Cruising the Rhine is one of the world’s most romantic river cruises. One of Europe’s major rivers, the Rhine originates in the Swiss Alps and flows through Germany to Holland’s North Sea. The Rhine winds through some truly beautiful landscapes with rolling, fortress dotted hillsides, atmospheric villages and charismatic cities. The Rhine Valley itself, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is renowned for its stunning vineyard-coated countryside, storybook castles and charming medieval towns.

Deeply romantic and framed by blissful countryside, the Rhone etches a path from the Swiss Alps to Lake Geneva before curving south through France to join the Mediterranean at Marseilles. Winding through the idyllic winelands of Burgundy and the lavender-scented hills of Provence, an ever changing panorama unfolds along it’s banks, from serene landscapes, to the magnificent, honey-coloured town of Arles and beautiful Avignon.

Immortalised in the Blue Danube waltz by Strauss, the Danube is the second longest river in Europe and the only river to flow from west to east. Rising in the Black Forest of Germany, this historic river meanders through the gorgeous landscapes of Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, passing through peaceful valleys topped with medieval monasteries, imperious castles, sleepy, quaint villages and magnificent cities including Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava.

Flowing across Spain and northern Portugal, the Douro is one of Europe’s lesser-known but most picturesque rivers. Curving and twisting through spectacular wine-growing regions, the Douro was traditionally used to transport wine from Portugal’s interior to Oporto’s wine houses. Port-wine grapes still flourish on the steeply terraced, riverbank vineyards and alternate with whitewashed estates, timeless villages and scented citrus and almond groves. See Oporto, Vila Real and the lovely Spanish town of Salamanca.

Evocative and intensely beautiful, the Russian rivers of the Volga, Neva and Svir and their connecting waterways link the great cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Following the Volga north from Moscow, a Russian river cruise takes you deep into Russia's unique culture, passing hidden villages, wooden churches, fortified monasteries, spectacular rural landscapes and ancient towns finally flowing into vast lakes edged by undiscovered stone villages.

The Nile extends 4,100 miles, making it the world's longest river. Along its Egyptian banks lie rocky, empty deserts, captivating cities like Luxor and Aswan, palm-studded oasis towns unchanged in centuries, and some of the world's oldest and most magnificent archaeological sites. Visit the Valley of the Kings with its incredible tombs of the pharaohs; towering ancient monuments and mighty temples including the 3,000-year old Abu Simbel and vast, columned Karnak.

China's largest river, the mighty Yangtze flows 4,000 miles from snowy Tibet to the East China Sea north of Shanghai. It snakes through endlessly changing, breathtaking scenery, revealing deep gorges, mountains set with fairytale pagodas and mist-cloaked paddy fields, as well as serene villages and farms untouched by modernity. See the magnificent Three Gorges and Three Gorges Dam project.