The river does the sightseeing. You just pick the right boat.
An hour under the Eiffel Tower, four nights from Aswan to Luxor, a sampan turning off the Mekong into the palms. What each one includes, which deck to sit on and what it costs before you leave the hotel.
Five river days worth planning a trip around: Paris, Chicago, Porto, the Mekong, the Nile.
An hour, an afternoon and four nights aboard. What each costs, how long you are actually on the water, and what the people who took it say.
01One hour, one river1-Hour Seine Cruise departing from the Eiffel TowerBoats leave from under the Eiffel Tower through the evening. Take the open top deck; the glassed-in saloon costs the same and shows you half as much.
02The city read from belowChicago Architecture River CruiseNinety minutes of Chicago explained from the water by someone who knows which architect lost which argument. Book the earliest sailing for the light.
03Fifty minutes, six bridges6 Bridges Douro River CruisePorto from a converted port barge, under the Dom Luís and back. The cheapest way to understand how the city sits on the gorge.
04A whole day in the deltaMekong Delta Tour with Sampan JourneyOut of Ho Chi Minh City by road, then a sampan through the coconut channels, lunch in the orchards and back by dark.
05Four nights, Aswan to Luxor4-Day 3-Night Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor&Abu Simbel+BalloonThe full Nile run with the temples moored at the door and a balloon over the west bank at dawn. Book the sailing, not the hotel.
In Paris the river is the ticket: an hour, a dinner service, or a day out to the Loire.
The Seine cuts past almost everything people come to see, so the cheapest sightseeing in the city floats. Three kinds of French river day, what it costs to board each one and how long you get on the water.
An afternoon afloat and a week aboard are not the same purchase.
A sightseeing hour buys a seat and a commentary. A Nile or Douro sailing buys the cabin, the meals and the shore visits, and it answers to the water: the Douro runs on locks and levels, and a Mekong channel sits deeper after the monsoon than it does in March. Three things to check before paying. How long you are genuinely on the water. Whether food, guide and hotel pickup are in the price or sold at the gangway. What the operator does when the river is too high or too low to sail.
Not every river is for cruising: rapids in Croatia, kayaks in Portugal, a rubber tube in Jamaica.
The same water that carries a dinner boat through Budapest drops seven metres through a chute in Rotorua. These are the rivers you ride rather than watch, sorted by how wet you are willing to get.
What an hour, an evening and a week on the river actually cost.
Every river trip on the site grouped by price. The cheapest end is not the worst end: a twenty-dollar hour on the Seine beats most things you can do on dry land in Paris.
Sightseeing hours, city-centre sailings, tubing floats and the short hops out of the delta towns.
Full days: the Douro valley with lunch, rafting with kit and a guide, dinner services with a set menu.
Nights aboard, private charters and the small-boat trips that carry a dozen people instead of two hundred.
Six rivers people plan a whole trip around.
The Nile with its temples on the bank, the Douro cut into terraces, the Seine through the middle of Paris, the Mekong splitting into its delta, the Chicago running backwards through downtown and the Thames past Westminster. Six starting points, and the best day on the water in each.
The Nile, the Douro and the Danube are booked by the week, not by the hour.
On a multi-night sailing the boat is the hotel, the temples and terraces arrive at the gangway, and the only luggage you move is your own from the taxi. Fewer than a hundred people on most of them, and a sun deck instead of a coach window.
The river trips more travellers book than anything else.
Every river trip we have reviewed →Sailings that run several times a day and still sell out by mid-morning in summer, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
1-Hour Seine Cruise departing from the Eiffel Tower
Board at Port de la Bourdonnais, beneath the Eiffel Tower, for a one-hour round trip past Notre Dame, the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and more. Choose the open top deck or warm indoor seating, then use the multilingual audio guide or onboard web app for context.
From · $20
Read our review →
2
Westminster to Greenwich River Thames Cruise
from $22
3
Evening River Cruise with Music
from $27
4
Douro Valley w/ Boat Tour, Wine Tasting & Lunch
from $82
5
Chicago Architecture River Cruise
from $39
6
Mekong Delta Tour with Sampan Journey
from $16
7
Complete Douro Valley Wine Tour with Lunch, Wine Tastings and River Cruise
from $101
8
Illuminations River Cruise with Audio Commentary
from $20
Three things that happen on rivers and nowhere else.
