Apologies for the late response.

Firstly, I’d like to clarify that we do not sell the ‘very expensive cruises’ that you mentioned. The river cruising information on our site is for information only.

River cruising is a specific travel experience where the main mode of transport is on the river boat and one of the greatest attractions is that you don’t have to pack and unpack each day as the river boat is your hotel on water. All your meals are included and on the better cruises your holiday is a hassle-free, 5-star experience. That’s why the prices for these cruises are more expensive. We’ve been on a couple of these and thoroughly enjoyed them and from the popularity of river cruises these days is an indication that holidaymakers are choosing this form of travel as well.

What you’re proposing to do will be a very different experience. If you intend visiting all the countries that the Danube flows through you will need to do a lot of planning, i.e. which sections of the Danube you intend visiting and then to line up all the transport requirements. If you’re an experienced traveller, I’m sure you can do it and it also depends on how much time you have as well. Unfortunately, we do not have information on local ferries or local river cruise operators.

The only tour operator that I’m aware of that sells day tours on the Danube is Viator. So when you’re Budapest or Vienna you could do one of their tours.

http://www.partner.viator.com/en/2494/search/Danube

I suggest that you start with the Tourist Office of each of the countries that you intend visiting and see if you can get the information you need.

Good luck with your planning.

Kind regards,
Helen

I suggest that you select an itinerary that’s interesting to you and discuss this with a travel agent – I’m not sure where you’re located.

In regard to your question about walking on the banks of the River, whereas most of the riverboat moorings are quite central, they are actually not close enough to the places of interest so the cruise operators organize coaches to transport passengers into the towns or villages for sightseeing. How much sightseeing you do depends on how much you can manage the cobbled-stoned streets of the medieval villages and towns. During our travels, we’ve met quite a number of travellers in their 80s who were really fit!

**Be warned that the river cruise operators have to run to schedule as their times for going through the locks are fixed. Sometimes passengers don’t understand this and think that they’re being rushed at a destination**

As regards the best time to do a cruise, we like cruising in August when the weather is warmer and you can enjoy the beautiful river views from the sundeck. Winter cruises are generally cheaper, but the experience will be very different.

Hope the above helps.

Kind regards,
Helen