2026 - Capitals of Eastern Europe

Actual trip

Overview

We had to change ships due to the Danube being at a 30 year low.

This meant changes to our itinerary and long coach trips for excursions as we were no longer docked at the original locations, like Budapest. Delays were incurred due to extensive road repairs and traffic accidents and flat tire affecting 3 of our trips.

Original Ship: Rinda

New sister ship: Kadlin

We also missed some stops that were replaced with altrernative locations.

Viking did a great job filling in the gaps, but it was a shame this was our first River cruise, as it leaves a sour taste.

We managed to visit 8 countries and 12 cities.

Sailing from Vienna, Austria, along the Danube to Vidin Bulgaria, as the Danube low water levels meant we could not get to our scheduled last stop of Constanta.

We then boarded a motor coach from Vidin and drove to Bucharest.

We spent 3 nights in the Grand Marriot hotel in Bucharest, as we missed the night in Constanta. The hotel is an amazing hotel. I think the bathroom was the size of our cabin! :)

We then flew back to Denver, Colorado, where we met another heatwave. high 90s to 100F

Daily details

July 5th - leaving Bristol for Vienna

Waking up at 5:30am

Getting ready to leave for Bristol airport.

KLM flight to Amsterdam then to Vienna.

Then a taxi to the port to board our Viking long ship.

Taxi to the ship, we got there at 8pm. We were the last to board.

At the Rinda with luggage

We arrived at our ship very tired.

The rooms are very small, however we managed to unpack and store our luggage under our bed, after getting dinner before the restaurant closed, thanks to helpful staff that greated us.

July 6th - Vienna

We woke up early the next day, at 6:30. Not sure why as we are very tired.

We got ready anyway and had breakfast then we joined our first tour of Vienna, which was a guided tour then a walk around the town.

Vienna is beautiful. Stunning buildings and busy streets with trams.

We had a coffee and a slice of apricot struddel with cream and custard. Very nice.

As we were walking around Vienna, turning a corner of the busy shopping area, and were amazed at the sight of an incredible church.

Amazing Vienna church

It started to rain as we were ending the tour. But managed to get on board before the down pour.

Busy traffic and trams.

Later we went to a concert to see the 21 year old child prodegy, Alma Deutschet, in an evening titled, Alma Deutschet plays Mozart and Strauss.

This was an amazing show. You must go if you get a chance.

July 7th - Vienna

Today was a free day, so we took an Uber into town.

We went to a museum and saw Picasso and Monet and other contempary painters, not my thing to be honest.

After, we went to a couple of sausage stands to try out the different kinds. We really liked the spicy one with curry sauce.

Below is where we had a curry brat and regular brat with onions. Vienna Sausage stand

July 8th -Slovakia and coach to Czech Republic (Excursion)

We are docked at Bratislava, Slovakia.

The cobbled streets are not too bad to walk on. They are flat and even.

Our trip today takes us into the Czech Republic. We will need our passports. Actually it turned out we didnt need the passports after all.

Add another country to the list ;)

Our tour took us to Lednice where we toured a palace. It was badly damaged in WWII and has been restored very well, but not all is original furniture or wall coverings.

We had a great meal and wine tasting in the same grounds as the palace.

We both had the Czech national dish of pork tenderloin with sour kraut. And coconut cake for dessert.

We then went to the summer Palace in Valtice. They had wonderful gardens.

Here is the palace. They were setting up for an event, hence the vehicles in the fron. Still very impressive!

Then we headed back to the ship.

As it was early, we walked around Bratislava, which was very nice.

Bratilavia has unusual street sculptures like this one.

Pretty streets and courtyards.

They have a famous bridge with a restaurant that looks like a flying saucer.

What a shot here!! The saucer and our ship in the shot, Great place to park a ship.

If you look closely at the front of the ship below, they are trying to top up the Danube, but alas it was too little to late! :)

July 9th - Komarom, Hungary

We were told last night that the Danube does not have enough water for us to proceed to Budapest.

We will get as close as they can and coach us to Budapest and other locations for scheduled excursions, some excursions were cancelled, which we were reimbursed for.

The ship moved to Komarom, Hungary.

We will have to change ships in Vulovar to our sister ship the Kadlin and continue from there. We will find out what other stops are still valid later today.

