Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary. The best Christmas Market Cruise 5 Countries in 7 days

Taking a Viking River Cruise through Europe should be on everyone’s wish list. This is especially true of their great Christmas Market routes such as Viking’s Danube Christmas Delight. The 2024 Christmas Market season was amazing and made the tour so special. Not only did we get to see these marvelous historic towns and cities, but we also did so during the enchanting Christmas season on the marvelous Danube River on the best, Viking River Cruises. This 7 night/8-day cruise took us from the smaller historic town of Passau through 5 countries ending in beautifully regal Budapest, Hungary.

Read more: Viking River Cruise A Wonderful Danube Christmas Delight Christmas Market Adventure (5 Countries 7 Days)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase or booking, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.Travels of Sarah Fay is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sites at no cost to you. This was a part of a press trip hosted by Viking Cruises. All views are my own and honest opinion of my experiences.

The Danube Christmas Delight Viking River route is phenomenal. Our Christmas tour via the wonderful Viking longship Aegis was an unforgettable and comfortable way to see so much while having a marvelous festive Christmas holiday with my mother. Going to the various historic towns, I experienced some famous places like Vienna, Budapest, and Bratislava,while cruising and waking up in a new destination almost daily, what a delight! Going to each town and city, you not only learn and see their historic past and architecture, but you do so while smelling tasty gluhwein, the aroma of roasted chestnuts, and wonderful tasty treats cooking in the wooden stalls at the Christmas markets.

Why Viking River Cruises?

Below I share highlights of the itinerary, but so much more is included on a Viking River Cruise since the base fare includes so much. Each day the cruise fare included a specific shore excursion, plus all your meals if on board, including free beer, wine, soda, coffee, etc. with your meals. There are also additional optional excursions that you pay a reasonable price for. You can also buy a drink package if you want additional drinks during free time or various specialty alcoholic drinks (during meal time, soda, wine, and beer are included with the base fare). 

Viking River also had 2 free coffee bars open 24 hours for self-service coffees, teas, lattes, etc. with their wonderful espresso machines and it also had access to fresh regular and bubbly water. As a coffee drinker, I loved the availability of great lattes at no additional cost. And, they had decaf options for folks like my mother who loves a good decaf cappuccino.  

For the past 2 years, Viking River Cruises have been rated #1 by Conde Nast Traveler for River Cruises and it’s wonderful that they include an excursion in the price at every port on our cruise. Plus we had the ability to take optional tours. 

Amazing included and extra excursions

The optional excursions are wonderful, we did several. The medieval town of Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic (VisitCzechia) was like stepping into the past. What an enchanting village and castle from the 13th century that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I highly recommend this optional excursion. And, for you Sound of Music and Mozart fans, there is an optional excursion to picturesque Salzburg, Austria. It’s another UNESCO World Heritage site with wonderful baroque architecture and a fortress on the hill overlooking the Old City. We just loved being here too, with the glow at sunset and the pink and blue tone sky and mountains in the background, it was magical. Plus going to the Christmas Market was like icing on the cake!   

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Which Viking River Cruise Should You Take

You will see Viking River Cruises has so many Christmas Market Cruises and you can’t go wrong. We loved the Danube Christmas Delight cruise that started in the smaller Passau, Germany ending in beautiful Budapest, Hungary voted as the top Christmas Market in Europe. But in the end, there were so many great sights on this trip as you can see from the itinerary below. 

In the itinerary, I also added some extra cafes and/or sights we visited in each city/town. Plus besides excursions, each night there were presentations and/or entertainment on various nights tailored to the holiday theme, classical music, holiday cookies, or talks on what to expect the next day.  In addition, the cruise had an onboard musician, named Francesco. I just loved the music he and the visiting artists performed. Additionally, you see so much along the ride through the canals and the interesting towns and locks the longship travels through. It is such a unique perspective to be on this river cruise as I woke up daily to new delightful places.

Is Viking Cruise accessible for all?

Another fantastic feature of the tours is that many offer a Leisurely group and local guides who know the terrain, history, etc. So one day, one tour would have more of a hill and cobblestones, so my mother chose to go with the guide/group that offered a Leisure pace. This was a fantastic option and one we didn’t experience on other cruises, but it’s a great option. Also, the tour guides were very good at knowing the towns and history, which we loved. 

