European river cruises have never been more popular. Across the continent, these long, low, luxurious ships ply some famous waterways. The Rhine, with castles climbing away on its banks. The Danube, which rolls through great capitals like Vienna and Salzburg. Even the Seine, from Paris to Normandy, and the Douro, slicing through Portugal’s wine country, are getting some serious attention from cruisers.
But the Elbe remains less-known, which makes it a rare and special place to discover. There’s a certain cachet to sailing a river that most ships can’t navigate, through beautiful countryside and ancient fortresses and famous cities—ones seen by very few river cruisers.
The only problem when I arrived at Lake Tegel in the northwest corner of Berlin? I couldn’t find the ship. At least, not right at first. I climbed out of the Uber into a pleasant park set on a modest body of water. My friendly driver was befuddled. Are you sure this is the right place?
Couples were just wrapping up picnics. Little kids fed the ducks. Couples walked their dogs along winding paths in the fading evening light. It didn’t look like a port, at all. And it wasn’t—most larger ships couldn’t sail or dock here.
But rolling my suitcase around the corner, there she was—the Elbe Princess, alongside a couple of small day tour boats, the only overnight river ship in sight. I climbed aboard, ready for an adventure into what was, to me, the unknown.
Discovering the Elbe
The Elbe River runs a little less than 700 miles from the Giant Mountains in the Czech Republic down through Germany to the North Sea. It is famously shallow, meaning that most major cruise lines do not offer itineraries here. But one—a French company called CroisiEurope—has built ships specifically tailored to this task. I rode the elegant Elbe Princess nine days from Berlin all the way down to Prague.The Elbe was once a delineator of empires, between east and west. The Romans fought to push east as far as this river, and its flow later marked the outer edge of Charlemagne’s power. For centuries, it’s also been a key waterway for Central European trade, helping, for one, the Hanseatic League extend their economic influence all over Northern Europe in the Late Middle Ages.
Today, while it remains an important lifeblood for the communities built on its banks, the Elbe remains almost unknown to North American travelers, even veteran river cruisers. And that’s probably because, while everyone knows its bookends—Berlin and Prague—few other cities along the way will ring a bell. The course winds through the former Eastern Europe and the northwestern reaches of Bohemia.
River Boat
This made it a journey of discovery for me: My first visit to most of the ports along the way—a very exciting thing. Setting sail the next morning, we made our way across Lake Tegel (in German, the Tegeler See), passing pleasant little islands, summer cottages lining the edges, and small marinas filled with sailboats, tucked in behind. The ship, which carries as many as 81 guests, slid easily across the water, people on board snapping photos from the sun deck up top, or just lingering over one last coffee in the bright, Euro-stylish lounge.On a visit to the wheelhouse, the Czech captain, David, explained how a ship this large can navigate waters that have long bedeviled sailors. “The depth, it changes all the time,” he explained, noting that while they use GPS, captains also communicate with one another to constantly update the river’s conditions.
He grew up here—his father also worked on the Elbe. And while he’s also piloted ships on the Rhine and the Danube, he told me this river is a whole different beast. “It’s smaller,” he said. “You must always know exactly where you are.” The ship’s paddle wheels were specially built for the Elbe, allowing this relatively large vessel to navigate in even two and a half feet of water.
Leaving Berlin, we spent the rest of the voyage in territory that was, until 1989, behind the Iron Curtain. In Potsdam, we visited a handsome neighborhood once filled with dachas, and where apparatchiks spent pleasant vacations. We toured Sanssouci, a grand rococo palace built by Prussian King Frederick the Great, where masters still hang on the wall, including Caravaggio and Rubens.
Plus, a stop at Cecilienhof, where we saw the exact spot where Stalin, Roosevelt, and Attlee sat to carve up the postwar world. Back on the ship, we passed under the famous Bridge of Spies, site of Cold War prisoner exchanges.
The Princess continued upriver, to cities that I’d only previously seen on a map or the pages of a history book. In Wittenberg, I learned about the life of Martin Luther and his wife, Kathe—how they rented quarters to students, kept pigs, made their own beer. We saw the door where he nailed his 95 Theses, and the pulpit he preached from. “This is the mother church of the Reformation,” a guide explained.
In Dresden, I took a guided tour of the rambling, fascinating Zwinger, a palace, gardens, and museum complex. Then I explored on my own, getting lost in the city’s cobblestone streets and squares. At the Königstein Fortress nearby, I walked the soaring walls of the “Saxon Bastille,” the views stretching over the tops of clouds.
The captain expertly piloted us through 17 locks, passing across the border into Bohemia. Mountains rose around us, and the river grew narrower—in some places I swore I could reach out and touch both shores. Not long after, we awoke, safe and sound, moored on the Vltava River in the heart of the Czech capital.
Of the small handful of other cruise ships that navigate the Elbe, few, if any, go all the way to Prague. But from the Princess, Old Town Square is just steps away. The city’s famous spires and towers were all around us, the Hrad castle complex staring imperiously down from a nearby promontory. The Elbe was truly an adventure. And now a whole city awaited for me to explore.
When You Go
Fly: Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt (BER) took 14 years to build, and finally opened in late 2020. It’s a lovely place to land. While most flights here originate in Europe or the Middle East, a handful of nonstops fly from North America.
