Mountain City's Travel Blog

Viking has announced a new river cruise itinerary, debuting in December, 2023, making it the first river cruise line to operate year-round on Europe's rivers - which comes with some benefits for travelers opting into river cruising at that time of the year. Viking's new 'Treasures of the Rhine' cruises will allow guests the opportunity to experience Europe’s rich culture during winter, even...

King Louis XIV of France called it the ‘wine of kings, the king of wines,’ but remarkably, this Hungarian wine remains under the radar for many wine lovers today. For over a thousand years, Tokaj wines were served to royalty, and now, they are a treasure for modern travelers to Hungary to discover. A perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in...

2024 marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings of Allied troops in France to liberate Europe from Nazi occupation. For travelers with family members who served in Normandy, as well as those keen to immerse themselves in history, one river cruise line has created an itinerary to commemorate the milestone with perspectives from both sides of the Channel. I've...

American Cruise Lines is the oldest U.S. cruise line exclusively sailing along the rivers, waterways and coasts of America, with 2023 marking a half-century of operations. The cruise line visits only domestic ports of call along both the U.S. East and West Coasts, Alaska to Florida, and the major rivers in-between, from the Hudson to the Mississippi to the Columbia...

A hundred years after the discovery of the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, “King Tut” remains the most famous of all of ancient Egypt’s rulers – and one of the biggest attractions on a trip to Egypt. Tutankhamun only ruled for 10 short years until dying at the age of 19 in 1325 BC. But he became a celebrity...

Viking has debuted a new river cruise that would make even the Grinch burst with Christmas spirit! And if you already love Christmas like I do, Viking’s new ‘Christmas on the Rhine' river cruise may be the ultimate way to immerse yourself in the beloved and authentic European Christmas traditions right at their source.  From March until November every year,...

Supernatural and macabre films, TV series, and novels feed our gathered-round-the-fire love of a scary story. But there’s nothing like the real-life thrill of visiting in person places around the world whose histories of hauntings, bone-chilling tales and ghostly sightings get our primal senses tingling while we’re standing right there!We’ve rounded up some of our favorite spook-tacular trips:London, EnglandLondon’s long...

This may be the smallest type of cruise possible. Luxury travel company Belmond is building another mini-river cruise ship. This one will sail just 6 guests through the legendary Champagne region of France.  Part of its French collection, Coquelicot, A Belmond Boat, Champagne, launches in spring of 2023. It joins a fleet of so-called ‘barges’ in France called Les Bateaux...

Never before have more women been traveling solo! Singletons of all ages and stages in life: never-been-married, divorced, widowed… all kinds of women are deciding not to wait to be paired up or until a friend can be a travel companion to embark on dream journeys. They’re making plans to travel now. Does that sound like you? If so, you’re part...

  Beginning in 2024, Avalon Waterways will be the latest river cruise line to embark on this increasingly popular route, joining Uniworld, Tauck, AmaWaterways, Scenic, Emerald Cruises and others on this western-most European river cruise route. Calling its new itinerary “a new view on the Old World,” Avalon Waterways says the new route will provide guests with “the grandest views in cruising...

One of the top reasons many travellers take a European river cruise is for the wine. The banks of many of Europe’s rivers provide the perfect combination of drainage and sun exposure for the cultivation of vines that produce some very famous wines. But one of the best wine river cruises in the world doesn’t require a long haul flight.Lynn Elmhirst,...

You’ve heard of wine caves - how about wine caving? WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE to learn more about this new, and one-of-a-kind experience on an Avalon Waterways river cruise on the Rhone River in the south of France that combines adventure - with the exquisite wines of the region. Lynn Elmhirst, producer and host of BestTrip TV, was one of...

One of the first signs of spring for travel and cruise lovers like me… isn’t the first tulip or robin. It’s the return of river cruising in Europe. This year especially celebrates a fresh new season, after two pandemic years when many people weren’t traveling to Europe and can’t wait now to return to their favorite European memories and make...

Step away from the chocolates. Move over, diamonds. The most romantic gift is time together with your best-beloved, and shared experiences that ignite – or reignite – the flames.If it’s time to shake up your romance routine and create new memories of a lifetime on vacation, we have your back.The travel industry’s top executives are intimately familiar with the newest...

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then a video is running commentary. That's why we wanted to share with you exactly what the health protocols on board an Avalon Waterways river cruise in France are in the Fall of 2021. We know some people have already begun traveling again - but others are still hesitant. Maybe you wonder if...

Austria’s capital city is famous as a cradle of classical music and high culture, for its skyline shaped by Hapsburg palaces, the Opera House and city symbol Giant Ferris Wheel, for tastes and experiences like chocolate/apricot Sacher Torte and coffee house culture, and even the renowned, high-performing and high-stepping, gleaming white Lipizzaner horses. You may have been to Vienna before, but...

The secret about river cruising was out, even before the pandemic. Like all cruise travel, it's the ‘easy button’ way to ‘sample’ multiple destinations and get an overview of a region. You unpack once, really settling in to your ship environment like a home away from home in a floating boutique hotel that winds its way through marquee cities as...

For many of us, September feels more like the ‘New Year’ than when the calendar says it’s January. Time to exhale, regroup, and reset yourself on a fulfilling course for the future, one that includes meeting life and wellness goals.Maybe that’s why September is National Yoga Month.The ideal time to practice – or at least plan for - two intersecting life...

Every year on June 29th, eighty-one million people in 14 European countries celebrate the single river that ties them together and provides drinking water, food, power, recreation, jobs and transportation. Danube Day annually marks the signing of the Danube River Protection Convention, which facilitates collaboration between the countries of the Danube River and the rivers that flow into it to...

It’s news that marries two of the fastest-growing styles of travel: river cruising and family heritage travel. AmaWaterways has partnered with Ancestry, the company that specializes in genomics and connecting people to their family history. The river cruise line has done family-heritage themed cruises before, but now, you’ll be able to uncover specific details about your own family. That’s because...