How is the food on Viking Cruises?

Another amazing reason I loved the cruise with Viking was the delicious food and options. Each night they had a menu based on the area we were cruising through, plus they had a fixed menu that remained in place each night in the event you wanted another option. The food was exceptional and we loved meeting so many great cruisers during dinner. I must say it was a friendly, cordial environment with so many attentive staff serving the meals.

Last, the staff and other tour guides were great. The boat had under 200 guests so it was easy to get around the longboat and get to know the great staff and other guests. We often sat with folks and met some tremendous fellow travelers along the journey. The smaller size of the ship was a great advantage.

Viking Cruise Danube Christmas Delights Itinerary

Please see the summary of our Itinerary and some of the shore excursions and optional excursions we selected (following this article). There were so many great highlights, but I wanted to leave some for you to be surprised on your journey. 

To sum it up, the Viking River Cruises’s Danube Christmas Delight exceeded expectations, mixing wonderful old-world charm with the special Christmas season. There is always something to do on the cruise or take time out of the busy day to rest. I love how it’s all-inclusive, other than optional tours, but these places and Christmas markets are so wonderful and we made many great memories. Plus, don’t forget to get the souvenir mug; we bought one at each city and/or market for a reasonable price. They are a great, affordable keepsake. I must say the Viking River Cruises are marvelous and I will cherish these memories of our Viking River Christmas Market cruise forever (and can’t wait for another one). Remember, enjoy the journey.

PS: Be sure to book your Viking Christmas Market Cruise 2025 as early as possible since the cruises do fill up. This is a great gift too for your spouse, your adult kids, or your parents. This is a Bucket List item on many folks’ lists.

Day 1 & 2 – Passau, Germany  Passau Tourism | www.tourism.passau

• Embarkation Day 1, Arrive at the Boat at noon Day 1 and have Lunch 

Passau is a wonderful historic town known for the convergence of 3 rivers, including the Danube. This historic town is over 2000 years old.

• Shore Excursion Day 2: Christmas Traditions in Passau

We loved touring the town, especially the Christmas Market, St. Stephen’s Basilica and then stopping at Anton’s cafe before heading back to the ship.

• Afternoon Day 2: Cooking Demonstration, making cookies! 

Tea Time – loved having a traditional tea time in the afternoon. We truly enjoyed the 100% organic JING’S tea and all the flavorful treats they served. 

• Optional Excursion Day 2: Salzburg Austria at Christmas 1:15 pm -10 pm (meets up with the ship later in the evening).  www.salzburg.info

Salzburg is an awesome historic town and reminiscent of the Sound of Music. This is also the home of Mozart and you should visit Cafe Tomaselli while in town for their tasty pastries. Many famous people like Mozart have visited this gorgeous cafe run by the Tomaselli family for over 150 years.  

• Best Cafe in Passau, Germany: Anton Kaffeehaus & Weinbar (Cafe Anton)  – The Christmas Market is so great to visit, but you may want to also try this local cafe. Stopping in to warm up at this cafe was marvelous and we had the best Apple Strudel with cream that we had on the trip. I still dream of it! 

Day 3 – Linz, Austria  Linz Tourismus

• Shore Excursion – Linz, Austria Walking Tour & Christmas Market (3-6 pm).

Linz is another historic town dating back to the 1st century as a Roman settlement and the historic area is lined with historic homes and many historic sites, including Linz Castle. The castle dates back to Charlemagne and was later rebuilt by Emperor Friedrich III which made this the seat of the Habsburg Empire at that time. While our Optional Excursion took some time away from seeing Linz, we did get to go up to see it after dinner and before the ship sailed at 10:30 pm.

• Optional Excursion (8:45 am-5:15 pm)  – Cesky Krumlov at Christmas is a marvelous medieval UNESCO town in the Czech Republic. This is an optional tour via bus in the morning to see this well-preserved village. The architecture was awesome and so beautiful. I had been here before, but this was on my bucket list since it is so unique and my mother had it on her Bucket List. What special memories we have of our tour here to see the castle in this tremendous setting. The tour does cost more, but well worth the price including a great lunch with delicious local food at Krumlovsky Mlyn. 

