Crossing Europe By Boat: The River Highway Network

One of the fashionable forms of tourism in recent years is to travel Europe by road, in vans or caravans. Also the use of the bicycle to undertake tours of the old continent is becoming a popular practice among the most intrepid travelers. Now, there is an older way of crossing Europe: the boat.

Before the expansion of the railroad, river transport was the best option for the movement of goods. First, through natural waterways and, later, through the construction of canals.

Today, the large river highways are still used for the transport of goods, while the smaller routes are traveled by many boats. These offer tourists the experience of navigating these ancient roads. Let’s see some of these highways to cross Europe by boat.

Cross Europe by boat: the Danube

It is a river that rises at the end of the Alps, in Germany, and empties into the Black Sea. Throughout its entire journey it passes through ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine.

This immense waterway is almost entirely navigable. Therefore, you can travel throughout Southeast Europe through its waters and visit some of the most beautiful capitals, such as Vienna or Budapest. In turn, a large number of its tributaries are also navigable, which makes it possible to deviate from the main route.

Thanks to technology, it has been possible to establish a river route that connects the North Sea and the Atlantic with the Black Sea. This is made possible by the construction of a canal that connects the Danube with the Rhine through a tributary, the Main.

The Rhine, the most used waterway in Europe

This great river originates in the Swiss Alps and empties into the North Sea. On its way it acts as a border line between France and Germany, passing through the Ruhr industrial area and then entering the Netherlands . Some of the most important ports are Rotterdam, Duisburg, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Strasbourg and Basel.

This river is navigable and facilitates the transport of goods from practically its source, which has made it one of the main European communication routes. For this reason, its banks are centers of industrialization and population concentration.

Cross France by boat

From Marseille, there is the possibility of being able to reach the Atlantic through the country’s waterways. Going up the Rhone, a river that in French territory is fully conditioned for navigation, you can connect through innumerable channels to other river arteries such as the Seine, Loire or Garonne.

The connection to the Rhine basin can also be made via the Rhône-Rhin canal. From there, if you want and have time, you can embark to northern Germany or even reach the Black Sea.

Cross Europe by boat: north and center

The multitude of canals and open waterways in the northern and central European region is impressive. For example, you can start a route in Prague, go through Berlin and reach Gdanks or Warsaw. The Elbe river, its tributaries and the canals allow this connection.

The UK and its extensive network of channels

The UK canals are part of the heritage of the English Industrial Revolution. Through them, a multitude of boats and barges, often pulled by pack animals from the sides, transported goods from one end of the country to another.

Today, they have become a tourist attraction so that visitors can appreciate the landscapes of Great Britain rocked by the calm waters of the canals. An experience worth enjoying.

From the Baltic to the Caspian and to the Black Sea through European Russia

The Russian river navigation network allows crossing the geography of this country to the east of the Urals. Thanks to the extensive network of canals and the impressive Volga River, you can start from Saint Petersburg or Belomorsk, pass through Moscow and end at Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea. You can also go through the Volga-Don canal to the Black Sea.

Southern Europe is cut off

Through the extensive network of rivers and canals, a trip can be made that crosses practically the entire central and northern European area, including Russia. Now, if you want to visit the Iberian Peninsula, Italy or Greece, forget about the boat. The shallow depth of the rivers in these regions makes river navigation impossible in most of its routes.

There are some exceptions. This is the case of the lower course of the Guadalquivir to Seville in Spain or the Duero in Portugal. And, in northern Italy, the Po and its network of canals and navigable tributaries make it possible to visit this northern region by boat, although it is not connected to the rest of the European river network.

If you like to travel by boat, and knowing that there is the possibility of crossing Europe in this means of transport, you only have to make the decision to undertake this trip. It will undoubtedly be an unforgettable trip.