Sail Away

In Southeast Asia, our Very Best of Vietnam & Cambodia tour pairs thriving cities and cultural treasures with an unforgettable time on the water. Explore the lantern-lit town of Hoi An, dynamic Ho Chi Minh City, and the artistry of Angkor Wat’s temples. Also enjoy a two-night cruise around the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay – a striking change of pace, as we drift through a scene 500 million years in the making, where lofty limestone karsts stand sentinel in the emerald waters.

A four-night cruise along the mighty Mekong takes place aboard a riverboat that fuses timeless old-world charm with contemporary comfort. Serene suites, a spa, book-filled library, lounge and elegant dining refresh the soul just as much as the vistas from the open decks. Colourful floating markets laden with fresh delicacies and handicrafts, time-honoured fishing villages and lush green panoramas are all part of the experience.

Our Brahmaputra River & Darjeeling itinerary offers an intimate small-group Indian voyage of discovery, beginning amid the energy of Mumbai and the colonial grandeur of Kolkata, before climbing to the mist-laced tea plantations of Darjeeling. From there, an exclusively chartered seven-night cruise aboard the Assam Bengal Navigation Sukapha, with just 12 cabins, carries Distant Journeys guests along the storied Brahmaputra River, meandering past jungle-clad hills and remote riverside communities.

Days unfold with visits to temples and villages, and wildlife encounters in Kaziranga National Park, where the rare Indian one-horned rhinoceros roams freely – a remarkable highlight of this magnificent stretch of river.

Across the globe, the otherworldly beauty of Alaska’s icy blues and whites is like nowhere else. Among our cruise collection, the Grand Canadian Rockies & Alaskan Cruise itinerary includes an escorted tour through the rugged peaks, lakes and glaciers of the Canadian Rockies, including a climb over Yellowhead Pass aboard the famous Rocky Mountaineer train. From Vancouver, our adventure takes to the water, beginning a seven-night voyage through Alaska’s renowned Inside Passage, featuring stops at Skagway and Ketchikan. Life on board is a swirl of excellent dining, warm hospitality and entertainment. The chance to spy humpback whales and orcas playing as bald eagles glide across widescreen skies is priceless.

Cruising through Glacier Bay National Park – ice creaking, mountains brushed with snow, sparkling glaciers edging the shoreline and grizzly bears roaming the wild – opens a window onto a truly wondrous world.

Moments on the water may not always be the focus of the tour, yet they often become some of its most remarkable experiences. We weave river and coastal cruising thoughtfully into our worldwide escorted touring holidays. In China, we pair sightseeing in Beijing, visits to the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors, and journeys aboard bullet trains with the gentle rhythm of cruising the Yangtze River. A highlight of our Very Best of China tour, three days of elegant sailing between Chongqing and Yichang reveal majestic gorges and forested mountains before an excursion to the Three Gorges Dam – the world’s largest hydroelectric dam.

The exotic wildness of Borneo unfolds along the Kinabatangan River. Our Very Best of Borneo journey combines time in Malaysia’s vibrant capital, Kuala Lumpur, with wildlife-rich river exploration. While visits to a tribal longhouse and rehabilitation centres for sun bears and proboscis monkeys add depth, it’s the Kinabatangan that offers the most intimate encounters with the island’s endemic biodiversity.

Staying at a jungle-fringed lodge beside the riverbank, days begin at sunrise on the water. Guided cruises drift past crocodiles in the shallows and Pygmy elephants emerging from the forest, as the chatter of monkeys and trill of kingfishers carry through the morning air.

Beneath a canopy alive with birdsong, some of Costa Rica's most enriching moments unfold not on land, but on water. A river boat becomes our front-row seat to Tortuguero National Park's tangled canals and mirror-still wetlands, where the rainforest presses close and life reveals itself slowly. The waterways feel like secret corridors through the jungle – broad, open stretches giving way to hushed, narrow channels where we drift almost silently.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's Milford Sound delivers drama on a different scale. Cruising through this fjord of towering cliffs and cascading waterfalls, dolphins often arc through the dark waters beside the boat, while little blue penguins and fur seals gather along the rocky shoreline. With mist clinging to forested peaks and waterfalls tumbling from improbable heights, exploring Milford Sound by water puts you right beside one of the Southern Hemisphere's most awe- inspiring natural theatres.

From the storied waters of India's Brahmaputra River to dolphin and penguin spotting in New Zealand's Milford Sound, these journeys are serene yet thrilling – deliberately slow, yet full of surprises around every river bend and along every shifting coastline.