Is there a combination European river cruise and land tour

I'm trying to find a cruise that includes a land tour before or after. Not just the day or two at the departing or ending city. My husband wants to do a land tour and I want a river cruise. I know I can not stand 6 hours on a bus, need some kind of alternative. Any advice???:confused:

I'm trying to find a cruise that includes a land tour before or after. Not just the day or two at the departing or ending city. My husband wants to do a land tour and I want a river cruise. I know I can not stand 6 hours on a bus, need some kind of alternative. Any advice???:confused:

We're planning to do something similar in 2014 and though we've got a long time to go and the tour dates are not all out yet for 2014, we're currently looking at a Tauck tour of England Scotland and Wales followed by a cruise on the Rhone. Big plans I know but it will be our 40th Wedding Anniversary holiday and when you travel to Europe from Australia you try and get as much in as you can afford.

Avalon is a part of the Globus empire and they should have something for you. You could also try Scenic as they do a lot of land tours as well as Uniworld who are partners with Insight tours.

No matter which way you go you'll still have to spend many an hour on a bus and like you I can't stand bus tours but "herself" would like to see Great Britain and by bus is apparently the way to go.

Whatever you choose I'm sure you'll have a great holiday.

APT does land tour extension up to a week, so does Gate1

Scenic Tours also offers a land portion before and/or after a cruise. We considered doing the French Normandy land portion prior to our south of France cruise.

You can also DIY. We did a week in Switzerland on our own before our French River Cruise. It was quite an adventure. The story is on our website

A great many of the rivers cruises by all companies are, in fact a combination of land and cruise, as you have noted. Cruises from Paris to Prague, for example do not cruise in or out of either city. Many cruise companies also have pre and post cruise extensions of varying lengths. We took a Paris to Normandy cruise with Grand Circle last spring that had a 3 day pre-trip extension in Paris and a 3 day post-trip extension to Brittany. There are also 4 day extensions to London and the Loire valley. For a look at the trip, see my blog/trip report at http://jackthetravelingman-seine.blogspot.com. Grand Circle will also put together a combination of one of their cruises and one of their land tours. River cruising is unlike ocean cruising in that the emphasis is on the ports not the cruising. The best cruises, in my opinion, are those that spend the most time in port. It's just that the traveling time between cities is far more pleasant than on a bus.

We've used Monogram Tours which I think you'd like. You get city tours in the morning and then the rest of the days are free to do as you wish.

City tours are nice because they give you an idea where things are that you might want to come back to and the tour guide can tell you how to get there on your own.

There are reps at the hotel who will give you info on mass transport or point you to grocery stores or shopping districts and you can buy excursions from them. (We bought an excursion to Salzburg)

Hotel and extensive hot breakfast is included in the price. There are packages that you can add other cities and you are escorted to the train and off the train by one of their reps (from & to the hotels) and train tickets are included in the price of multi-city packages.

We have seen Budapest, Vienna, and Prague and then back to Budapest before boarding a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam and a relative used them for London, Paris, Amsterdam.

kind of the best of both worlds using Monogram; some guidance but then independence. (and no, I don't work for them!!)

Thanks everyone for your advice. Still at a loss as what we are going to do. However, it is pretty late to book anything for this year. Everythings sells out so fast. Thanks again

Thanks everyone for your advice. Still at a loss as what we are going to do. However, it is pretty late to book anything for this year. Everythings sells out so fast. Thanks again

Just wanted to add that last spring, we did Nuremberg-Paris with Uniworld. It was 11 days--7 on the ship, stopping at various towns and being bussed to Paris from Trier for a 3 day visit. This year, we doing Uniworld's 13 day Italy trip which does a 7 day cruise from Venice then overland to Rome for a few days with a 2 day stop in Florence.