AmaWaterways AmaMagna: Vilshofen to Budapest - Excursion Thoughts?

[jsn55]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:09 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Abu Simbel, which is often an extra-cost option and usually highly recommended.  [Hot-air balloon rides and camel rides at the pyramids are also often extra-cost on Egypt cruises – and thank you very much, not going to do either!]

I'm a bit suspicious of 'highly recommended' extra-cost tours.  I think people tend to inflate how good they were because they were so expensive.  I really, really wanted to do the Abu Simbel day but read the promo info extra carefully because it was so expensive.  Decided it was too much of everything else compared to the time spent at the site itself ... airplane, walk, bus in high heat, dubious source of lunch ... so we did something else.  Three or four couples came back utterly exhausted and very unhappy with such an 'endurance day' that began at 4am ... I think they were back on the ship before midnight.  Sometimes a good National Geographic show is better than the real thing.  

[riverbird]

Thought I would follow-up with my thoughts from my trip:

 

Note - for most of these tours, you can make your choice the night before / the day of / really any time before the tour starts. The only exception to this are the Bike Tours, which you have to arrange with the Cruise Manager once on board. The “Special Interest Tours” like Apricots & Sweets and Tastes of Slovakia are also capacity restricted, but I didn’t get the impression that either of them were full or pressed for available slots.

 

Budapest - Castle Hill Hike or Queen of the Danube Tour

 

This tour had the best guide of the trip. Our guide Szilvia was extremely knowledgable, hilarious, and managed to keep us entertained non-stop for the entire tour. If you spend any amount of time in Budapest prior to the trip and can do the Pest side on your own, I would highly recommend the Castle Hill Hike as it’s a phenomenal way to see the Buda side of the city. We finished by walking across the bridge and learning a bit about the Parliament Building. We then headed back to the boat on the tram with our guide. Clocked in at just over 5 miles total of walking. The elevation gain wasn’t really much at all - especially compared to some of the other Castle Hikes on this trip.

 

Bratislava - Coronation City Walking Tour or Tastes of Slovakia or Bratislava Castle Hike

 

This was the only tour of the trip where we did not have a very good guide. This may have been because we had ~30 people on the Castle Hill Hike (far higher than what is typical from what I could tell) so they split the Castle Hike in Bratislava into two groups. We did bring up our guide experience to the Cruise Manager and he said that others had also mentioned this, and that he was going to make sure they never use that guide again. That being said, the castle itself is not *that* particularly interesting in my opinion. However, the views across the river to the other side of the city and the border with Austria are quite nice. Given the short amount of time in Bratislava I may have been better off just exploring the city on my own.

 

Vienna - Imperial Vienna Tour or Vienna Bike Tour

 

The bike tour was as a great way to see the city - we started at the boat and worked our way to the city center to the major sights. Due to the stops for traffic lights and the fact that we had a 30 minute free time period in the middle of the tour, it wasn’t overly strenuous. I was extra glad we did the bike tour since you have to take a bus to Schonbrunn Palace and I would have had serious bus fatigue if I had done the Imperial Vienna Tour in the morning, which features a good amount of bus rides.

 

We didn’t do the Mozart concert - but the people who went seemed to enjoy it. It’s only about 60-90 minutes of concert time, so not overly long.

 

Krems - Durnstein Walking Tour or Durnstein Fortress Hike or Krems Bike Tour or Apricots and Sweets

 

Half of my group did the walking tour and the other half did the Bike Tour. The walking tour was nice, and Durnstein is a cute town (although I get the impression that it can easily become jammed with tourists). The half of my group that did the Bike Tour raved about it - this is a great place for cycling as the Wachau Valley is extremely scenic and you get to bike through vineyards and other lovely scenery. Was thankful for the warning from others on the Fortress Hike - getting up to the Fortress looked intense.

 

Spitz - Melk Abbey Visit or Spitz Hike or Spitz Bike Tour

 

It’s a relatively short bus ride to Melk Abbey, where you pick up an Abbey-provided guide to tour the inside of the Abbey. This tour was a bit of a letdown in my opinion. While our guides were excellent, most of the Abbey tour was spent in the “museum” portion which was not particularly unique or interesting, and a short amount of time spent in the libraries + church which are the real highlights and reasons for visiting. While the church interior is great, I wouldn’t call this a “must do” attraction if you feel like taking the afternoon off / exploring Spitz etc.

