I'm in the back of an inflatable kayak on Portugal's famous Douro River, paddling wildly against the flow, when it hits me: river cruising has certainly changed.
I found myself in this kayak – looking ridiculous in a full wetsuit and soaked from passing rain, but having a blast – as part of a half-day outing from the newest cruise ship Douro River, Avalon Waterways'. Avalon Alegria.
This is the kind of outing that we never saw on the river cruise schedule.
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When I started writing about cruises more than twenty years ago, river cruises were reserved for a sedentary, retired audience. But in recent years, some river brands, including Avalon, are targeting a more active, younger group of vacationers with active outings.
As I note during a preview of four nights of sailing aboard the Avalon Alegria, which begins its maiden sailing with paying passengers later this week, you can now experience a lot more of the outdoors when a river cruise than just a few years ago.
Or not.
Cruise brands that are adding more active options to river cruises – Avalon being a leader in the trend – are doing so as part of offering a wider range of options on their trips, including both active and non-active excursions.
Related: Why I still think Avalon Waterways has the best river cruise cabins
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On each navigation, Avalon now offers a choice of included daily circuits divided into three main categories: Classic, Discovery and Active.
For example, during a day in Porto, Portugal, on this cruise we had the choice between a walking tour in the heart of the historic city (Classic option), a wine experience including visits and tastings in the century-old vineyards and port cellars on the opposite bank of the river (Discovery option) and a bike tour of the banks with a biologist (Active option).
A bike ride by the ocean
In short, you can now be as active as you want when sailing with select river brands: In addition to Avalon, AmaWaterways has added more active options to its ships.
During the Porto stop, I signed up for the bike tour, which consisted of an invigorating and scenic ride along the south bank of the Douro to where it meets the Atlantic Ocean, followed by a ride to south along the ocean for several kilometers.
Led by a guide, the seven riders in my group covered a total of 9 miles – a significant distance – in a leisurely 2 1/2 hours. The duration included several stops to admire the views.
We got off our bikes several times to walk along the promenades across the Douro River estuary, near the ocean and down to the beach. While doing so, our biologist guide continuously commented on the migratory and local birds we were seeing and explained the natural landscape.
It was a windy day and the waves were out on the ocean, putting on a spectacle as they crashed onto the rocky outcroppings along the beach, sending spray skyward.
This was the most tiring of the three active circuits I did over three days on board. For the most part, the active outings Avalon offers on its trips are relatively gentle in terms of adventure level. They are not intended for hardcore adventurous travelers.
On my second day aboard the Avalon Alegria, I signed up for what was billed as a hike through the vineyards along the Douro, near the village of Pinhao. But a hike was an ambitious way to describe it. It was more of a walk.
We didn't go far – only 1.3 miles, according to one of my travel companions who tracked it on his phone. But it was a truncated outing that was unique to this preview sailing, Avalon Alegria's active voyage coordinator later told me, due to baptism festivities scheduled for the ship the same day.
I wasn't complaining. After traveling by minibus to the Quinta do Bomfim vineyard, which covers the hills surrounding Pinhao, we set off slowly toward the estate's rows of rolling vines, walking the stone-lined tractor paths that separate them.
We stopped often, including at a small orange grove nestled in the middle of the vineyard, where we picked ripe, juicy oranges from the branches to eat along the way.
The outing was as much a cellar tour as a walk through the vineyards, as we quickly took a tour of the estate's production facilities, where we saw the rooms where the grapes are transformed into wine and stored in oak barrels giants.
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TPG's Gene Sloan tastes oranges straight from the tree on a wine trek on the Douro River. GENE SLOAN/THE POINTS BOY
The experience ended with a tasting of the ports made at the estate, a common activity during Douro trips.
The vineyard-lined Douro River Valley is famous for being the origin of all the bottles of port in the world, and almost all excursions offered by river cruise lines in the valley have elements related to this wine which made the valley famous.
A nice kayak towards “Love Island”
The kayak trip was also relatively modest in its ambitions. Starting from a small beach along the banks of the Douro, our group of about two dozen kayakers (two per kayak) was led by guides on a short loop that initially took us a few hundred down the river meters to another small beach. where we landed for a photo. We then walked up the river to a piece of land in the middle of the river called Love Island.
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A kayak tour on Avalon Waterways is being tested. GENE SLOAN/THE POINTS BOY
At the latter destination, we stopped to hear the legend of a clandestine romance between a noblewoman and a humble farmer that gives the island its name. Their love, we were told, ended suddenly after a storm came up as they fled to the island. According to legend, they were fleeing after the farmer killed a rival suitor – and it was the spirit of that rival that caused the storm.
This was a quick stop where our guides offered us the opportunity to snorkel from a lookout into the water. Then we got back in the kayaks for the short trip back to our starting point.
The entire kayak portion of the trip, which Avalon is still testing as an option for its Douro crossings, lasted just an hour.
If you're just looking for a taste of kayaking that isn't too strenuous and gets you out into the great outdoors, this is a perfect excursion. If you're hoping for a more serious kayaking adventure, you'll probably be disappointed.
We suspect that most of the future Avalon river cruisers belong to the former camp. By adding more active options, Avalon is certainly attracting a younger audience looking for more active outings. But being younger, in this case, is relative, as is the level of activity these travelers seek.
The average age of an Avalon cruiser has fallen from 68 to 62 in recent years, a senior company marketing executive told me during this sailing—a significant drop. But even travelers older than 70 on average do not constitute a cohort of travelers who necessarily want to kayak for miles or for hours.
As someone quickly approaching that age, I know this firsthand.
My opinion: Avalon knows its customers.
If you're looking for a river cruise with active options that aren't so active that you'll struggle to keep up, Avalon Waterways might be the perfect cruise for you.
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