The best river cruises around the world for 2025
The best river cruises around the world for 2025
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Take a tour of the world’s most famous waterways including the Danube and the Nile River on your next holiday. A cruise holiday isn’t always about setting sail across vast oceans. For an alternative type of break on the water, winding your way inland might sound similar but it’s a vastly different experience on a river cruise ship.
![[The Danube rises in the mountains of Germany’s Black Forest]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/13/14/iStock-1417852988.jpg)
From crossing deep into the untouched areas of the Amazon rainforest to exploring some of Europe’s finest cities, the river cruise experience is one that allows tourists to get to grips with the history, culture and tradition of a destination in a slow, immersive fashion.
![[The Amazon basin has an area of around 2.7 million square miles]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/13/14/iStock-1004885760.jpg)
This could be in the form of sampling Creole cuisine in Mississippi or discovering historic sites in Vietnam, but whatever it is, there’s plenty of choice across Europe, Asia, South America and North America. Read on for a selection of the best cruises, from the Mississippi to the Mekong.
![[The Nile starts in the Mediterranean and runs through as far south as Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/13/14/iStock-1399402370-2.jpg)
Europe’s second longest river – and arguably its most famous – river takes you through amazing capital cities and a host of charming towns, as well as plenty of scenic countryside in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. Cruises along the Danube can vary from a handful of days to almost three weeks, giving you time to explore the elegance of cities like Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava or Belgrade.
![[The Rhine is the busiest waterway in Europe]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/13/14/iStock-1131671066.jpg)
From £1,925pp, flights and airport transfers included. Departing regularly between 17 April and 25 October 2025. Read more on Europe travel:. This famous river runs for over 4,000 miles throughout South America and is a major part of the eponymous rainforest, one of the most biodiverse and important natural areas on the planet. A river cruise remains the best way to reach deeper into the jungle, with many cruises beginning in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus or in the Peruvian city of Lima.
![[The Douro Valley is supposedly the oldest demarcated wine-growing region in the world]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/11/13/14/iStock-1248730316.jpg)
