Royal Crown European River Cruise Destinations

The Dutch and Belgian Waterways

The Netherlands has the densest network of inland waterways in Europe, with around 6,000 kilometres of rivers and canals crisscrossing its gentle lowlands and reaching into neighbouring Belgium. Many are fed by the Rhine river as it crosses the border from Germany into The Netherlands working their way across to the North Sea.

A complete network of canals spreads across The Netherlands and Belgium, lending this part of Europe its distinctive charm. In northern Belgium, the River Scheldt passes through the magical cities of Ghent and Antwerp as it heads for the North Sea. Contrasting canals and navigable rivers thread their way across both the lowlands of Flanders and the massif of the Ardennes.

The Main and The Rhine

The Main (pronounced “mine”) is the longest river that flows into the Rhine. It rises in Upper Franconia in Germany, where the White and Red Main rivers unite, before flowing 327 miles in a westerly direction through Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse, to reach the Rhine at Mainz. Navigable for 240 miles from the Rhine to Bamberg, since 1992 the Main has been connected to the Danube via the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal.

The Rhine rises in Switzerland and flows for 820 miles, finally reaching the North Sea by a number of channels passing through Holland. The river intermittently forms the frontier between Germany and Switzerland as it flows westward from Lake Constance. At Basel, the river turns northward flowing through a valley bounded by the distant Black Forest and the Vosges Mountains.

The Danube

The second longest river in Europe, the Danube flows in a southeasterly direction from its source in Germany’s Black Forest, through central and eastern Europe to the Black Sea. The Danube flows through 10 countries and four capital cities. The Danube Delta is the second largest in the world and is Europe’s largest wetlands reserve which is home to approximately 5,000 species of plants, birds and animals.