Excursions on Viking Grand European

[texbecca]

My partner and I are going on our first river cruise May 2023. (Viking Grand European A-B). The window to sign up for excursions will open next month. I want to be prepared because I've heard some of the more popular excursions will sell out. Which excursions are the best? On various posts, I've read a couple of mentions recommending the Top of Cologne tour as well as a wine tour. Are there others that we should consider?

Edited September 21, 2022 by texbecca

[pontac]

I have been on the GET and also several times along the Danube with other Viking cruises.

 

Of the optional ones (i.e. at an extra charge) listed on the 2023 GET itinerary I have been on

VIENNA -Historic Farmers’ Market Visit With Local Chef.

so-so I quite enjoyed it at the time but the market is not huge and I wouldn't go again. You could visit the market yourself, it's only a short ride on the Metro from where the boat is moored

 

VIENNA -Mozart & Strauss Concert

I didn't want to go to this and Mrs P paid and dragged me along unwillingly. I loved it, and we've been back twice and would go again next time we pass through Vienna.

 

MELK - Wachau Valley Winery

I'm a wine geek and book wine tastings. Last time we were in Wachau Viking had a visit to Morwald winery which was hosted by owner/winemaker Earhard Morwald. His wines used to be the red and white house wines for Viking - when it was smaller than it is today. The visit was great. 

But the blurb doesn't name the winery that is visited so it's anyones guess what the visit will be.

The most grown white - and what Austria is famous for - is Gruner Veltliner, a beautiful dry crisp white. The most grown black grape is the Bluer Zweigelt, often just known at Zweigelt, a light fruity red wine. Quality of Austrian wines is top notch.

[meg1021]

19 hours ago, texbecca said:

My partner and I are going on our first river cruise May 2023. (Viking Grand European A-B). The window to sign up for excursions will open next month. I want to be prepared because I've heard some of the more popular excursions will sell out. Which excursions are the best? On various posts, I've read a couple of mentions recommending the Top of Cologne tour as well as a wine tour. Are there others that we should consider?

We just did the GET Amsterdam to Budapest in August.  Unfortunately most of the optional tours we booked were cancelled, due to changes in our itinerary, caused by low water levels, and the need for the ship to keep moving along and pick us up in different locations.  I can comment on the optional tours that we did take.  We took the tour of Rothenburg, with the Bishops Residenz in the afternoon, which we found very enjoyable.  If you enjoy art, or art history, the Klimt workshop in Vienna is very good.  Belvedere Palace is beautiful.  A private guide meets you at Belvedere, gives you a tour, tells you about Klimt, including viewing his art works, then you decorate a mirror with gold leaf.  Unfortunately, neither of us are very artistically inclined, so our finished product was pretty amateurish, but we had fun trying.  We also took the trip/boat ride to Scharding Austria.  It turned out to be a very fun excursion, which I mostly attributed to our excellent tour guide, Eva.  Scharding is picturesque, we had an easy workshop, making seasoned salt, with a mortar/ pestle, and took a boat ride on a salt barge replica, where the beer flowed freely.  Apparently, the Life under Communism tour sells out the fastest in Budapest, along with the Lippizaner excursion in Vienna.  We got the last 2 tickets for Life under Communism, and they usually don't add slots, because you can drive a Soviet era Trabant, and only a limited # of cars are available.  Alas, this was one of our cancelled excursions, since our ship was not docked in Budapest, and we had to be bussed 90 minutes each way, so we didn't have enough time to do the tour.  Even though we didn't go on the Saltzburg tour, if you are a fan of The Sound of Music, those passengers who went, gave it good reviews. Same for the Winery Tour, which we didn't go to, but fellow passengers enjoyed it.  Hope this helps a little.