River Cruise Tours in Europe
Add Prague, the Alps, Paris or Lisbon to your river week — how cruise-and-land tours work.
Get Free River Cruise QuotesRiver cruise tours in Europe combine a week on the river with days on land — a classic way to see Prague before the Danube, the Swiss Alps after the Rhine, or Paris before the Seine.
How the Lines Package Land and River
Tauck
Tauck includes overnight stays in city-center hotels on select cruises, naming Rosewood London, Fairmont Le Montreux Palace and InterContinental Paris Le Grand.
Scenic
City stays and extensions before or after European cruises, and a combined land journey with its Mekong river cruises in Southeast Asia.
AmaWaterways
Land packages in cities such as Basel and Milan, among others.
Other lines
Most lines sell pre- and post-cruise hotel nights in Amsterdam, Basel, Budapest, Paris, Lisbon and Porto.
Popular Combinations
| Cruise | Common land add-ons |
|---|---|
| Danube (Passau–Budapest) | Prague, Salzburg, Vienna extra nights |
| Rhine (Amsterdam–Basel) | Lucerne, Zurich, the Swiss Alps |
| Seine (Paris round trip) | Extra nights in Paris, London by train |
| Douro (Porto round trip) | Lisbon, Madrid |
| Rhône (Lyon–Arles) | Paris, Provence, the French Riviera |
Booking Land Days the Smart Way
- Book hotels through the line when transfers to the ship depend on it.
- Leave a full day between a long-haul flight and embarkation.
- Use trains for city-to-city links in Europe; they are often faster than flying.
- Keep one unplanned afternoon on land.
For hotels outside a package, try Rooms Cheap; for flights, Airfares for Less. Ocean extensions and Mediterranean cruises are in the Official Cruise Directory. Exploring the USA too? Best of the USA and the Official Travel Directory have ideas. Love planning trips like this? Be a Travel Agent shows how to make it a career. French itineraries are covered by France Rivers Cruising.
Getting Between Hotel and Ship
Transfers are where cruise-and-land trips most often go wrong. Scenic says return transfers in Europe are included when flights and pre- or post-cruise hotels are booked with Scenic; Tauck includes airport and select train-station transfers; Uniworld includes scheduled airport transfers for guests who meet its transfer guidelines. If you arrange your own hotel, confirm the exact pier or mooring — in cities like Budapest and Amsterdam ships use several different docks — and allow extra time on embarkation day. We handle all of this when we book the package for you.
Cruise and Land Tour Questions
What is a river cruisetour?
A river cruise combined with hotel stays and guided touring on land, sold as one package. Many lines also sell shorter pre- and post-cruise extensions in start and end cities.
Should I book extra nights before the cruise?
We usually recommend at least one night before an international cruise, to recover from the flight and protect against delays.
Build Your River Cruise Tour
Tell us your river and the cities you want to add. Our cruise advisors at Mister Cruise will build the package and send free quotes.
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