Are Viking river cruises the way to see Europe? What we learned over two trips

BASEL, Switzerland — We’ve all seen the Viking commercials urging us to take one of those wonderful-looking voyages on the rivers of Europe.

But what are they like? How much do they cost? And are they really a good way to tour Europe?

I’d never been on a cruise, big or small, when my wife and I signed up at the suggestion of a brother for our first Viking sail two years ago. We’ve now taken two river cruises, choosing Viking’s most popular voyages for first-timers.

First came the Rhine River in 2023, with stops in Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Then, this past summer, we traveled the Danube River, visiting Hungary, Austria and Germany.

What I’ve learned on those two eight-day voyages may be helpful to others, especially for those new to cruising like we were.

First off, these are not boats focused around a long list of on-board entertainment options. They’re a very nice mode of transportation to get from one stop to the next and learn about Europe along the way.

Viking boasts that cruising with it means “no casinos, no nickel and diming, no charge for Wi-Fi, no art auctions, no waiting in lines, and no children under 18.” We found this to be accurate.

Traveling the Rhine

On the Rhine, traveling with siblings and spouses, the six of us saw multiple ancient churches, had cold beers among locals, explored a medieval castle and took in a lot of history.

We visited a chocolate museum after walking the streets of Cologne, Germany. In Kinderdijk, the Netherlands, we stepped inside a functioning windmill from the 1700s as a guide explained how these machines made the Netherlands what it is. And in the small town of Rüdesheim, Germany, we rode a hillside cable car that offered spectacular views of vineyards and the Rhine beyond.

Viking includes either a walking or bus tour at every port at no additional charge. Optional, and fairly pricey, excursions are also available. And there’s free time to do things on your own.

One day we opted to book a full-day private van tour — not a Viking tour — through parts of Germany and France, learning from our knowledgeable driver Jean-Yves what these places were like during World War II and life today in the smaller towns of the Alsace region.

Each night, and oftentimes for lunch, we were back on the boat eating in the same dining room with fellow travelers — mostly from the United States, with a mix of British, Australians and Canadians, plus maybe a few others.

A common question about Viking travelers is what age is typical. I’d guess the mid-point is in the late 60s. But I saw people in their 20s traveling with family, and others in their 80s.

You get to know a lot of people by name and most everyone else by at least their face. These are not huge cruise ships with thousands on board. The Viking longships on the Danube and Rhine have room for only 190 guests and about 50 crew.

If private dining is your thing, Viking isn’t for you. Only a couple of outdoor tables have seating for two. Every table in the dining room seats at least six. This worked out great for the six of us traveling together on the first cruise. When it was just two of us on the second cruise, we welcomed dinner conversations with others.

Also, because of the size of the ship, there’s no line to come and go. You simply walk off the boat to the town, usually just steps away. Sometimes the walks are longer, maybe a quarter-mile or more. But rarely is there a need to take a shuttle.

Our Rhine cruise started in Basel, Switzerland, and wrapped up in Amsterdam. We booked on our own to stay two nights ahead of time in Basel, taking a day trip to Lucerne on the middle day. And we stayed an extra night in Amsterdam at the end. No use rushing off the ship to catch an early flight.

The Viking portion of the trip was a little under $3,000 per person, with a discount for not using a credit card, plus $17 a day in tips, the Viking suggested amount then. Air was included in the price, as was an unlimited drink package, as part of a promotion we grabbed.

Other than that, we spent hardly anything else during the cruise portion of our trip. The biggest expense was $100 each – $600 total – for the all-day private van tour we booked outside of Viking.

Cruising the Danube

Cruise No. 2 this summer started in Budapest, Hungary, and was supposed to finish in Regensburg, Germany. But here’s something we learned about river cruising ahead of time and experienced first-hand: Sometimes the water is too high to pass under the bridges, and sometimes it’s so low the boats will hit bottom.

We didn’t finish in Regensburg because water levels were too low during our August trip. Instead, our boat stayed in the German-Austrian border town of Passau, our stop a day earlier. Viking bussed us about an hour and a half each way to take in Regensburg. If we had needed to go further up river to continue our cruise, they would have swapped us to an identical Viking longship on the other side of the problem area.

We started the trip in Budapest a day early. We didn’t want to have to worry about something going wrong with our flights. And we wanted more time in Budapest.

This gave us the chance to swim in a historic Budapest thermal bath mostly populated by Hungarians, test out a Hungarian restaurant and tour the Hungarian Parliament, among other things.

On both of our cruises, we boarded the ship around noon, quickly got checked into our rooms that were ready early, ate lunch on the deck, and then ventured back out for more sightseeing.

