The 6 Best Boat Tours in Vienna, Austria - She is Lost Around the World

I spent most of my time in Vienna running around between palaces, huge buildings and the historic center, so seeing the city from the water would have been a completely different way to experience it.

And there are actually quite a few options depending on what you want. You can take a simple city cruise if you just want to get on the water for a while, spend several hours cruising the Danube, have dinner on board or go in the evening instead.

I’ve picked 6 of the best boat tours in Vienna, including short city cruises, longer Danube cruises and options with lunch, dinner and Viennese food.

Best Boat Tours in Vienna: Quick Picks

Looking for…	My Pick
Best overall boat tour	Vienna: City Cruise
Best long cruise	Vienna: 3.5-Hour Grand Danube River Cruise
Best dinner cruise	Vienna: 3-Course Evening Dinner Cruise
Best lunch cruise	Vienna: City Cruise with Optional Lunch
Best for Viennese food	Vienna: Danube River Cruise w/ Optional Viennese Specialties
Best evening cruise	Vienna: Evening Cruise Along The Danube

The 6 Best Boat Tours in Vienna

Vienna: City Cruise

If you mainly want to take a boat trip in Vienna without dedicating half your day to it, I’d start with the City Cruise.

This is the straightforward option on the list. You get to see Vienna from the water and add something different to a trip that will probably already involve a LOT of walking, without turning the cruise into the main event of your entire day.

I’d choose this one if it’s your first trip to Vienna and you’re trying to fit the cruise around places like Schönbrunn Palace, the Hofburg and Belvedere rather than planning your itinerary around the boat itself.

Best for: First-time visitors, shorter trips and a simple Vienna boat cruise

Book the tour: Vienna: City Cruise

Vienna: 3.5-Hour Grand Danube River Cruise

If the cruise itself is something you’re really looking forward to, the 3.5-hour Grand Danube River Cruise makes much more sense.

You’re spending considerably longer on the water than with a normal city cruise, so I wouldn’t squeeze this into a packed sightseeing day. Three and a half hours is a decent chunk of your day in Vienna.

But that’s also exactly why you would choose it. You’re not just getting on a boat for a quick look around and getting straight back off again.

I’d pick this over the City Cruise if you specifically want a long Danube experience rather than simply adding a boat ride to your Vienna itinerary.

Best for: Longer cruises, the Danube and travelers who want the boat trip to be a bigger part of the day

Book the tour: Vienna: 3.5-Hour Grand Danube River Cruise

Vienna: 3-Course Evening Dinner Cruise

This is the one I’d choose if you want your boat tour to double as your evening plans in Vienna.

Instead of using sightseeing time during the day, you can go on the cruise in the evening and have a three-course dinner at the same time.

I particularly like this option if you only have a couple of days in Vienna because you’re not having to choose between spending several hours on a daytime cruise and seeing another major attraction.

It also feels more like an actual experience than simply transportation on the water, so I’d look at this one for a date night or if you want to do something different one evening.

Best for: Dinner, couples and an evening experience

Book the tour: Vienna: 3-Course Evening Dinner Cruise

Vienna: City Cruise with Optional Lunch

If you like the idea of the regular City Cruise but want to combine it with lunch, this is the one to compare with it.

The optional lunch is really the deciding factor here. If you were going to stop somewhere for lunch anyway, combining the two can make sense and saves you from having to plan another thing separately.

If you don’t care about eating on the boat, though, I would keep things simple and compare this directly with the standard City Cruise.

This would be my pick for someone who wants a daytime cruise but would rather turn it into a longer lunch break than simply go sightseeing from the water.

Best for: Daytime cruises, lunch and combining two things in one

Book the tour: Vienna: City Cruise with Optional Lunch

Vienna: Danube River Cruise w/ Optional Viennese Specialties

This is the one I’d look at if you want to combine a Danube cruise with Austrian food but don’t necessarily want the full three-course evening dinner experience.

The optional Viennese specialties are what separate it from the other regular Danube cruises on this list, so I would choose it specifically because you want to eat while you’re on board.

It could also be a good middle ground if you’re trying to decide between booking a food experience and a boat tour during a short Vienna trip. You can basically combine a bit of both instead.

If food isn’t important to you, I’d choose based on the cruise itself rather than paying attention to this option specifically.

Best for: Austrian food, Danube views and combining a cruise with local specialties

Book the tour: Vienna: Danube River Cruise w/ Optional Viennese Specialties

Vienna: Evening Cruise Along The Danube

If you want to see the Danube in the evening but don’t need the three-course dinner, this is the better option.

That’s really the main decision between the two evening cruises on this list. The dinner cruise makes the meal a big part of the experience, while this one makes more sense if you just want to get on the water later in the day.

And if you only have two days in Vienna, I actually like the idea of an evening cruise because you can spend the daylight hours sightseeing and add the boat trip afterward rather than sacrificing several hours in the middle of your day.

Best for: Evening views, couples and travelers who don’t want a dinner cruise

Book the tour: Vienna: Evening Cruise Along The Danube

Which Boat Tour in Vienna Should You Choose?

If you just want to add a boat ride to your Vienna trip without making it complicated, I’d choose the Vienna City Cruise. It’s the option I’d look at first for a normal first visit when you already have a lot of other things you want to see.

If the cruise itself is one of the experiences you’re most interested in, go for the 3.5-Hour Grand Danube River Cruise and actually give yourself time to enjoy being on the water.

For an evening experience, you have two very different choices. Pick the 3-Course Evening Dinner Cruise if you want dinner to be part of it, or the Evening Cruise Along the Danube if you mainly care about the cruise.

And if food is important but you don’t necessarily want a full dinner cruise, look at either the City Cruise with Optional Lunch or the Danube River Cruise with Optional Viennese Specialties.

Best Boat Tours in Vienna: Final Thoughts

If I were adding one of these boat tours in Vienna to a first trip, I’d probably choose the Vienna City Cruise because it’s easy to fit around everything else I’d want to see.

If I had more time and specifically wanted a proper Danube experience, I’d go for the 3.5-Hour Grand Danube River Cruise instead.

The dinner cruise would be my pick if I wanted something more special in the evening, while the regular evening cruise makes more sense if you want to be on the water without turning it into a full dining experience.

And considering how much time I spent walking around freezing on my Vienna trips, sitting on a boat for a while suddenly sounds like something I probably should have done.