Cruise Expert Reveals the Best River Cruise Destinations
Cruise Expert Reveals the Best River Cruise Destinations for Attractions, Restaurants & Shopping
Before booking a cruise holiday, travellers should research potential destinations, examining the facilities available in each location.
Understanding what specific cruise destinations have to offer can go a long way in enhancing the experience of a holiday at sea or on a river.
To explore this in further detail, Will Sarson, Product Director at Riviera Travel has examined the best river cruise destinations for attractions, restaurants and shopping malls, providing the top five locations in each category.
To do this, Riviera Travel examined statistics on TripAdvisor, collecting data for 15 river cruise destinations across their Danube, Rhine and Balkan routes.
The Best River Cruise Destinations for Attractions
Will Sarson said: "When stopping at a particular river cruise destination, it's important to have a range of activities, restaurants and shopping malls available, allowing travellers to soak up the culture while enjoying some entertaining hours away from the ship.
"Let's take a look at the top five river cruise destinations offering the largest number of these facilities to travellers:
|
River Cruise Destination |
Number of Attractions |
|
2,434 |
|
1,030 |
|
973 |
|
770 |
|
533 |
"With over 2,400 attractions, it's safe to say there's plenty to keep travellers busy in Vienna. The Austrian capital is accessible through several of our river cruises via the Danube River and is home to incredible buildings such as Schönbrunn Palace and The Hofburg.
"Additionally, the Serbian capital city, Belgrade, is another great choice with attractions such as The Belgrade Fortress and Saint Petka's Chapel offering great insight into the rich culture of this destination.
"Cologne, accessible via the Rhine, is home to 973 attractions including the Chocolate Museum and Museum Ludwig. The city's historic Old Town is another highlight.
"Bratislava ranks fourth with 770 things to do dotted around the city. While Salzburg offers travellers a choice of 533 attractions such as Hangar-7, a museum showcasing a range of aircraft vehicles.
The Best River Cruise Destinations for Restaurants
|
River Cruise Destination |
Number of Restaurants |
|
4,131 |
|
2,579 |
|
1,716 |
|
1,071 |
|
555 |
"Interestingly, when analysing the best river cruise destinations in terms of available restaurants, the same five cities ranked top - albeit in a different order.
"Vienna, once again, ranks first and highlights itself as a wonderful destination for cruisers. There's no shortage of eateries to choose from with over 4,000 available throughout the city, including ef16 Restaurant and Mährischer Spatz.
"This time, Cologne ranks second with an impressive 2,579 restaurants, offering travellers the opportunity to indulge in some German cuisine. Available restaurants include; Bei Oma Kleinmann and Limani.
"With 1,716 restaurants, Belgrade is another great pick. This river cruise destination has a range of eateries offering Serbian, Japanese and African cuisine.
"Finally, Bratislava offers just over 1,000 restaurants, including a variety of cafes, bars and other eateries while Salzburg is home to 555 in total.
The Best River Cruise Destinations for Shopping Malls
|
River Cruise Destination |
Number of Shopping Malls |
|
17 |
|
13 |
|
9 |
|
8 |
|
6 |
"Finally, we've examined the top five locations for shopping malls, offering travellers the opportunity to pick up a gift or trinket to remember the trip by.
"Overall, Vienna is clearly the place to be, ranking top in all three categories - this time with 17 shopping malls. Cologne wasn't close behind, however, with the German destination home to 13 shopping centres.
"Outside the top two, Belgrade has 9 shopping malls to pick from with the Eurovea Galleria and Nivy Centrum being great places to shop or pick up a coffee.
"Once again, Salzburg makes the top five. In total, the Austrian city has 8 shopping malls including EUROPARK Salzburg and Forum 1.
"Lastly, Linz, another Austrian destination ranks in fifth place. Travellers in the picturesque city have 6 shopping centres to choose from with PlusCity by far the pick of the bunch.
"Overall, with so many unique and incredible destinations, it can be challenging to choose a specific cruise route. However, with sufficient research, travellers can come prepared with a better understanding of the number of restaurants, attractions and shopping facilities available to them."
Find your perfect river cruise here.