The sea gives you horizon. A river gives you a moving front row: a temple wall at eye level, a lock lifting the boat past a vineyard, and a cave that a river carved a mountain out of.
Temples with their own mooring
Between Aswan and Luxor the great temples were built where the boats could reach them, so a Nile sailing ties up at the gate rather than a car park two miles off. Kom Ombo comes at dusk with the columns lit, Edfu in the early morning before the coaches arrive from the hotels. The boat moves overnight while you sleep and the next colonnade is outside the window at breakfast.
- 14-Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor including Abu Simbel and Hot Air Balloon★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,142 reviews
- 2Dinner Cruise on the Nile River with Entertainment★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 2,190 reviews
- 3Nile Sunset Dinner Cruise, Show & Optional Transfer★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 2,184 reviews
A staircase of locks and terraces
The Douro was blasted and dammed into a navigable staircase, and the boats now climb it through five locks, one of them the deepest in Europe. On either side the schist is cut into terraces so steep the grapes still come down by hand. The rabelos moored at Vila Nova de Gaia are the boats that used to carry the barrels down before the dams went in.
- 1Douro Valley w/ Boat Tour, Wine Tasting & Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 19,061 reviews
- 2Complete Douro Valley Wine Tour with Lunch, Wine Tastings and River Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 12,920 reviews
- 3Douro Valley with Winery Lunch, Tastings & Cruise★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 7,002 reviews
Rivers that run under a mountain
At Puerto Princesa a navigable river runs eight kilometres into a limestone mountain, and the paddled boats go a short way in under a spotlight while swiftlets work the roof. Daily numbers are capped, permits are issued in advance, and the crossing to the cave mouth is cancelled outright when the sea outside is rough.
- 1Luang Prabang: Cruise to Pak Ou Caves & Kuang Si Waterfalls★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,769 reviews
- 2Cave, Waterfall and River Adventure in Charco Azul from San Juan★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,662 reviews
- 3Underground River Full-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 1,460 reviews
Four river bookings that will not wait for you.
Most river days can be arranged the night before from a hotel desk. These four run on sailing days, permit quotas and first light, none of which take any interest in when your flight lands.
- 014-Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor including Abu Simbel and Hot Air BalloonMulti-night Nile boats leave Aswan and Luxor on set days of the week, not daily. Miss the sailing day and the next cabin is several days out.
- 02Underground River Full-Day TripPalawan caps the number of people admitted to the underground river each day and issues permits in advance. Turning up without one does not work.
- 034-Days Nile Cruise From Aswan To Luxor including Abu Simbel and Hot Air BalloonThe balloons over the Luxor west bank fly at first light only, and the pilots stand them down for wind. A trip with one spare morning has one chance.
- 04Floating Market & Mekong’s Legacy( About 6 Pax)The floating markets trade at dawn and are packing up by nine. The boats that reach them in time leave the city while it is still dark.
On the Nile the boat is the hotel, and the temples come to the gangway.
Cairo gives you a felucca crossing at sunset and a dinner boat under the bridges. Everything else worth the flight is upstream: four nights between Aswan and Luxor, moored each evening at whichever temple comes next.
Every Egyptian river trip →
The Mekong is not one river by the time it reaches Vietnam; it is nine.
The delta breaks the river into channels narrow enough to touch both banks, and the day out of Ho Chi Minh City is a bus, then a sampan, then a bowl of something in an orchard. Go early for the markets, which are finished trading before most tours arrive.
- 1Mekong Delta Tour with Sampan Journeyfrom $16
- 2HCM: Cu Chi Tunnels & Mekong Delta with Coconut Village Tourfrom $35
- 3Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta Signature Tourfrom $33
By place — the rivers with the most to book
By kind of day — an hour, a dinner, a rapid or a week aboard
Cairo, Aswan, Luxor: the week almost every first Egyptian trip is built on.
Giza
Aswan
LuxorThe newest river trip reviews.
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DC City Tour with 10+ Stops, Boat Cruise, Admission Tickets
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Alanya Jeep Safari: Dim Cave, River & Nature Adventure
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Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP) and Kayak Activities in Han River
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Seoul Han River Night Tour: Picnic, Games & Starlight Cruise
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Alanya Highlights Sapadere Waterfalls, Dim Cave & Dim River
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Tagus River Sunset Cruise in a Traditional Vessel
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Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP) & Kayak in Han River
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River Cave Tubing Adventure & Gorilla ATV Quad Bike
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