Avalon Waterways has introduced three new Cruise & Tour itineraries for 2027, combining guided land touring with river cruising to create longer-form European journeys connecting multiple countries within a single itinerary.
The new programmes reflect a growing preference among travellers to maximise international travel opportunities by combining several destinations and travel styles while reducing the complexity of independent planning.
The expanded collection pairs the structured expertise of Globus tour operations with Avalon’s river experience, allowing guests to move between land and water without independently coordinating transfers, accommodation arrangements or regional movement. With these additions, Avalon’s Cruise & Tour portfolio grows to seven itineraries spanning destinations across Switzerland, Austria, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Spain and France.
The 3 newly introduced itineraries extend across distinct geographic corridors. Essential Britain & Ireland with Romantic Rhine traces a 17-day route through six countries, beginning amid the landscapes and historic cities of Britain and Ireland before transitioning to the Rhine corridor, where vineyards, medieval river towns and the Rhine Gorge shape the later stages of the journey.
The Best of Spain with Paris & Normandy combines 16 days across Spain and France, moving from Madrid and Barcelona toward the Seine, where guests continue through Normandy, Rouen and Paris while experiencing a markedly different rhythm of travel from the river. The itinerary incorporates cultural centres and historic landscapes into one connected movement across western Europe.
Italian Vista with Romantic Rhine with Two Nights in Lucerne extends over 17 days and 5 countries, beginning in Italy with visits to destinations including Rome, Venice and Lake Como before slowing the pace in Switzerland with time in Lucerne. The journey then continues onto the Rhine, passing through the Black Forest, Strasbourg and Amsterdam.
Cruise & Tour itineraries are structured to allow guests to alternate between guided discovery and periods of independent exploration while maintaining continuity of movement throughout the journey. Avalon positions the format as a way to remove the operational demands of multi-country travel and allow greater attention to place, landscape and experience.
Avalon Waterways’ president Pam Hoffee noted that multi-country travel remained among the most rewarding forms of exploration but could also introduce significant planning complexity. She described the Cruise & Tour concept as an integrated approach in which land logistics and river operations are managed separately yet connected into a single journey framework, leaving travellers able to focus on the destinations themselves rather than the movement between them.
She further indicated that combining land travel leadership with river cruising created opportunities to experience Europe’s most recognisable regions through a broader and more layered itinerary structure, transforming traditional destination visits into longer and more continuous journeys of discovery.