River Cruises on the Main

Quietly winding its way across Central Germany, over wide plains and through lush valleys before meeting up with the romantic Rhine at charmingly pretty Mainz in the very heart of the country’s wineland region, this is the longest river located entirely in Germany.

Although the region’s Golden Age didn’t arrive until much later, Celtic architecture dating back to 1000BC can be found along its shores and by the Roman Empire, settlements along the Main were flourishing. As time wore on it became a critical trade route for the expanding Empire and even Charlemagne himself, left his mark here, investing in canal construction and erecting the mighty 8th century cathedral in Würzburg. During World War II, the cities along the Main were especially hard hit – by the end of the war the cities of Würzburg, Frankfurt and Mainz were all but destroyed – Bamberg remains one of the few cities in Germany that survived the bombings because of its close proximity to an artillery factory that prevented planes from getting near it. After decades of planning and construction, the Main-Danube Canal finally opened in 1992 which connects the Main and the Danube Rivers. Beginning in the beautiful city of Bamberg and ending in Kelheim on the mighty Danube, this engineering feat allows both passenger ships and smaller commercial vessels to travel between the North and Black Seas.