ship after your bike ride. It’s an exciting way to see a good chunk of Europe.
If interested in discussing any Backroads trip, please contact ActiveTravels and we’ll go over all the options.
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Today, we couldn’t pass up one of the rare opportunities to bike from one capital city to another, in this case Vienna to Bratislava. Actually, Lisa wouldn’t let me bow out of this ride early, because her mother was born in Vienna and her grandmother was born in Bratislava. So even though it was called the Iron Curtain Ride, we called it the Fried Roots Route for her mother’s family. Most of the riding was relatively level through bucolic countryside and forest, primarily on one of the EuroVelo trails that crisscross the continent for bikers. We stopped at a small snack bar for yes, our last radlers, and yummy cherry strudel, before continuing to our glamorous lunch spot, Schloss Hof, an 18th-century country estate established by Prince Eugene of Savoy. The gardens are still a wonder to walk, replete with resident camels, llamas, horses, and mountain goats.
Then it was on to Slovakia, crossing a small bridge where a memorial was dedicated to the people who died trying to escape communist rule in hopes of finding freedom in Austria. We pedaled past old castle walls before hitting the city and snaking along the Danube to where our trusty home for the week, the AmaLea was waiting. A nice 46-miler with relatively little elevation, 900 feet, and a great way to end the close to 160 miles of biking we did with Backroads over the course of the trip.
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Day Four of our Backroads Danube River Cruise started with a short 13-mile warm up along the river on bike trails. Then it was off to see the impressive Melk Abbey perched on a hill atop the small town, looking more like a palace with its large courtyards, countless rooms, and vast book collection in the library. The 23-mile afternoon ride was arguably the best of the trip, along the Danube in the heart of the Wachau Valley of Austria. Leaving Melk, terraced vineyards started to rise along the river, soon joined by the stone ramparts of forgotten castles. The ridges only got higher and soon small towns dotted the shoreline with their ubiquitous steeples piercing the clouds above. It was hard to bike because you wanted to stop repeatedly to take another photo better than the last.
It started to drizzle when taking a short ferry across the river. Soon we were biking straight through the vineyards, looking at the vines overflowing with fat grapes. We arrived in the small Medieval town of Durnstein, where we relaxed outdoors overlooking the vineyards at Alter Kloster Keller. We wisely chose to grab a bottle of their local Gruner Veltliner and an oversized charcuterie plate packed with local pates, sausages, hams, and cheeses. Perhaps we lingered a bit too long because when we got back on our bikes, the clouds were ominous and it started to pour. Five miles later, we arrived back at the boat drenched, only to find our fearless trip leader, Malcolm, hosting a party under a tent in a torrential downpour for all of us wet bikers. We drank shots of Schnapps and glasses of Riesling while listening to a soundtrack that featured, “It’s Raining Men.” Memorable!
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One of my top biking days of the trip, Day Two with Backroads was a 27-miler with 1600 feet elevation that you felt as soon as you climbed one long hill that crested the ridge. But then you were on top of the world for most of the ride, biking past fields of sunflowers and seeing the mountains of Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria in the distance. We would pass small towns where roosters and geese came to greet us before biking over a small bridge into Austria for lunch and yes, another radler. That afternoon, we would bike on a trail alongside the gentle slope of the Danube before arriving at the college town of Passau. A sweet ride enveloped in fields of green. And the weather couldn’t be better, warm and sunny in the 70s.
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For the start of our weeklong cruise with Backroads along the Danube River, we woke up early in Prague and drove 3 ½ hours through Czech’s Bohemian region to Germany’s Bavaria. After lunch at a country farmhouse, we got fitted for our bikes. We were surprised to learn that 38 of the 53 passengers aboard our cruise were using e-bikes. Our family of four went the old-fashioned route, having trained all summer for this week of riding. That would come in handy within the first 15 minutes, when we had a good mile uphill climb. Soon we were high in the hills, past rolling green fields dotted with cows, rows of corn, and large patches of yellow canola. We would ride the first of many bike trails, connecting to narrow quiet country roads that only Backroads could find after scouring the countryside. Then another trail deep into the Bavarian forest before entering small farming communities with their large wooden houses and triangular roofs, not unlike a chalet.
After a brief stop for the first of many radlers that week, a satisfying combination of beer and lemonade that quenched our thirst, we had another killer hill before riding alongside a creek and the velvety green fields beyond. Finally, we reached the broad bend of the Danube River and pedaled the last 5 miles alongside the water until we reached our home for the week, the AmaLea. The perfect introductory ride to get us excited for the trip ahead, 40 miles with over 2300 feet of elevation. Our reward was pints of pilsner and live Bavarian music straight out of an Oktoberfest celebration at Hofbrauhaus, our welcome to Vilshofen, Germany.
