VIDEO: Stunning Scenic Sailing on Europe’s Danube River Aboard the Riverside Mozart

It’s some of the most incredible scenery along the middle Danube River! One of the absolute highlights of our river cruise on the Danube through Austria aboard the Riverside Mozart was the daytime scenic sailing through the wondrous ‘Danube Snare.’

The Danube is Europe’s longest river and the middle Danube is one of the most popular river cruise destinations in Europe - not just for magnificent cities like Budapest, Vienna, Linz and Passau. That middle section of the Danube between Hungary, through Austria, and into Germany is also home to incredible scenery you can only see from the river. No wonder, considering the river was the original and long-time ‘highway’ through the region, long before reliable land routes. Abbeys, vineyards and villages line the Danube – but it also winds through countryside you might not realize is as much a part of the region as its communities and culture.

The Danube Snare. The Danube Loop. There are a number of names in English for a geological phenomenon that has become a featured of the mighty Danube. Millennia ago when the Danube was powered by a continent covered by melting glaciers, it dug and shifted softer layers until it reached granite, washing out a deep – 1000-foot – ravine. Taking the path of least resistance, the water carved out a twisting path through granite deposits. The result was a Danube river that, in Upper Austria before the Danube enters Germany, winds back and forth on itself in hairpin turns that at one point almost forms a circle with a tiny island of land in the middle, like a donut.

As early as Roman times, navigators along the Danube knew about the Danube loop. Treacherous to pass, boats had to slow right down to navigate the twists and turns, making it a strategic vantage point along the Danube.

Today, much of the Schlogene Schlinge (Scholgen Loop) is a mesmerizing place of natural beauty: part nature reserve and recreation area, where the granite cliffs are covered in green forests and the river banks are home to a cycling trail, charming traditional family resorts, and a host of wildlife. Birdsong provides the soundtrack for our scenic sailing, and flocks of swans join us on the Riverside Mozart as well as kayakers, on the Danube.

It's a can’t-miss place that you hope your river cruise on the Danube is passing during daylight hours and during fine weather, as our mid-summer sailing was.

One of the largest river cruise ships afloat in Europe, the Riverside Mozart gave us the ideal observation deck for our sailing through the Danube Snare.

Almost double the size of other river cruise ships, you really get a sense of the spaciousness on the sun deck, where loungers, herb gardens and a chic, resort-style bar and track around the circumference of the deck provide unimpeded, 360-degree views of the scenery all around.

Like its sister ships at Riverside Luxury Cruises, the Riverside Mozart offers a host of luxe experiences: all-suite accommodation, butler service for every guest and one of the highest crew-to-guest ratios on the rivers of Europe, exquisite, award-winning fine dining that rivals the best land-based restaurants on the continent, a spa, and designer surroundings.

But it’s moments like standing on the top deck in the fresh air, sailing through the Danube Loop, that remind me of the simple pleasures that make travel moments like this so life-changing and unforgettable.