Christmas Markets & Music on the Danube

During Advent, Christmas markets display an abundance of decorations, present ideas and delicacies – this cruise weekend includes December 5th (St. Nicholas Eve) when children receive their presents in Austria. The main Vienna Christmas Market is at the Town Hall (Rathaus) whilst there are decorations, traditionally-made toys and manifold specialities on display at Schönbrunn Palace. Budapest, Bratislava and Baden also have markets with their own special character.

This Danube cruise explores the core of the Austrian Habsburg Empire, developed by marriage or conquest, which was a fusion of the Austrian, Slav and Magyar peoples. Budapest, the Magyar capital, and Bratislava, the Slovakian capital, are inextricably linked with the imperial capital of Vienna, even though the 20th-century ‘Iron Curtain’ has thrown up fascinating contrasts of development. 20 years ago the Austrian border was the first ‘breach’ in the ‘Iron Curtain’, followed by the fall of the Berlin Wall and independence for Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Monarchs and nobility, bearing allegiance to the Habsburgs, resided in Vienna, attracting a fine array of composers from Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert to Johann Strauss, Liszt and Lehar. Special musical performances, visits to the Christmas markets and cultural highlights of three capitals make this a unique VJV ‘Weekend Extraordinaire’.

†Groups will be divided for sightseeing but the cruise takes up to 160 passengers.

*Beer, house wine, fruit juice, tea, coffee and water are included during lunch and dinner.

VJV Exclusive Events - Special concerts

In Budapest, an exclusive operetta concert on board by artistes of the Hungarian State Opera and Operetta theatre; in Bratislava, an exclusive concert on board by a violin quartet of artistes from the Slovak Philharmonic or National Theatre; a private Schubert concert at the Inn where he composed ‘The Linden Tree’, in the Vienna Woods.