Day 4 – Krems, Austria  visit Krems

• Before Arriving in Krems – Narrated Scenic Sailing 8:30 am –  Today, the ship sails through the Wachau Valley. We woke up to eat breakfast and watch the ship sailing while Natalie the Program Director marvelously narrated through the historic valley. The area was dotted by many terraced wine groves up and down the hills, historic churches and towns, etc. It was fabulous to do this before arriving in Krems.

• 10:30 am Arrive in Krems: Free Time before lunch.

Krems is a small town with a university and a population of 25 thousand. Its heyday was in the 12th century, but the area has grown with its influence as the wine-growing region and is famous for its apricot brandy, as well as Riesling and Veltner wines. The town is cute with many cobblestone streets. 

– Best Cafe near the Danube River- Rathaus Cafe. This local cafe was wonderful and in a historic area not far from our ship’s dock. It was a great walk to see the historic old town before our afternoon excursion. The cafe also has food, but we were there for a latte and sweets, yes more pastry. Really cute place with nice friendly staff run by locals. It’s considered part of the great Viennese coffee culture.

• Shore Excursion 1:15 pm – 4 pm: Gottweig Abbey at Christmas. www.stiftgoettweig.at

We went on a great trip to this historic wine-growing abbey high on the hill. The Abbey is a phenomenal historic UNESCO site to see. We love that it is currently still in use. They did offer a sample of the apricot wine at the beginning of the tour, but I am more of a coffee drinker, wine production is one way the monks fund the upkeep of this grand abbey. I enjoyed touring Gottweig and learning how the monks interact with the local community both in the past and in current times.

• Shuttles – 4:30 to 6:45 pm – Shuttles to Krems Old Town and Christmas Market. After coming back from our afternoon excursion, we had time to go see the cute Christmas Market via the shuttles to the Christmas Market section of town. Again I enjoyed seeing this smaller local market that was easy to get around. It was a relaxing and fun day. We returned to the ship before the 9:45 pm “back on board” time to rest for the next day.

Day 5 – Vienna, Austria  vienna.info and Austrian National Tourist Board

• Arrived in Vienna at 6 am and remained there until 11:00 pm.

Vienna is a beautiful city serving as the cultural hub and seat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It has a long history of famous musicians, artists, etc.  Viking provided various optional tours besides the regular shore excursion, we took the regular shore excursion and then saw various sites and Christmas markets on our own. Viking also provided shuttle buses that allowed us to return to the ship to relax or eat, but the food at the market was so good we wanted to see more of the city with its marvelous architecture.

• Shore Excursion: Panoramic Vienna included a bus and walking tour 8:30 am-12:30 pm.

Given the size of the city, the tour’s first half was by bus and then we walked for part of the tour that ended near the Christmas Market and where the buses would be to return back to ship if you wanted to return at the end. 

• Shuttle Buses running to and from the Rathaus Christmas Market 2:00-9:15 pm. There is so much to see in Vienna and Viking provided shuttles that allowed you to stay in town longer or go back and forth. The buses ran from across the street from the Rathaus Christmas Market. We had a great time at the market and seeing the wonderful cafes. You may be able to tell, but I love a great cafe and Konditorei Sluka was certainly one of them. The Viennese coffeehouse culture cafes are wonderful, especially if you want to warm up on a cold day. UNESCO even recognizes coffeehouse culture on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritages.

Day 6 – Bratislava, Slovakia   Visit Bratislava

• Arrived in Bratislava at 5 am and remained there until 5:45 pm.

Bratislava is another cute little historic town that had been in existence since well before the Romans and became part of the Habsburg Empire during the 16th century. You can see some cute stores and buildings throughout the old town. While we took the shore excursion, we stayed around town slightly longer to see the cathedral, stopping at a second cafe before returning to the ship.

• Shore Excursion: Bratislava’s Christmas Market & Organ Concert 9:15-11:15 am.

