Danube Bike & River Cruise: Prague to Budapest
Guided Bike & Boat
- Daily Mileage: 12-35 miles|
- Biking: 2-5 hours|
Starting From
11-day Air Package
$7,395
8-day Bike Tour Only
$5,695
Per person, double occupancy
Danube Bike & River Cruise: Prague to Budapest
While most river cruises limit themselves to the lower Danube region, VBT takes you one step further—exploring the entire length of this fabled river, including the shores of Germany and the medieval city of Regensburg, a UNESCO World Heritage site. By day, join your local VBT trip leaders on curated routes through choice segments of the Danube Cycle Path—pedaling past small medieval villages, colorful vineyards, and fairytale castles. You’ll explore the majesty of the Habsburg Empire during VBT’s guided tours of Schloss Hof, Passau, and Vienna. By night, relax on your luxurious Emerald cruise ship—including a sundeck with spectacular views, a heated pool, and 5-star luxury meals and included beverages. With a wealth of onboard activities and optional excursions, this is the perfect trip for travel partners with different interests and activity levels.
Tour Highlights
- Unpack once, then bike and boat along the Danube in four countries and three cultural capitals—all on one trip.
- Follow the car-free and scenic Danube and EuroVelo 6 bike paths in this bicycle-friendly region.
- Join a private guided walk including a beer tasting in Regensburg.
- Choose to be as active or relaxed as you wish from our menu of cycling routes and walking tours.
- Enjoy an exclusive Viennese concert with the music of Strauss and Mozart.
Positive Impact
VBT is proud to support Wine to Water with a donation on behalf of each guest on this tour. Wine to Water is an international organization providing access to clean drinking water and emergency supplies in water-challenged regions. We believe in giving back to the places that have enriched the lives of our guests. We’re committed to identifying and supporting sustainable initiatives in a variety of areas including education, world health, economic equality, safe drinking water, the environment, and the preservation of cultural traditions.
What to Expect
On Shore: This tour offers easy riverside terrain, with a few climbs to reach riverside towns. Riding is primarily on bike paths of both pavement and packed gravel, with some road riding, through both urban and rural areas. Our VBT support vehicle is available every day at designated points for those who need assistance.
On Board Ship: Our group of up to 24 VBT guests will be part of a larger group on board our 182-passenger river cruise ship. Every day will include your choice of exclusive VBT activities and opportunities to join others. While in port, our ship may be docked adjacent to other ships. This means you might walk through other ships while boarding or disembarking, and some views may be obstructed while in port.
- Daily Mileage: 12-35 miles|
- Biking: 2-5 hours|
- Max Group Size: 24
Cyclists
Support
Average High /
Low Temperature (°F):
Apr57º/39º
May67º/49º
Jun72º/55º
Jul77º/59º
Aug77º/59º
Sep69º/53º
Oct57º/43º
Average
Precipitation:
Apr2.2 in
May2.4 in
Jun2.9 in
Jul2.5 in
Aug2.3 in
Sep1.8 in
Oct1.6 in
Air Package |
Tour Only |
|
---|---|---|
Roundtrip international airfare |
||
Airport car service for arrival and departure |
||
One night in Prague and one night in Budapest in conveniently located hotels with daily breakfast |
||
7 nights aboard a deluxe river ship |
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21 meals: 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 dinners |
Step-Through Electric-Assisted Bicycle (E-bike)
See More >Road Bicycle (Carbon frame)
See More >Step-Through (Mixte Hybrid) Comfort Bicycle
See More >Step-Over (Diamond) Comfort Bicycle
See More >Biking Packages Include:
Custom VBT Bike and Helmet
Two Local, Bilingual Trip Leaders
Support Vehicle
Luggage Transportation
Ride with GPS and Daily Route Notes
Welcome Reception
Facilitated Cultural Experiences
Your Choice of VBT Branded Gear for Your Adventure
Accommodations (Please Note: Days are based on the Air Package Itinerary. Accommodations may vary depending on departure date. )
Enjoy Your Vacation Longer With Low-Cost Trip Extensions
Air Package Only
2025 Pre-Trip Extension - Prague
2 Nights From
$295
per person, double
occupancy
Single Supplement: From $245
- 2 nights at the Mamaison Hotel Riverside Prague
- Airport car service for arrival
- Daily breakfast
- City information
Your vacation is about to begin! Spend your first night aloft and arrive ready for an unforgettable trip.
A VBT representative will greet you at the airport to start your adventure off right. A complimentary car service will whisk you to your centrally located hotel. From here, you are perfectly positioned to explore this charming city at your leisure.
