An unplanned component of our trip arrived by virtue of a stroll along the banks of the Danuj (Danube River) yesterday afternoon. As we watched the activity with river cruisers, tourist sight-seeing boats and others on Easter Monday, we noticed a fast Twin City Liner catamaran pull into one of the landings by the river’s edge.
Twin Cities Liner on Danube River
We noted down the name of the service operating the boat on the Danube, and checked up on its activities online.
It turns out that the Twin City Liner runs regular commuter and tourist services along the River
Danube between the two capital cities.
Vienna and Bratislava are the two nearest capital cities in Europe, being only some 60 km apart and both built across the Danube River, so opportunities do arise for services such as this one which is able to make 6 international trips between European capitals in a single day.
The Twin City Liner service runs along the Danube from 3 to 5 times per day (season dependent), and takes between 75 and 90 minutes for the journey (depending on the direction of travel).
We thought that this would be a great opportunity to see more of the countryside in both Slovakia and Austria, as well as to experience travel along the Danube.
The cost for the Twin City Liner was somewhat lower than on a river cruiser, with our single leg from Bratislava directly into Schwedenplatz in Vienna costing only 19 euros each.
Unfortunately, the weather has closed in somewhat overnight, and the views from our catamaran are not as bright as they could otherwise be.
There are about 30 other travelers on our service, although we suspect that the later services may well carry more people. Ours is the first up river service of the day, having already delivered from Vienna those tourists who have planned for a day in Bratislava.
We have been astonished by the size of this river, and particularly at the speed of the water that is flowing down towards the sea. I’ve estimated a speed of some 8 knots in some sections, when gauged by the wake generated by the stationary channel markers.
The Twin City Liner travels along the River Danube at a speed of some 50 km/h.
The vital statistics of the boat are as follows: engines – 2 each with 1000 hp capacity, driving water jets. The catamaran itself has a length of 34 metres, a breadth of 8.5 metres, and a draft of just 1 metre. The maximum speed capacity of the boat is said to be 75 km/h.
As we are traveling up the Danube river, we are noticing a number of little huts (raised off the ground) with wood burning stoves and heaters and the bare necessities for riverside life. We can’t tell whether these are available for rental or are simply weekenders for Viennese families, but they certainly would offer a unique “out of town” experience.
When we plan our travels properly we are less likely to be like Alice, who after asking the Cheshire cat which way she should go was bluntly told that if she didn’t know where she wanted to get to, then the direction she decided to travel didn’t much matter.
The recently completed Skyrope is northern Germany’s largest rope challenge park. It is located on a 10Ha site adjacent to Bad Harzburg.