ROMANCE OF THE RIVER

There’s a cruise for everyone, whether you want an active break or a leisurely luxury holiday, says Jane Archer Danube

holiday with Tauck, which bolts two nights in Paris on to a five-night cruise from Lyon to Arles and back. The holiday is all about children, with a scavenger hunt in the Louvre that should lead teams to the Mona Lisa, a trip to the Valrhona chocolate factory in Tain l’Hermitage, a hayride (pulled by a tractor) in the Camargue, chocolate painting in Arles and a game of pétanque in Viviers. The ship, Emerald, carries a fleet of bicycles available for independent exploring at no extra cost. There are also guided bike rides in Paris and Avignon.

From £3,690 per person for an eight-day Bon Voyage family river cruise departing July 21 2019 (0800 810 8020; tauck.co.uk). person, departing May 26 2019 (0845 678 2795; ubyuniworld.com).

PARIS BEFORE CHRISTMAS

See the sights in Mantes-la-Jolie that Impressionist painters Manet, Monet and Renoir loved to paint on a festive five-night sailing from Paris. The cruise is on A-Rosa Viva, which offers buffet dining for all meals and prices that include drinks. There’s time to enjoy Christmas markets in Paris and Rouen and for some last-minute shopping on your final day in the French capital.

A Seine at Christmastime cruise costs from £799 per person departing Dec 18 2019, through Newmarket Holidays (0330 160 7700; newmarketholidays.co.uk). and cycle rides. In St-Émilion, Nyugen will prepare a special dinner in La Terrasse Rouge, located at the heart of a vineyard.

The 11-day Grand Bordeaux with Luke Nguyen trip costs from £5,395 per person, departing Aug 26 2019 (0800 012 6683; aptouring.co.uk).

SALUTE THE SUN IN BORDEAUX

Yoga within a fortress and cycle rides through a vineyard in Médoc and the back streets of Bordeaux complement wine tasting in Sauternes and StÉmilion on a Brilliant Bordeaux cruise on the Garonne, Gironde and Dordogne waterways. The spring cruise is on the newly refurbished ship Bon Voyage featuring a pool, a casual daytime eatery and a French bistro inspired by Paris’s Le Pigalle. Oh, and no single supplements.

From £3,099 per person, departing April 14, 2019 (0808 168 9231; uniworld.com). Keukenhof, costs £200 per person. A five-night Springtime Dutch Discovery cruise on board Fred Olsen’s Brabant, departing April 14 2019, costs from £999 per person (0800 035 5130; fredolsencruises.com).

MUSIC ON THE DANUBE

Celebrate Danube Day on June 29 – when riverside residents honour the waterway with a mini-Oktoberfest in Vilshofen in Germany – on board the new river ship AmaMagna. The cruise starts with a night in Budapest and visits Vienna and Linz, for a Sound of Music- themed day in Salzburg or a trip to medieval Cesky Krumlov, in the Czech Republic. In Passau, there are guided bike tours and hikes to a fortress high above town. Launching in May, AmaMagna is twice the width of other river ships, which means room for spacious cabins, four restaurants and a large spa.

The seven-night Melodies of the Danube cruise from Budapest to Vilshofen costs from £4,070 per person cruise-only departing June 23 2019 (0800 320 2335; amawaterways.co.uk).

ART ON THE RIVER

Indulge your inner artist on Titan Travel’s A Danube Waltz cruise on board the river ship, Bellejour. A night in Budapest allows time for a visit to the reopened Museum of Fine Arts in Heroes Square, housing a fine collection of Old Masters and Hungarian art. Next stop is Bratislava, where the Primate’s Palace displays six priceless 17th-century tapestries that were sewn in Mortlake, in south-west London. During an overnight stay in Vienna at the end of the cruise make time for a visit to the Belvedere Palace (£14) to see Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss and Judith. You’ll find more examples of Klimt along with his protégé Egon Schiele in the Leopold Museum (£11.60).

From £1,749 per person for a seven-night cruise from Budapest to Vienna departing May 15 2019 (0800 988 5823; titan travel.co.uk).

BIRDWATCHING IN THE DELTA

Take a small boat cruise through the Danube Delta, where the river meets the Black Sea, to see some of the thousands of birds that inhabit the marshes or nest here in summer. The trip is one of the highlights of a cruise through Eastern Europe on Riviera Travel’s new river ship William Wordsworth, which visits towns and cities in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia for tours to cathedrals, palaces and forts. A full day is spent cruising the Iron Gates Gorge, an 83-mile (134km) valley separating the Carpathian and Balkan Mountains.

A 15-day Budapest to the Black Sea cruise round-trip from the Hungarian capital costs from £2,899 per person departing May 10 2019 (01283 742300; rivieratravel.co.uk).