Danube Waltz, MS ALBERTINA

Individual arrival in Passau. Enjoy the first destination of your cruise. Our tour guide will be happy to welcome you aboard with a glass of champagne.

Experience the uniqueness of the Wachau Valley! Steeped in history and legend, it is considered one of Europe`s most beautiful river valleys and wine regions. After breakfast, you will have the opportunity to visit the Baroque Melk Abbey (optional), an important spiritual and cultural centre of Austria.  Afterwards, enjoying the magnificent views over the Wachau Valley`s picturesque scenery, while your ship slowly approaches the imperial city of Vienna. After dinner, use the time for taking a stroll through Vienna -Nussdorf.

Vienna is a city of music and joie de vivre, here the Sachertorte and Heuriger wine bars are as famous as the St Stephan`s Cathedral and the Hofburg Imperial Palace. The major sights can be discovered during a city tour (optional). In the afternoon, you will also have the possibility to participate in an optional excursion to the Hofburg Imperial Palace.

Today you will sail into Budapest- enjoy the unforgettable scenery! The city stretches along both sides of the river: On the western bank you find the hilly Buda with the Castle Hill, Buda Castle and the Gellért Hill with Citadel, on the eastern bank is the flat Pest with the famous Parliament Building. After lunch, gain a comprehensive impression of the city during a city tour (optional), and learn more about the impressive historic buildings on both sides of the Danube River. In the evening, you will have the option to participate in the excursion „Budapest at Night“, where you will experience the Hungarian temperament in a folkloristic music performance with traditional dances.

After a rich breakfast on board, you can join us on an optional excursion to a „Csárda“, a typical Hungarian Inn. On the bordering farmstead, there is a performance of the traditional Hungarian horsemanship. On returning to the ship, lunch will be served. In the meantime, the ship sets sail crossing through the marvellous landscape of the Danube Bend, also known as the Hungarian Wachau. From the comfort of the ship, enjoy fantastic views over the majestic Classicist-style Basilica in Esztergom. Visible already from afar, it sits picturesquely enthroned on the Castle Hill. Enjoy the evening on board the MS ALBERTINA.

In the morning, your ship moors in the city of Bratislava, from here we will take you on a sightseeing tour that includes also a coach tour to the mighty castle (optional). Among other sights, we will show you St Martin’s Cathedral, famous for being the coronation church of Hungarian kings, and the marvellous Old-Town. Celts, Romans, Hungarians, Jews and Slovakians have settled here and all of them have left their marks across the city. We can still see evidence of it in an impressive diversity of architecture. Particularly beautiful gems are the manor houses of the Austrian-Hungarian nobility, similar to small palaces.

The Old Town of Krems an der Donau is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “The Wachau Cultural Landscape”. Get to know the city better on an optional walking tour through the picturesque lanes. Afterwards proceed to a tasting of the outstanding Wachau wines. In the afternoon enjoy the beautiful landscape from the ship before the captain`s dinner is served to you in the evening.

After arriving in Passau, there will be the embarkation and the individual journey home.