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Crystal’s Asian itineraries have been usurped by other high-end cruise lines, like the magnificent 14-Night Regent Seven Seas Cruise to Japan and South Korea March 2023. Some 750 fortunate passengers will start this cruise in Tokyo, before stops at Kyoto, Busan and Jeju, Korea, Okinawa, and Nagasaki. The cruise includes free unlimited shore excursions in each port as well as a complimentary three-night pre or post cruise land program in Tokyo.
If you want to return to cruising, please let ActiveTravels know and we’ll find the best destination, itinerary, and cabin for your dates and budget. We can also help with pre- and post-cruise hotels and itineraries, and work on flights. As cruise writer Fran Golden notes in one of her latest stories, it’s always best to book your cruise with a travel advisor.
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Crystal’s demise is to the benefit of Silversea Cruises, who recently announced that they have purchased the Crystal Endeavor, the ultra-luxurious 200-passenger cruise ship that has yet to launch. Bookings opened immediately for the Antarctica season, which runs from November 28, 2022, to February 12, 2023. If you want cruise to Antarctica in comfort, this one is hard to top! Most amazing are its offerings as an expedition ship. The Endeavor features a helicopter pad with accompanying helicopter as well as a submarine to help you get to those off the beaten path spots to experience the regions’ extraordinary scenery and wildlife.
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Over lunch recently with the foremost cruise writer in America, Fran Golden, her enthusiasm over the current state of cruising was infectious. You couldn’t help but sense the excitement now that the world of cruising is finally back. It’s been a tumultuous 2 ½ years that started with passengers and crew being stuck on boats during the early stages of COVID and no ports allowing them to enter. Then came the inevitable bankruptcies like high-end cruise line, Crystal, going belly up earlier this year. But now Fran is jumping from cruise line to cruise line to report on all the changes, heading first on an expedition cruise with Quark to Greenland, then aboard the Paul Gauguin, now owned by the French company, Ponant, to cruise French Polynesia’s Society Islands, and finally the long-awaited arrival of Ritz-Carlton’s yacht on the Italian Mediterranean.
Here at ActiveTravels, we’ve been busy booking cruises to Alaska and the European rivers for fall 2022 and summer 2023. Our family of four will soon be on an AmaWaterways cruise on the Danube River in early September. The entire river cruise is taken over by the biking outfitter, Backroads, and each day we will have new cycling adventures in every port along the route from Prague to Vienna to Budapest. We’ll report on that trip once we return home.
In the meantime, we want to discuss the new cruises that gets us excited. First up, Viking Ocean’s adult-only cruises is quickly expanding in North America from the Great Lakes to Alaska. But we really like the 15-day Iceland, Greenland, and Canada itinerary that starts next summer in Reykjavik and ends in New York. You’ll visit 4 countries and 11 ports, and along the way see stunning remote seacoast and sea life.
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Steve Chapin, owner and winemaker at California’s Chapin Vineyards, will be your host of AmaWaterways last cruise of 2021 on the Douro River November 9-16. Expect temperatures to reach the mid-60s as you cruise through the heart of the Port Wine country on the 102-passenger AmaVida. The 7-night cruise starts and ends in Porto and with an option for a 3-night pre-cruise in Lisbon starting November 6th. Stop to sample wines at historic vineyards that cling precariously to the cliffs of the Douro River Valley. Other highlights include Regua, the main hub of the Douro Valley, and Salamanca, the UNESCO-designated “Golden City.” Book now with ActiveTravels and you’ll have the flexibility to change your AmaWaterways sailing date up to 48 hours prior to the start of your journey and reschedule your cruise with no change fees to any river cruise sailing through 2023.
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Holland America just announced a new 24-day voyage from Boston to Iceland and back, set to make its inaugural jaunt on August 3, 2022. Aboard one of Holland America’s newest ships, the Pinnacle-class 2,650-passenger Nieuw Statendam, the trip will make six calls in Iceland along with stops at Bar Harbor, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Greenland. In addition to sailing to Iceland, Holland America has announced that Nieuw Statendam will operate a series of 6 to 8-day “Canada & New England Discovery” voyages in 2022 between Boston and Quebec City, with weekend departures. Stops will include Bar Harbor; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and Sydney and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The eight-day sailings add Saint John, New Brunswick. Holland America also said Nieuw Statendam would operate longer “Newfoundland & New England Discovery” cruises between Boston and Quebec City. Ports on this 10-day cruise include Baie-Comeau and Havre-Saint-Pierre, Quebec; and Corner Brook, St. Anthony, St. John’s, Halifax and Bar Harbor. If interested in any of these cruises, please let ActiveTravels know and we’ll check pricing and availability.
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