Scenic cruise advice
#1
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Join Date: May 2015
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Scenic cruise advice
I have been looking at river and ocean cruises for months in the Europe area. We enjoy scenic areas more than cities. Although we do enjoy visiting cities some. We were also looking at Norway, but read a review that it was somewhat boring to cruise there. So we looked at river cruises, but can't decide which would be most enjoyable. We enjoy hiking and want go in 2018. Can we get ideas from anyone on their experiences? Thank you.
#2
Join Date: Jul 2007
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We did an ocean cruise that included stops in several of the fiords of Norway and found the scenery spectacular. At many of the stops there were plenty of opportunities for hiking as well as taking other very interesting excursions. We never felt "bored".
We've also done river cruises along the Rhine and Mosel and done barge canal trips through Burgundy, France. On these trip the scenery was very pleasant The river cruises and canal trip are more relaxing as they move at a much slower pace. Stops are made in small villages and towns rather than large cities. Shore activities ranged from guided tours of castles as well as through villages, walks along rivers, biking and, of course, shorts hikes.
In short, we thoroughly enjoyed all these trips - one was not necessarily better than the other - they were just different experiences in different parts of the world. And as they say in France - "Vive La Difference"!!!!
We've also done river cruises along the Rhine and Mosel and done barge canal trips through Burgundy, France. On these trip the scenery was very pleasant The river cruises and canal trip are more relaxing as they move at a much slower pace. Stops are made in small villages and towns rather than large cities. Shore activities ranged from guided tours of castles as well as through villages, walks along rivers, biking and, of course, shorts hikes.
In short, we thoroughly enjoyed all these trips - one was not necessarily better than the other - they were just different experiences in different parts of the world. And as they say in France - "Vive La Difference"!!!!
#3
Join Date: Jul 2007
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As an alternative to hiking maybe consider a River cruise where you can bike here and there along the way. I've done four river cruises, three in France, the other a tulip time cruise in The Netherlands and Belgium, with an upcoming Rhine/Mosel Spring 2018.
These river cruises offer one to two walking tours each day lasting anywhere from two to three hours each which was enough moderate stop and start walking to help counter all the good eating on board, with some free time to be on one's own, perhaps for a hike.
Uniworld's Bordeaux/Wine Country was the most picturesque IMHO. While hiking was not an option, bikes were, as one way to do the daily tours. Those who were runners and hikers took full advantage of the 25 bikes available daily. Tauck also offers bikes as an option to some of the daily walking tours. The cruise I took with them was from Paris to Avignon, with plenty of beautiful scenery also. Food for thought...
These river cruises offer one to two walking tours each day lasting anywhere from two to three hours each which was enough moderate stop and start walking to help counter all the good eating on board, with some free time to be on one's own, perhaps for a hike.
Uniworld's Bordeaux/Wine Country was the most picturesque IMHO. While hiking was not an option, bikes were, as one way to do the daily tours. Those who were runners and hikers took full advantage of the 25 bikes available daily. Tauck also offers bikes as an option to some of the daily walking tours. The cruise I took with them was from Paris to Avignon, with plenty of beautiful scenery also. Food for thought...
#7
Join Date: Sep 2005
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I just wrote a trip report about our Danube River trip this past August. We had a couple days of hiking which you might like. There was also a biking excursion and also bikes onboard which I think you could probably use, although we didn't do that.
http://www.fodors.com/community/crui...-prague.cfm?29
http://www.fodors.com/community/crui...-prague.cfm?29
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
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We have done three river cruises in the last twelve months, two on AmaWaterways and one on Avalon. We did Christmas markets on the Rhine (Amsterdam to Basel), the Rhone (Paris to the Mediteranean), and the Danube (Vilshofen to Budapest). All were interesting, but we enjoyed the most recent cruise on the Danube best. It was quite scenic along the river, there were many activities, and biking and hiking were options at each stop.