The Elbe features much of eastern Germany on a journey through landscaped gardens and dramatic sandstone cliffs. It actually rises in the mountains of the northern Czech Republic before commencing a 1,094km meander to the North Sea at Cuxhaven, north-west Hamburg.
Most journeys go between Berlin and Prague, with the river portion from Magdeburg in Germany to Melnik in the Czech Republic, including such fascinating history-rich cities as Wittenberg, Meissen, Dresden - the Venice of the Elbe - and the picture-postcard pretty town of Litomerice.
Many companies will also feature pre or post-cruise stays in Berlin or Prague, while the sight-seeing opportunities in between include the palaces of the old Saxon monarchs and the story of the protestant Reformation in Wittenberg.
WHO GOES THERE: Grand Circle, Viking.
