Excursion Advice

[Escaper]

We are booked Viking Grand European Tour, A to B, on October 1st.

 

Couple questions on excursion options:

 

1)  Walking tour of Passau v. day-long trip to Salzburg?

 

2) Apparently Viking no longer offering evening cruise of Budapest, recommend booking privately?

 

Thanks!

[pontac]

We went on GET.

 

1) Really you have to decide for yourself how much you want to see Salzburg. It's a 9.5 hour trip with about 2hr journey there and 2hr back (may be less or more depending on traffic, but it's 110km between the two and you are travelling in a coach) so you have to decide whether you want to spend 4 hours in a coach looking at scenery. 

 

Walking tour of Passau means you are back at boat for lunch and rest of afternoon is free to explore Passau on your own or relax.

 

We chose Passau.

 

2) Viking (and all other lines?) stopped the night-time cruise at Budapest after the recent tragedy when a tourist sightseeing boat was sunk by the Margaret Bridge with large loss of life. We had the cruise when we went on GET and another trip and tho' by our June trip the evening cruise was not on we'd done it before and weren't tempted.

 

However, you don't have to make up your mind till you arrive in Budapest; there are many evening sightseeing boats along the waterfront touting their services and o doubt you'll not want to go in poor visibility or pouring rain. 

 

 

[Escaper]

Excellent info and advice.  We will stick to Passau and play Budapest by ear.

 

Much obliged.

[G.M.T.]

Although I am biased towards Passau (my home town), both places have their pros and cons, if you are a Souns of Music fan then Salzburg is a must to visit the museum. I have never met or even heard of a German visiting it.

 

Passau has some steep streets with cobbled stones, which can be a challenge for people with mobility problems.

 

Places in Passau to see / do, organ concert in the cathedral, visit museum in Oberhaus.

 

I personally would recommend an excursion to Cesky Krumlov (if you boat has it on offer), takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from Passau (drive though the Bavarian / Bohemian forest).

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Český_Krumlov

[hehny]

You spend almost no time in Salzburg it is basically a long bus trip.  If you are a huge Sound of Music fan it’s worth it visit on a land based trip.  Passau is beautiful! 

 

Viking seems to be the only river cruise line not doing evening sails again in Budapest.  You can try this company. https://legenda.hu/en just be aware you generally need reservations in advance for dinner, as they do sell out.

[Squawkman]

9 minutes ago, hehny said:

You spend almost no time in Salzburg it is basically a long bus trip.  If you are a huge Sound of Music fan it’s worth it visit on a land based trip.  Passau is beautiful! 

I did a Danube cruise with Viking 4 years ago and agree with Hehny.

4 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

Places in Passau to see / do, organ concert in the cathedral, visit museum in Oberhaus.

The included Viking tour of Passau includes the organ concert - one of my most memorable moments on that cruise.

[dogs4fun]

Another opinion ...

I am a huge Mozart fan and I love Salzburg - last fall was our 3rd visit. Our last visit was via river cruise and we opted to take the train to Salzburg rather than the tour offered with the ship. We spent more time in Salzburg than those on the ship tour (caught an early train) and, among other things, we toured Mozart's birth house and residence. Also took the funicular up to Hohensalzburg & had a great meal at Augustiner Brau (love their schnitzel) . All in our group had loaded the Rick Steves walking tour of Salzburg onto their smartphones (his app is free and offers audio tours of many different destinations). We had a wonderful day & so did those in our group who had not previously visited Salzburg.

Passau is lovely but we prefer Salzburg.

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by dogs4fun

[hawkeye65]

On 8/29/2019 at 9:44 AM, hehny said:

You spend almost no time in Salzburg it is basically a long bus trip.  If you are a huge Sound of Music fan it’s worth it visit on a land based trip.  Passau is beautiful! 

 

Viking seems to be the only river cruise line not doing evening sails again in Budapest.  You can try this company. https://legenda.hu/en just be aware you generally need reservations in advance for dinner, as they do sell out.

We took this cruise in 2017. Those who took the Salzburg excursion said the same thing: too long, too little Salzburg. They regretted taking that excursion.