Our Danube River Cruise Highlights
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Our Danube River cruise was one of the coolest things we did on this Budapest trip. We had visited the city about four months ago and were only there for 4 nights which were just not enough time to enjoy this beautiful city. We ended up going back for 10 lovely days.
On our list of things to do was take this three-hour Danube River cruise. It took us from the city to the little village of Nagymaros, located on the Pest side of Budapest. We went with the Mahart Passnave Danube River Cruise Sightseeing Company. They offer a series of cruises across the Danube as well as have a permanent docked restaurant, which seemed to be packed most nights, so l assume the food is pretty good. We got there early so we could claim seats on the upper deck. This gives you unobstructed views across the river. The poor folks who were late ended up on the bottom, where they were “glassed” in. Nothing worse than trying to take pictures through windows. You end up with a lot of glare on the images.
The departure point was at Vigado Terrace, located right by the famous Chain Bridge. You can reach there easily via the M2 train, it’s just a couple of stops after Parliament. Tickets were a very reasonable €10 per person, ROUND TRIP!!! The cruise departed right on time at 9AM, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Earlier in the morning, there had been some showers that had us wondering if we should blow off the trip. I’m so glad we didn’t. By the time we got there, the skies had opened up to reveal a warm and breezy day.
These images are from the cruise. We decided to leave the city and get some lunch at this little village with a population of approximately 4,000. It’s not really a tourist destination. We wanted to see the majesty of the Danube, that was our main objective. The Danube is the longest river in the E.U, and second longest in Europe, right after the Volga river. It measures about 1785 miles, starting from the Black Forest in Germany. It crosses 11 countries in total, including Hungary, Vienna and the Ukraine.
I highly recommend you checking out the Danube River cruise if you find yourself in Budapest. Not only will you find yourself humming “Blue Danube” under your breath, (I admit to singing “Blue Bayou” by Linda Ronstadt. l always got the words wrong), you will also see wonderful, lush greenery as far as the eyes can see. We also got to see ships passing through, mostly flying German flags. It was a truly beautiful experience. This cruise stops off at the lovely town of Visegrad (most people got off there, l think there’s more to see and do there) and ends in Nagymaros. You can spend a bit of time enjoying both places, then either take the cruise back, or go back to Budapest by train like we did. It is a very nice day trip from the hustle and bustle of Budapest.