After a delicious included breakfast at your hotel, you are free to explore on your own, using our included city information packet to guide your discoveries.
Included Meals: Breakfast
After a delicious included breakfast at your hotel, you are free to explore on your own, using our included city information packet to guide your discoveries.
Included Meals: Breakfast
Mamaison Hotel Riverside Prague
A fully renovated, upscale boutique hotel boasting an award-winning Art Nouveau design, the Mamaison Hotel Riverside Prague is ideally located on the west bank of the Vltava River, near the Charles Bridge and within easy reach of Prague’s historic and tourist districts. The National Theatre, Dancing House, Prague Castle, and numerous other architectural and cultural treasures are within walking distance, and music lovers will appreciate the proximity to Mozart’s Prague residence. Your air-conditioned room offers all the amenities you need for a comfortable and relaxing stay. VBT has also included a Prague Transportation Pass to allow you easy, unlimited public transportation to other areas of Prague.
Air Package Only
2025 Post-Trip Extension - Budapest
2 Nights From
$295
per person, double
occupancy
Single Supplement: From $245
- 2 nights at the Prestige Hotel Budapest
- Airport car service for departure
- Daily breakfast
- City information
After a delicious included breakfast at your hotel, you are free to continue exploring on your own, using our included city information packet to guide your discoveries.
Included Meals: Breakfast
After a delicious included breakfast at your hotel, you are free to explore on your own, using our included city information packet to guide your discoveries.
Included Meals: Breakfast
After an included breakfast this morning, complimentary transportation to the Budapest airport will be provided (an approximately 30- to 40-minute drive, depending on traffic) for your departing flight.
Included Meals: Breakfast
Prestige Hotel Budapest
The centrally located Prestige Hotel Budapest is just a few steps from the Danube River and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge—the most well-known symbol of Budapest. This restored palace-turned-hotel offers a blend of Hungarian hospitality in an atmosphere of timeless elegance. The guest rooms are graceful, decorated in cream and gold with wood-laminate flooring, and include amenities like air conditioning and WiFi. And the stunning atrium lobby and common areas offer sophisticated design, as well as ultimate comfort, whether you opt to enjoy the Michelin restaurant, fitness center, Jacuzzi, or sauna.
Nicely paced, well thought out itinerary. Easy paths with GPS guidance, though needed to pay attention closely as it was too easy to get off the designated trail though very obvious pretty quickly from GPS if you make a wrong turn. Nice to have a floating hotel so you were not packing and unpacking. Enough time for meals and breaks with great van/trip support. Ebike option was greatly appreciated
Danube Bike River Cruise in September
The Emerald Seas part of the trip was outstanding. The ship’s crew was great, the food was excellent, the service could not have been better, and the cabins, although small, were well designed and quite comfortable. The land activities offered by Emerald that we participated in were excellent and a couple of the local guides they used were outstanding. If I were rating only Emerald Cruises, I would have given it five stars. I wish the VBT part of the trip was as good. This was my third VBT trip. The first two we took were both outstanding with great cycling routes everyday, excellent non-cycling activities, and a cohesiveness with the guides and other travelers that made the trips memorable. Perhaps because of the combination of two quite different objectives, the Danube Bike & River Cruise did not gel in the same way. A couple of the cycling routes along the Danube were beautiful (notwithstanding the rain we endured on those sections), but the rest seemed to be made up only to provide an opportunity to ride. Overall, as a cycling trip the routes were not all that interesting and there was not really a lot of cycling. The VBT non-cycling activities were okay but we could have done most of them with Emerald’s offerings or on our own if we had just done the river cruise and not the cycling. If I were to do the trip again, I would book directly with Emerald, skip the cycling on this trip, and find another cycling trip that did not mix the two. Two final comments: (1) The VBT guides were quite good but the nature of the trip limited their role so they were not a significant part of the trip (which is quite different than the role played by the guides on our two prior trips). (2). The local VBT representative in Prague, Barbara, offered several local tours - at an extra cost - for those who opted for the pre-trip extension. Her tours were poorly organized, she ignored participants’ requests for more information about history, politics, culture, etc., and focused primarily on architecture instead, and her sound equipment was so bad, many of us were unable to hear her for significant portions of the tours. Although she said she wanted to tailor the tours to meet the interests of the group, she did not do that and at one point continued to drag us through rain and wet, cold, wind when everyone told her repeatedly they wanted to stop to eat lunch and rest out of the wind. Although stopping for lunch was part of the tour, she had not made reservations and the restaurant she ultimately took us to did not have any tables for us.
Take the cruise, skip the cycling
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