The Danube crosses more countries than any other river in Europe, and it is the easiest way to read the map of Central and Eastern Europe in a single line. It starts in the hills of south-west Germany, flows east past four capital cities, cuts through a mountain gorge and ends in a wide delta on the Black Sea.
Where it starts and where it ends
The river is born in the Black Forest, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, where two small streams meet near Donaueschingen. It flows east through Bavaria, past Ulm and Regensburg, and leaves Germany at Passau, where the Inn brings in water from the Alps.
At the other end, the Danube splits into several arms in eastern Romania and southern Ukraine before reaching the Black Sea. The delta it forms is a maze of channels, reed beds and lakes, protected on both sides of the border and listed by UNESCO.
Four capitals on one river
No other river in the world flows through as many national capitals. Following the current, you pass:
- Vienna, capital of Austria, where the river was straightened and diverted east of the old centre.
- Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, close to the borders of Austria and Hungary.
- Budapest, capital of Hungary, where the river separates Buda on the hills from Pest on the plain.
- Belgrade, capital of Serbia, at the confluence with the Sava.
Vienna and Bratislava are so close that river boats and cyclists link the two capitals in a short trip, crossing the Austrian and Slovak border along the riverbank without leaving the valley.
The ten Danube states
Navigation on the river has been run by an international body for a long time. The Danube Commission was set up under the Convention regarding the regime of navigation on the Danube, signed in Belgrade on 18 August 1948. Its member states are Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Croatia. The Commission has had its seat in Budapest since 1954, and its official languages are German, Russian and French.
Moldova surprises people on that list. Its stretch of riverbank is tiny, near Giurgiulești in the far south of the country, but it gives Moldova direct access to the Danube and the Black Sea.
Reading the river in sections
It helps to split the Danube into three parts:
- The upper Danube, from the Black Forest to the Vienna Basin. The river is fast, the valleys are narrow, and Austria’s Wachau valley, with its vineyards and monasteries, is the best known stretch.
- The middle Danube, from Vienna to the Iron Gates. Here the river slows and crosses the Pannonian Plain, turning sharply south at the Danube Bend north of Budapest.
- The lower Danube, from the Iron Gates to the sea. For long stretches it forms the border between Romania and Bulgaria, then runs north before turning east into the delta.
The Iron Gates
Between Serbia and Romania the Danube forces a passage through the mountains where the Carpathians meet the Balkan range. This gorge, the Iron Gates, was once one of the most dangerous sections for boats. Large dams now hold back the water and generate electricity, and the gorge forms part of national parks on both banks. On a map it is the clearest break between Central Europe and the Balkans.
A river of borders
For much of its length, the Danube is a frontier rather than a road. It separates Slovakia from Hungary, Croatia from Serbia for part of the way, Serbia from Romania at the Iron Gates, and Romania from Bulgaria on the lower river. Bridges are few on those border stretches, so crossing by car can mean a long detour or a ferry.
Tributaries worth spotting on a map
- The Inn, at Passau, which carries meltwater from the Swiss and Austrian Alps.
- The Drava and the Sava, which drain the south-eastern Alps and the western Balkans.
- The Tisza, which collects water from the Carpathians and crosses the Hungarian plain.
- The Prut, the last large tributary, along the border of Romania and Moldova.
Travelling along the Danube
River cruises between Passau, Vienna and Budapest are the most common way to see the upper and middle river. Cyclists use a long-distance path that follows the banks from Germany through Austria, flat for most of the way. Below the Iron Gates, tourism is lighter, and the delta is reached by boat from the Romanian town of Tulcea.
Reading the Danube with the rest of Europe
The map of the Alps shows where the Inn and other tributaries come from, and the map of the Carpathians explains the mountains on the far side of the Iron Gates. South of the river, the map of the Balkans takes over, while the map of Eastern Europe places Romania, Moldova and Ukraine in context.
The Danube Commission lists its member states and explains its role on its official presentation page.