We had to take coach into Budapest. It should have take an hour but there were road works and a lorry got a flat tire, which delayed us around 30 minutes.

The city tour was great with amazing views.

Budapest taken from the top of the hill where there is a fortress and a statue which looks like a bottle opener, according the locals :)

We visited the Citadel at the top of Buda, looking over Pest. Stunning views. We also visited a church built on Romans ruins

For lunch we went to a Greek restaurant and had a chicken gyro. Very good with a nice salad.

The afternoon we went to see Hungarian Horsemen: Lajosmisze equestrian park.

However, there was the same road works and a car accident which meant we were late getting to the ranch.

The horses and riders were very skilled.

A young lad rode standing on 2 horses while guiding - incrdible

They then played a traditional game like flag football, one rider has a scarf anf the others have to try and take it from him.

The reward was a kiss from a beautiful lady.

The ride back was uneventful.

July 10th

The ship moved to Komaron, Bucharest.

Viking are still working out the details of the water height issue.

They cancelled our 7pm evening trip.

Today's trip starts at 1:30, but due to all the issues we had to catch a 10am coach into Budapest.

I am typing this while in a traffic queue just like yesterday.

There was a nasty accident on the opposite side of the road. Huge tail backs.

July 11th

We are still in Hungary but at a different port, Gonyu.Temperature was 31c, 88f and sunny.

It is 25 minutes by coach to the main town, Gyor.

Very nice place.

We had lunch at a large restaurant. The soup was tasteless but the chicken cordon bleu was very nice and so was the banana cake.

We started packing, ready to change ships. :(

July 12th

We have had breakfast and are on a coach for a 4 hours ride to join the new ship, Kadlin.

It's a sunny day. First stop is an hour and a half away.

8:35 it is 23c, 73f

Fields and fields of sun flowers, corn fields and windmill farms. Some hills in the distance.

We are headed for Vokovar, Croatia.

The road is very bumpy today.

There are also fields of hay bails, the round kind.

9:50 first rest stop. You have to pay to use the public toilet in Hungry. 24c

11:50 second stop. 30c 86F.

Two more hours to go

1:25pm we have crossed the boarder into Croatia. Looks the same😆

2pm we have arrived. We boarded our new home for another week, the Viking Kadlin.

It is the same as the Rinda, some minor differences.

New crew, except for our cruise director, Natalie.

We did a city tour and museum. Very interesting.

On the ship talk they said we might have more issues with the lack of water and that the Serbia police want to do a face to face check in the morning.

July 13th

We are docked in Novi Sad, Serbia.

The police were meant to join the ship at 6am but have just joined at 7:40.

They do not need a face to face anymore, they will just stamp out passports, which we need to carry while we are in Serbia.

Out trip was to start at 8:30, but it's delayed due to the passports being stamped.

Oh, and this ship was to be re fueled in Vienna, but as the water is low we need to refuel today from 1:30 to 5pm. We can leave the ship out or sail with it to the commercial docks. I think we will stay on the ship.

We have to keep our phones on Airplane mode due to phone tower locations in different time zones, and that the Serbian towers charge a lot of money to use them.

We will use the Viking WiFi.

We have completed the tour, finished lunch on the ship, we had fish and chips, it was so so.

July 14th

We have arrived in Belgrade. We are by the dock and another shop is tethered to us. The passengers on that ship walk through ours to get ashore.

We have a panoramic trip today at 8:45.

No news on the level of the Danube further down the river. Fingers crossed we don't have to change ships again.

The trip today was very good. We toured the town and we walked around the fortress. Then we walked around the pedestrian area and had a coffee.
We then went to an incredible church, Church of Saint Sava. The decoration is incredible.

The orange mosaics are 24 carot gold sandwiched between glass and baked at high temperature.

Once I get good internet I will post pictures.

July 15th

At last. Woke up to scenic cruising. Green rolling hills, fancy homes. Beautiful sunny blue sky.

We are due to dock at Donji Malanovac, Serbia a 8am, but it's 8:05 already. The town has a population of 1,000 people. They were relocated due to a hydro dam that flooded their home.

We have a "Charming Donji Malanovac" for 90 minutes. It is a small town.

We visited the local school.

