Danube

Where is the Danube?

The river starts here: Black Forest, Germany.

It ends in the Black Sea.

Along the way it passes: Donaueschingen (source) → Ulm → Regensburg → Passau → Linz → Vienna → Bratislava → Budapest → Novi Sad → Belgrade.

Countries on the river: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine.

The story behind it

The Danube begins in Germany's Black Forest, where two small streams called the Breg and the Brigach meet at the town of Donaueschingen to form its official source. From there it flows southeast for nearly three thousand kilometres, touching or flowing through ten countries and passing directly through four national capitals: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade, more capital cities than any other river on Earth. Along the way, huge cargo barges carry goods between countries, while historic castles and vineyards line its banks in Austria and Germany. Near the Serbia-Romania border, the river squeezes through the dramatic Iron Gate gorge before finally spreading into the wetland maze of the Danube Delta in Romania, one of Europe's richest wildlife habitats, home to pelicans, wild boar and rare white-tailed eagles, just before reaching the Black Sea.