Premium Bavarian Danube tour in Germany

Check in: 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM. 4:30 PM, Merlijn will set sail for Vilshofen, where there will be an overnight stay. We’ll present you with a welcome aboard drink and introduce the crew. We will also provide information on the tour and the ship, and hold a safety briefing. After departing from Passau, where the Inn, Ilz and Danube meet and merge, your bike and barge cruise will really begin. While you settle in the lounge or on the outside terrace with a drink, Captain will steer Merlijn through the first lock, and you can sit back and let the Blue Danube amaze you! A meal will be served during the cruise, and in the evening there will be time for an after-dinner stroll ashore.

After breakfast and a bike introduction, your cycle tour to Deggendorf will start. The tour will lead you along the popular classic ‘Donau Radweg’ (Danube cycle route) via Niederalteich, home to one of the oldest Benedictine monasteries in Bavaria, to Deggendorf, also known as the gateway to the Bavarian Forest, where Merlijn awaits you after a great first day of cycling. Dinner will be served on board. The old town of Deggendorf, which is characterised by Gothic and Baroque styles, is definitely worth a visit.

After a delicious breakfast on board, you might want to visit the city centre again. Afterwards, today’s cycle tour will start, admiring the famous ‘blue’ Danube from your bike, as you follow its banks turn by turn. You can choose from 2 cycle options which both first stop at the town of Metten, along the Danube or the extended route along the stunning castle ‘Egg’. In Metten, you can enjoy its beautiful abbey and Prälaten garden. Next up is Pfelling, a small village, but one with nautical significance, as it registers the water level in this shallow section of the Danube. We then head for Bogen, located at the foot of the steep Bogen mountain. From here you will cycle on to the ducal city of Straubing.

Upon arrival, you might think you’ve cycled a loop; that’s because the centre of the town is very much like Deggendorf! Straubing has Celtic and Roman roots, and is known for its unmistakeable green-spired tower in the city centre, its picturesque town square, the baroque town houses, and the Graubünden Museum, which is always worth a visit.

After breakfast, your cycle tour will start, leading you along the ‘Donau Radweg’ to Regensburg. Today there will be 2 cycle options: you can start the bike tour in Straubing or spend the morning cruising the Danube until Bach, where you join the group and cycle on to Regensburg. After the first stretch, you can make an interesting pit stop at the castle Wörth, where you will have a view of the Gäuboden Plain of Bavaria, also called ‘the granary of Bavaria’. You then continue along the beautiful Danube to the ‘Walhalla’ near Donaustauf, which King Ludwig I had built as a temple to honour notable Germans (entrance and audio tour included).

The destination today is Regensburg, a fascinatingly well-preserved mediaeval town. Highlights include the cathedral dating back to the 8th century, the collegiate church and the stone imperial bridge. At the end of the day, we’ll offer you a city tour by a local guide. At night you can enjoy some local Bavarian cuisine, because you will be dining ashore.

This morning, you leave the bustling German town by bike to cycle through ‘the Winzer vineyards’. On the way, you can visit Bad Abbach, popular for its sulphur and mud baths. Before arriving at the city of Kelheim where the Navigable Danube ends and the Rhine–Main–Danube canal starts, the Danube bike route connects to the Altmühl bike route, which we will follow further.

After visiting Kelheim, you will cross the bridge over the lock of Kelheim, where the next section is dammed and looks like a lake. After the lake, you will mainly follow the towpath along the canal. As we draw closer to Essing, its unique wooden bridge will come into view. Measuring 193 metres in length, this technical wonder and work of art is the longest wooden bridge in Europe. The Merlijn will await you in Essing. If you haven't clocked up enough miles, you can continue cycling on, or cruise to today’s destination Riedenburg, where we stay overnight.

In this stunning medieval town, you might want to visit the St. John Baptist Church or the Church of Our Lady, which may look like a proper Baroque church today, but is a medieval one at heart, dating back to the 12th century. Oooh, and think of all the goodies you can pick up at the Farmer’s Market!

Today’s bike tour will lead you along the Main-Donau canal to Berching. The cycle paths will mostly be on gravel, as you will see many along the canal. Passing by the village of Beilngries, after a short break, you carry on through the Altmühl valley to Plankstetten, where the iconic Benedictine monastery on the edge of the forest, founded in 1129, dominates the surroundings. You will board the Merlijn in the city of Berching, where we will have an overnight stay. Enjoy your dinner on board and spend another relaxing evening in our cosy lounge, or go for an after-dinner stroll through the town.

The first stretch of today’s tour will lead you along the abandoned old Ludwig-Donau-Main Canal, which at one time linked the Rhine with the Danube at Kelheim. The canal was named after King Ludwig I of Bavaria, and built between 1836 and 1846. Construction of the roughly parallel but much larger Rhine–Main–Danube Canal that we know today was started in 1921, but wasn’t completed until 1992.

On the second stretch of today’s tour, you will cycle towards the ‘Rothsee’, where bathing and sailing enthusiasts and surfers relax all year round. If the cycling ability of the group permits, you will pass by the picturesque Bavarian towns of Allersberg and Freystadt. After a coffee stop at a traditional German bakery, you will continue to your last cycle destination Roth, where you’ll board the Merlijn. You can spend the last part of your bike and barge cruise the same way you started it: cruising along with a drink on the terrace. Together, we will navigate the last lock, and cruise on to Nürnberg. In the evening, a captain’s dinner will be served on board.

After breakfast, it will be time to say goodbye and continue your European trip or leave for the airport. If you choose to continue your holiday, Nürnberg is a good place to spend a few more days. Visit this historical city and learn more about this historical, but also lively German university city.