If you have never cruised the Mekong, you may, like I did, entertain mistily romantic images of old Indochina, locals cultivating rice in emerald-green paddy fields, Buddhist temples along the banks and colourful markets in riverside towns. You will certainly find all of this, but as I discovered on my maiden Mekong voyage, there is...
A voyage along the Rhône has to be one of the most scenic river journeys in Europe, as the river carves its way through the countryside of the Rhône-Alpes and Provence regions to the Camargue and its marshy delta. Medieval villages cling to the hillsides, often guarded by a chunky-looking castle, while vineyards stretch away...
Emerald Waterways has made a big impression on the river cruising world since its launch in 2014 as a little sister to Australian-owned Scenic. While Scenic offers ultra-inclusive, five-star deluxe cruising, the Emerald experience is supposed to be four-star and priced accordingly, but in reality, its smart new ships with their chic, contemporary design have...
Cruising on your own, especially if you’re a first-timer, can be an intimidating idea. It really doesn’t need to be, though, especially on a river cruise. Of course, some travellers are perfectly comfortable on their own and will treat their cruise as a peaceful retreat. Others, though, are looking for a safe, friendly and sociable...
River cruising is a wonderful way to experiment with local food – a taste, but not total immersion, as it were. Most cruise lines make a real effort to introduce local dishes on their menus, as well as ashore and in cookery classes and demonstrations. Where could lend itself better to this than France? A...
Avalon Waterways is one of the big players in river cruising, with a fleet that spans the rivers of Europe, southeast Asia and the Amazon. Its river cruises are aimed mainly at English-speaking guests from North America, Australia and the UK and prices include everything from wine with meals to shore excursions, crew gratuities, Wi-Fi,...
Scenic’s roots go back to 1986, when entrepreneur Glen Moroney started offering coach tours in Australia. Rapid expansion led to a global travel company that specialised in touring holidays worldwide and in 2008, branched out into European river cruising. Scenic’s smart, contemporary ‘Space Ships’ made an impact from the beginning, offering an unprecedented array of...
Luxury line Crystal Cruises made its debut on Europe’s rivers a couple of years ago when it acquired and refitted Crystal Mozart, the ship winning much approval for its beautiful interiors and gourmet food. Mozart, though, was an older ship. Now, Crystal is building four riverboats to its own specification. The first two, Crystal Mahler...
The wine-growing town of Koblenz is located at the entrance to the famous Rhine Gorge, at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers and the meeting point of four mountain ranges. Koblenz has Roman origins, like many of the towns in this part of Germany, and the name today comes from the original ‘Confluentes’....
If anywhere embodies the archetypal German scene, it is the Rhine gorge, all chocolate-box riverside villages, half-timbered houses, vine-shaded pub gardens and window boxes cascading with brilliantly clashing geraniums. Not to mention the castles; fairy-tale structures of turrets and towers, some ruined, some still inhabited, each one gazing out over gravity-defying vineyards. The gorge isn’t...
This informative and in-depth guide offers not only a fascinating overview of the world’s most incredible regions,
but also some of their most exciting ports and cities as well as all the amazing things you can do there.
To help you get the very best out of these destinations, we've assembled a selection of exclusive
tailor-made offers in each region, which include voyages on the world's best cruise ships as well
as stays in a selection of hand-picked hotels.