This cruise gave us two full days in Vienna, where we started with Viking’s bus and walking tour. We then took in some local food — nothing like a frankfurter and sauerkraut from a street stand in Vienna or a delicious piece of Sachertorte, a special chocolate cake, from one of the city’s small cafes.

We went to the Schönbrunn Palace on our own, and I toured the Spanish Riding School while my wife took in the Belvedere art museum.

In addition to Passau and Regensburg, the other stop was in Melk to tour a 900-year-old Benedictine abbey, high above the Danube.

The slow pace of the ships necessitates short stays at times. The ships often move about 10 mph, give or take, depending on whether you’re going up river or down. Tip here: Generally there’s more port time if you’re going with the flow down river; Viking trips can be booked in either direction.

Our trip was branded the Romantic Danube. Viking also offers the Danube Waltz, the key difference being one night instead of two in Vienna to make room for a day in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.

We booked this trip late — less than four months ahead of time — after spotting an offer for free airfare on selected dates.

The cruise cost was $2,500 per person, after a returning-customer credit of $100 per person and a discount for not using a credit card. Gratuities on top of that were suggested at $20 per day.

While we didn’t have the unlimited drink package this time, all Viking river cruises include at no extra charge beer and wine at lunches and dinners. And Viking is OK with you bringing your own drinks on board. Our on-board charges for the week totaled only about $40, the majority of which was for some laundry.

Things you should know

Most of what you “need” on Viking is included in the price. But there are plenty of optional add-on excursions at each port. These often are above $100 per person and can run several hundred dollars for more extensive all-day trips.

They’re there for the people who like to be taken care of, want even more from their trip or perhaps are a bit apprehensive about exploring on their own. We haven’t signed up for any of those.

Personally, I find adventuring on my own to be enjoyable. You get more of a chance to talk to the locals and find interesting off-the-beaten path things. And it’s fairly easy to navigate Europe’s great public transit systems, be it trolleys, subways or buses. Viking is great about offering guidance, if need be. And I’ve found Europeans, no matter their level of English, to be of great help as well.

As noted earlier, planning and doing things on our own was also part of both ends of our Rhine cruise, and before the start of our Danube cruise. But there is a catch in adjusting your travel plans.

If you stick to the Viking schedule for the starting and ending dates, Viking will transport you between the airport and boat at no additional charge, and take care of your luggage.

If you opt to “deviate,” as Viking calls it, from your cruise itinerary by adding extra days on either end, you both lose that convenience and must pay an extra deviation charge for the flights. For us, it was $100 extra per person for each trip.

We did stick to the cruise itinerary in wrapping up the Danube trip on the final day of the cruise, because that meant Viking would take us by bus the two hours to the Munich airport.

The other pricing variable of note is accommodations. The prices we paid were for lower-level rooms with only a small porthole. For upper level rooms with balconies, prices go up significantly, even though some of the upper-level rooms are smaller.

We chose the lower priced bottom-level rooms, figuring that we didn’t intend to spend much time in our room. That proved to be true. The ship is small enough that we were only steps away from the top deck or front outdoor seating area. Others, however, like having their own balcony.

As for Viking’s standard longships, they are about 440 feet long, with four floors — the bottom level, where we stayed; the main level, which also includes the dining room; the second level, which also includes the bar and lounge; and the top deck.

Veterans of other big-ship cruises accustomed to eating whenever they want and in different dining rooms should know that on these river cruises, that’s not an option.

Full breakfast is usually served from 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., with lighter breakfast during expanded hours. Lunch is available for a couple of hours, starting around noon. And there’s just one dinner seating at about 7 p.m. For all meals, there is just the one dining room, plus a small number of seats outdoors.

How river cruising compares

I’m not going to try to compare a river cruise on a small boat like a Viking longship to the giant ocean ships, because I’ve only taken river cruises.

But in terms of the difference between traveling Europe on our own or cruising a river with Viking, both have their pluses.

During other European trips, we’ve typically stayed in neighborhood Airbnbs, booked our own tours or admission tickets, and found our own way around, mostly with public transit, plus some driving.

On those trips, we spent more time circulating among the locals.

Heading to the corner bakery or local diner seems more immersive when staying in neighborhood Airbnbs than I could imagine from any hotel lobby or cruise ship. And traveling on our own has proven to be much cheaper, perhaps half the cost of what we paid for the river cruises.

But the river cruises — with the same bed each night — allowed us to see a lot without packing our bags and moving on to new accommodations daily or every few days. There was more of a chance to get know fellow travelers. The included walking or bus tours of each town were high quality. And there were “local” options on each dinner menu tied to where the ship was at the time.

Plus, lounging on the deck or sitting in the dining room while floating past the unique architecture of old European old towns and the beautiful countryside was certainly a relaxing way to get from place to place.

We’ll travel both ways again.