 

Linz - “UNESCO City of Media Arts” Walking Tour, “Cultural Mile” Bike Tour, Full-day Salzburg, Full-day Cesky Krumlov

 

As expected, the Salzburg option was the most popular excursion. Salzburg is pretty and you get a good (2+ hours) of free time to explore the city, but man the Salzburg core is packed with people. This is also a LONG amount of time on the bus. About 1 hr 30 min on the way there - but you stop at Mondsee so it doesn’t feel as long. Wished I had more time to explore Mondsee as it was very scenic and far less crowded than Salzburg. Leaving the city it took us about 1 hr 45 to get back to the boat. Overall, probably worth doing if this is your only time to see Salzburg but the time on the bus was significant. Salzburg or Cesky Krumlov are really your best options (other than taking a day off perhaps) as Linz is not really a tourist city as others have said.

 

Passau - “City of Three Rivers” Walking Tour or Passau Castle Hike or River Inn Bike Tour

 

I think at this point in the trip, most of the people on the boat had “lollipop burnout” (the lollipops are the signs held by the tour guides while leading tours). We only had 9 people on this hike. Our guide Guido was lovely. We took a route that involved climbing a lot of stairs in a (very pretty) nature park before reaching the Castle, which provided terrific views of the city and offered us the ability to see the different colors of the three rivers that meet in Passau. Finished by briefly walking through the city and seeing water level markers on the buildings. Overall this tour definitely exceeded my expectations.

 

The “Spitz Exclusive Wine Event” and “Oktoberfest Celebration” were similar in that they were both cheesy and I would argue pretty weak.

[Got2Cruise]

I’m glad you reported back and enjoyed all of your tours. 
 

We took this tour in 2018 and I see they cut back a bit. 
 

What I’m sorry to see you missed were the two nights in Vienna. The first night to the Vienna Woods for wine. It was my favorite excursion. It left after dinner. So much fun with everyone on the cruise. 
 

In Durnstein it was a walking tour and then after free time wine tasting. 

 

Did any of the Budapest tours go to Fisherman’s Bastion? Or the Marketplace? Our tour went there. 
 

 

[riverbird]

1 hour ago, Got2Cruise said:

I’m glad you reported back and enjoyed all of your tours. 
 

We took this tour in 2018 and I see they cut back a bit. 
 

What I’m sorry to see you missed were the two nights in Vienna. The first night to the Vienna Woods for wine. It was my favorite excursion. It left after dinner. So much fun with everyone on the cruise. 
 

In Durnstein it was a walking tour and then after free time wine tasting. 

 

Did any of the Budapest tours go to Fisherman’s Bastion? Or the Marketplace? Our tour went there. 
 

 

 

Yes, they must have gotten rid of the Vienna Woods wine night or replaced it with the Spitz one.

 

Both of the Budapest tours go to the Fishermen's Bastion. I think the Queen of the Danube tour only goes to the Marketplace. I visited the Market on my own and wasn't that impressed to be honest.

 

[Got2Cruise]

14 minutes ago, riverbird said:

 

Yes, they must have gotten rid of the Vienna Woods wine night or replaced it with the Spitz one.

 

Both of the Budapest tours go to the Fishermen's Bastion. I think the Queen of the Danube tour only goes to the Marketplace. I visited the Market on my own and wasn't that impressed to be honest.

 

You didn’t buy paprika or try the palenka? We loved the marketplace in 2018 it was authentic. No big supermarkets. This is how locals shop. Maybe because I’m from NY I was impressed. lol 

[riverbird]

1 hour ago, Got2Cruise said:

You didn’t buy paprika or try the palenka? We loved the marketplace in 2018 it was authentic. No big supermarkets. This is how locals shop. Maybe because I’m from NY I was impressed. lol 

We did get a langos from one of the places upstairs which was good, although on the pricey side. However, many of the other stalls were scams, selling these "food boxes" which were basically just flatbread / etc. with a bunch of food piled on it to unsuspecting tourists for 9,990 HUF (~$28).