TRAVEL FACTS

austria.info

T’S EARLY MORNING IN VIENNA, and the bruised tones of sunrise dapple the Danube’s mirrored surface like a blushing disco ball. It’s a scene worthy of a postcard. But for now, it’s an outlook that’s all mine. Well, shared with the few others up at this time of day.

Europe’s second-longest river, the Danube begins in Germany’s Black Forest, where the Brigach and Breg rivers join in Donaueschingen – it ends at the Black Sea, 2,850 kilometres to the southeast, passing through 10 countries and countless cities, towns and villages. Some 450 kilometres of that carve through Austria.

I’ve been here before on a cruise ship, floating between atmospheric Danube