River cruise lines up their cycling game

It’s been a popular excursion for several years now, but river cruise lines are getting more serious about their biking outings with a series of recent partnerships geared toward creating cycling programs for enthusiasts of all skill levels.

In the last year, AmaWaterways partnered with Backroads to create river cruise itineraries that include biking and hiking excursions, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection teamed with Butterfield Robinson to add several biking cruises for this year and next, and most recently, Scenic linked up with active vacation company Trek Travel to develop two new bike-and-river-cruise itineraries for 2017.

So why are all these lines beefing up their biking options? Well, river cruising lends itself to exploring on two wheels. There are beautiful trails that often snake right alongside the rivers, and many European cities and towns are extremely bike-friendly, as well, making cycling a fun, fast and invigorating way to get around when off the ship.

The partnership between AmaWaterways and Backroads was launched last year when the two companies collaborated on 20 Danube River sailings. This year, Backroads offered its biking and hiking trips on two dozen AmaWaterways departures on the Danube, Rhine, Seine and Douro rivers, and for 2017 Backroads will offer more than 100 departures on those same four waterways.

Travelers who book the Backroads experience on AmaWaterways will have an allocated trip leader, receive titanium bikes to ride, be followed by support vans on their cycling outings and will be offered flexible itineraries with a range of cycling routes suited for different abilities.

Pricing for the Backroads river cruises starts at $5,198 per person, based on double occupancy.

Uniworld and Butterfield Robinson have also expanded their partnership after introducing a Danube River biking itinerary last year. The high-end hiking-and-biking operator is offering two departures for an eight-day biking trip on Uniworld’s 160-passenger River Beatrice in September and will host five additional sailings between May and September 2017 on the 150-passenger Maria Theresa. The Butterfield Robinson river cruises will take place on the Danube between Budapest and Passau, Germany. As part of these active river cruises, guests will have the chance to cycle along the Danube bike path between Germany and Slovakia.

The Butterfield Robinson river cruises are priced from $7,495 per person.

Scenic got in on the enhanced cycling action, too, when it announced a collaboration this month with Trek Travel to offer two high-intensity, biking-themed river cruise itineraries in 2017, one along the Danube and one along the Rhine.

Guests who book the Trek Travel river cruise will have access to either a Trek Domane 5.9 carbon road bike or Trek FX hybrid as well as daily route support and certified Trek Travel bicycling guides. Daily rides will be between 15 and 60 miles with up to 3,000 feet of climbing.

The Trek Travel Danube river cruises will take place on either the Scenic Amber or Jade, and are priced from $6,499 per person, with five eight-day departures in 2017. And the eight-day Trek Travel Rhine river cruises will take place on either the Scenic Jewel or Opal and are priced from $6,599 per person, with two departures next year.

All of these enhanced biking options are in addition to the standard biking excursions that river cruise lines have been increasingly offering on their regular sailings. Most river cruise ships now either carry a fleet of bicycles that passengers can use for their own exploration or on guided bike tours, or they contract with rental companies to offer bike tours in certain ports.

And cycling along the rivers isn’t just reserved for Europe. In December, Southeast Asian river cruise specialist Pandaw River Expeditions made mountain bikes available for rent on all of its ships, for $25 per person for the duration of the cruise, and offers either suggested routes or the option to have a crew member accompany guests on a bike ride.

Either way, if getting around on two wheels sounds like an appealing enhancement to cruising the world’s inland waterways, there is no shortage of both high- and low-intensity cycling options along the rivers.