Danube Trip with a Twist?

Absolutely doable - and a bonus might be that you could choose different overnight stops than those where the river cruises dock.

Lots of possible train-based itineraries in Europe, including the cities you mentioned, but why try to parallel a cruise? The big draw for cruises is the river itself, and you couldn't expect to see much of it, or nearly as well, from a train. Just pick the places you want to go and look for train connections along an efficient path.

BTW, though many people seem to think Viking offers the only river cruises, other companies do to (we took one with Leuftner). Perhaps we are confused by the fact that Viking advertises on Rick Steves' TV show and elsewhere. I agree that they're not the ideal way to see Europe, but if I did another I'd do it with a line that didn't depend so much on the American market so I could meet Europeans onboard.

And don't use Rail Europe to plot your route. They only show expensive trains. www.bahn.com will give comprehensive schedules throughout Europe showing all trains. In Germany, you can also use cheap local area tickets or Laender Tickets you buy out of vending machines. In Austria, Einfach Raus tickets for similar deals.

If you want to follow the river without being on a river cruise, why not look into the local boats instead of the trains!

When I visited Budapest, I did a day trip to Visegrad on a boat that went on to Esztergom and back. Because I had at one point considered doing Vienna to Budapest by river, I did some research on boats between Budapest and Bratislava, and Bratislava and Vienna, too. I didn't investigate past Vienna when I was doing research, but I would hazard a guess you could keep going that way for most of the river's length.

To be honest, I can't remember how the cost compared to the train, if that's a consideration for you...

Onboard experience on the boat was pretty comparable to the train, but IMO more scenic and more fun. There was a restaurant and several bars on board, with plenty of comfy seats both inside and out.

I love boats, but would never, ever do a cruise (I'm a little horrified just thinking of it), so this was a good way to get the on-the-water experience without being tied to a cruise ship itinerary, etc.

We went from Vienna to Bratislava by boat, 4 adults 96€ one way. We used a Slovakian company as opposed to the Viennese which around 100€ per person. Research, research and research. Can't emphasis it enough. This is how we can afford trips for 3-5 weeks every year, by doing our research and not overpaying for many parts of the trip.

Get some itinerary ideas from www.greatrail.com.

Thanks for the responses. At least I got some confirmation that the trip is possible, with modifications to stop on interesting locations.
Barbara, I am intrigued by this he boat trip you took. Where did you do your research this trip ? How did you find the boat companies that make this journey.
Thanks again and I will dig some more, this sounds better each time I learn something new.

I love this idea. I've been to a lot of cities on the Danube but it would be very cool to string them together, and there are some great books to accompany this trip ("Danubia" and "Blue River, Black Sea")

Places I'd consider stopping along:
Ulm, Regensburg, Linz, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Novi Sad, Belgrade

You'd have to consult someone else to find out if there's any great places to stay on the Danube in Romania/Bulgaria/Ukraine, though.

Here is one boat service between Budapest and Vienna. But it doesn't stop in Bratislava, which is a good place to visit for at least part of a day.