Then at 2:30pm we had for Vidin, Bulgaria along the Kazan Stretch. We will see the kings head carved into the clif on the Romanian banks of the Danube River. It depicts Decebalus, the last king of Dacia. Towering 55 meters (180 feet) high, it is Europe's tallest rock sculpture. It is located in the Iron Gates gorge near the Romanian city of Orșova, directly across the water from Serbia.

We will be traversing the Iron Gate lock later today.

We made it through the locks ok but we given more bag news. Due to the water levels our itinerary has changed again. We will not go to Constansa but will go direct to Bucarest for an extra day instead.

No details on the coach distance.

July 16th

We are docked at Drobeta-Turnu, Romania. Our clocks went forward an hour as we are now in central European time zone.

Google says 4 hours to go from Vidin to Bucarest, but we will have stops along the way. So more like 6 hours.

We explored Roman ruins and the local museum.

It was in the low 90s and sunny. We were melting.

Back on board and the details have been sent for the Bucharest transfer and excursions.

We also got our bill, the tips were not included. Need to check as we thought they were.

July 17th

We are docked at Vidin Bulgaria. Are are parked next to another Viking ship.

Out trip today is at 9am, "Vidin on foot".

When we get back we will need to pack ready for the transfer to Bucarest by coach.

It's an early 7am disembarkation.

We had a very hot walk around town and a large castle.

We had lunch on the ship and started packing for the coach trip to Bucarest. This is our last night on the ship. :(

They have wild dogs walking the streets. They are friendly as the locals give them food. One dog followed our tour around. Very cute.

July 18th

All on board the coach for a 4 to 5 hour trip.

It is 8:10 am 24C, 75F. It is sunny. This has been fairly typical for this trip, sunny and hot.

It is flat, with crops. Sounds like Kansas 😔

Many of the traffic lights have timers showing how long before they change. I like that.

8:30 we just crossed over the Danube into Romania.

Second stop 12:30, 34C that's 93F

The JW Marriot Grand Hotel is amazing.

July 19th

Off to the monestery.

Very hot and sunny day.

The palace and church are very nice.

It rained just before we went on a walking and coach trip for, Sightes and tastes of Romania.

Lucky it stopped, and the temperature dropped a 24C.

July 20th

Off to Constanta by coach. This is one of the stops we missed on the ship due to the water levels.

Leaving at 8:11

Trip includes winery tour and meal.

Fantastic trip. Constanta is a beautiful town. Lovely buildings churches temples and moscs

The winery was great. Good wines and great brand playing.

After a while people were dancing.

On the way back, Alma, our guide, sang 2 Romanian folk songs. They brought a tear to my eye.

Then a passenger sang, What a Wonderful World. Of coure we all joined in! Amazing

As we drive back to the hotel, we drive by golden fields that have just been harvested and other fields of sunflowers.

Great way to end the last seven weeks.

Itinerary

Booked direct through Viking.

SUN JUL 05, 2026 Embark In Vienna on Viking Rinda

French Balcony

MON JUL 06, 2026 Vienna, Austria
TUE JUL 07, 2026 Vienna, Austria
WED JUL 08, 2026 Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Coach to Czech Republic - day trip
WED JUL 08, 2026 Scenic Sailing: Danube Bend
THU JUL 09, 2026 Budapest, Hungary
FRI JUL 10, 2026 Budapest, Hungary
SAT JUL 11, 2026 Mohacs, Hungary
SUN JUL 12, 2026 Vukovar, Croatia
SUN JUL 12, 2026 Ilok, Croatia
MON JUL 13, 2026 Novi Sad, Serbia
TUE JUL 14, 2026 Belgrade, Serbia
WED JUL 15, 2026 Donji Milanovac, Serbia
WED JUL 15, 2026 Scenic Sailing: The Iron Gates
THU JUL 16, 2026 Vidin, Bulgaria
FRI JUL 17, 2026 Pleven, Bulgaria
SAT JUL 18, 2026 Constanta, Romania
SUN JUL 19, 2026 Disembark In Constanta
SUN JUL 19, 2026 Transfer from VIKING RINDA to Bucharest Hotel
Capitals Of Eastern Europe
SUN JUL 19, 2026 Check In, Bucharest Hotel
TUE JUL 21, 2026 Transfer from Bucharest Hotel to Bucharest, Romania Airport (OTP)
TUE JUL 21, 2026 Depart Bucharest, Romania (OTP) - Economy
TUE JUL 21, 2026 Arrive Denver, CO (DEN)