There are many trips that can be described as the “Trip of a Lifetime” but a cruise down the Danube certainly tops the list for inland-waterways travelers, in terms of both sightseeing and adventure. It can a long trip (the Danube is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga) but that means that it brings opportunities to see new natural and cultural features, along with the pleasures and challenges of meeting and learning about new people.
A trip may start at one of the ports on the Danube river, but more often it begins at a departure port on one of the upstream waterways. This website starts at the North Sea/English Channel, describing the route from the Netherlands, through Germany, to the Donau river of Germany then through seven more countries to the Black Sea.
Use the EuroCanals Guides to Preview or Travel
a trip from the North Sea to the Black Sea on the Rhein, Main & Danube
The Danube: North Sea to Black Sea
An overall description of the entire route.
47 pages, Updated October 2019
North Sea to Germany
Vlissingen NL to Germany border, 232 km
49 pages, 36 photo/slides
Updated October 2019.
Germany: Rhein river
Netherlands border to Mainz DE, 368 km
150 pages, 138 photo/slides
Updated October 2019.
Germany: Main river
Mainz DE to Bamberg DE, 384 km
294 pages, 282 photo/slides
Updated October 2019.
Germany: Main-Donau Kanal
Bamberg DE to Kelheim DE, 171 km
150 pages, 137 photo/slides
Updated October 2019.
Germany: Donau
Kelheim DE to Passau DE, 209 km
137 pages, 124 photo/slides
Updated October 2019.
The guides are available from:
EuroCanals Guides Online Library
12-month subscription to all 25 guides, which can be downloaded and saved for offline viewing. US$88.50
Or: Each guide individually US$24.50
EuroCanals Guides Downloads
Austria: Donau
Passau DE to Bratislava SK, 360 km
300 pages, 285 photo/slides
Published August 2016.
Slovakia/Hungary
Bratislava SK to Mohacs HU, 307 km
146 pages, 131 photo/slides
Published October 2016.
Croatia/Serbia
Mohacs HU to Prahovo RS, 583 km
207 pages, 192 photo/slides
Published December 2016.
Romania/Bulgaria
Prahovo RS to Sulina RO, 863 km
205 pages, 188 photo/slides
Published January 2017.
Thinking about a trip down the Danube to the Black Sea? Or perhaps partway, to Vienna or Budapest? EuroCanals Guides for the entire Danube route can help with the planning and the navigation. EuroCanals Guides for the entire Danube route (including the approach routes from the North Sea or the English Channel) are available as a series of 9 guides which follow The Danube: North Sea to Black Sea, an overall description of the route with maps and mooring suggestions for the eleven countries along the route. All guides include instructions and web links for the necessary navigational software, using official electronic charts (IENC) for each country.
The enroute guides are in the EuroCanals PhotoNav style, with full-page photos of locks, bridges, moorings and other sites. for combined visual and electronic navigation. These guides offer a slide-show preview for planning the trip in 1,382 slides.
The guides are downloaded as PDF files, which can be displayed in any desktop or laptop computer and tablets which support the PDF format, and stored in the device or on a USB flash drive.