A local guide took us on a tour of the historic town and then brought us to a wonderful Organ concert by local artists. It was unique and wonderful. It was also next to the Christmas market that we enjoyed once again. 

• After Lunch: After having lunch on the ship we had more time to explore the town and stop at the Christmas market that was closer to the ship’s dock. We truly enjoyed this town with its historic buildings and it was nice and not too crowded too vs say the much larger cities. 
• Suggested Cafe in Town to Visit: Kormuth Confectionery. We went with some of the other cruisers and had wonderful teas and coffee. Kormuth has a unique setting, with painted ceilings, lovely china, and homemade decadent desserts. I loved the small antique teapots. This place is so close to the market and it’s a great place to warm up.

Day 7 & 8 – Budapest, Hungary   Budapest 

• Day 7 in Budapest Spend the day and night in Budapest.

Budapest is a sprawling city split by the Danube River, with the original Buda section high up off the Danube on one side and the flatter Pest side on the other. It is the capital of Hungary and its largest city with a population close to 1.8 million (the 2nd largest city on the Danube). The two cities were unified back in 1873.  It was first settled by the Celts in 1 AD and has a long history. The landmarks include the Parliament Building, Heroes Square, Fisherman’s Bastion, the beautiful Matthias Church, the famous baths and bridges, and so much more.  

• Budapest’s Christmas Market has been voted one of the best the past few years and we loved going to it with a few folks from the ship. They had an amazing projection show that displayed various images of the church. It was so unique and something that you may see at Disney when they shine images on the Castle. Really extraordinary. 
• Shore Excursion: Panoramic Budapest 8:30 am-12:30 pm  This was a combined bus and walking tour so everyone could see a broad range of places in both parts of the city. It’s a great way to get acquainted with the area. Then there is time for other Shore and Optional Excursions since there is much more to see.  
• Shore Excursion Afternoon 4:15-6:15 pm): Christmas Market & St. Stephen’s Basilica

We did both of these shore excursions and often went back to the ship to eat, except for dinner we had food at the Christmas Market.  We also went to see the Basilica and it was tremendous and so stunning, you really must see it. The ship did offer this, but we went on our own since we were a bit busy with the Christmas market. It’s always great to explore the food options and drinks. In the end, we went to a few of the famous cafes, with the New York Cafe being my favorite. 

• Suggested Beautiful Cafes to Visit: New York Cafe and Parisi Passage Cafe

You may say, “New York Cafe?”, but yes it’s the best with its beautiful, ornate trimmings in a beautiful hotel (many stayed at the hotel as a Post-trip option; they have a more private setting). These cafes are so popular that you may see a line. Parisi is also stunning, but a more recent hotel renovation, but the cafe is beautiful.

New York Café Budapest and Párisi Passage Restaurant

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• Suggested Oldest Bakery (Buda side): Ruszwurm Cafe Ruszwurm dates back from the early 1800’s. The pastries are to die for. Ruszwurm’s decor is historic and the cafe smaller. It was so busy since it is delicious; we decided to get two of the top pastries, including the creme one to go. It was fantastic that night when we got back to the ship.
• Day 8 – End of Trip on Day 8 at 9 am. After such an amazing time the night before it was time to depart this amazing Viking Christmas Market cruise. What a joy this trip gave me and my mother. You leave your stateroom at 9 am after a quick breakfast. Most departed at various times in the morning from the ship to their flights or “Post Trips”. Viking offers Pre-Trip and Post-Trip options before and after your cruise. 

Where to stay pre cruise in Munich?

I decided to stay at Wunderlocke hotel in Munich there are two and I loved both of them. It includes everything you need to relax before your trip. It has a kitchenette, coworking space, and fitness classes. Also, there is a kitchen if you want to cook.

Also if you are interested to learn about another stay I did and travel guide to Munich check out my guide here.

To Conclude:

We ended up staying in Budapest to be there for Christmas Day and to see a few more places. In the spirit of full disclosure, in the past I worked in Budapest for a year, so I wanted to see some things I skipped when I lived here (like the famous Parliament building). It’s a marvelously historic city with such a long history. Plus I thought it would be great to stay here for Christmas (and go ice skating too, since I am from Florida with no ice)!

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January 25, 2025