Take in the Scenery: 9 Great Family Boat Rides

500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up highlights great family trips, sights, and activities around the world. Below you'll find nine river, sea, and ocean trips that the kids will remember forever.

What: The Seattle-Victoria Ferry: Sailing the High-Speed Puget Cats
Who: All ages
Where: Seattle, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia

Crossing the U.S.-Canada border is generally a fairly routine experience -- but not if you sail across it on a high-speed catamaran from Seattle, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia. The trip takes only 3 hours, just enough time for the kids to roam around the boat, get a bite to eat, and stare out the windows at the gorgeous northwest coast. Exciting as open water is, it soon gets monotonous for children; one of the glories of this trip for kids is that most of the ride is on glacier-carved Puget Sound, where land can be viewed on either side, the rugged conifer-mantled highlands of the Olympic Peninsula on one side and the rural Skagit Valley on the other.

You leave from Seattle's busy ferry port, Pier 69, with the futuristic Space Needle lifting its curious head over the downtown Seattle skyline and majestic Mount Rainier visible to the south, snowcapped even in summer. Working your way past Seattle harbor's sailboat and kayak traffic, you'll enter convoluted Puget Sound, with the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula gradually rearing their peaks on your left. Coming out of Puget Sound near Port Townsend, you'll see the lovely San Juan Islands on the right (the same company runs ferries to the San Juans, including some whale-watching excursions). Then it's across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the first stretch of open water on your voyage so far.

On the far side of that strait lies Vancouver -- Vancouver Island, that is, which is not the same thing as the mainland city of Vancouver. What is on Vancouver Island is British Columbia's capital, Victoria, which is like a little slice of Victorian England served up on the northwest coast of North America. Ferry schedules are organized to make a day trip perfectly doable, with plenty of time to explore Victoria before heading back to Seattle. The mild Pacific climate is beautifully suited to horticulture, and Victoria's pride and joy is its rose gardens, particularly the spectacular Butchart Gardens, 800 Benvenuto Ave., Brentwood Bay (tel. 250/652-4422; www.butchartgardens.com). If you can't sell your kids on visiting a garden, there's plenty to see around the charmingly restored Inner Harbour: Miniature World in the Fairmont Empress Hotel, 649 Humboldt St. (tel. 250/385-9731), with loads of small-scale dioramas from history and literature, the glass-enclosed views of harbor creatures in the Pacific Undersea Gardens, 490 Belleville St. (tel. 250/382-5717), and the Victoria Butterfly Gardens, 1461 Benvenuto Ave., Brentwood Bay (tel. 250/652-3822), which are exactly what the name says.

Location & information: tel. 800/888-2535 or 206/448-5000 or 250/382-8100; www.victoriaclipper.com.

What: Cruising the Mighty Mississippi: A River Ride through the Heart of America
Who: All ages
Where: Various locations along the Mississippi River

The Native Americans living on its shores called it the Messipi, or "big river," but in American lore the Mississippi River is so much more. Yes, it is long -- at 2,350 miles, it's the third-longest river in the world -- but as it surges north to south down the middle of America, it gives this continent a heartbeat that is essentially, uniquely ours. I vividly remember the thrill of crossing it for the first time, at age 13, on a nighttime train, with a momentous feeling of Heading West. To ride its majestic brown waters, for whatever stretch of the river, is to feel connected to West and East and North and South all at once. And if you're going to do it, do it the right way, on a steam-powered paddle boat with lacy white fretwork and fluted smokestacks and the whole banjo-strumming shebang.

Several river towns offer 1- or 2-hour paddle-wheel cruises to give you a taste of what it feels like to be out on that great river -- St. Paul, Minnesota; La Crosse, Wisconsin; St. Louis, Missouri; Tunica Resort, Mississippi; and New Orleans, Louisiana all have sightseeing paddle-wheelers. From LeClaire, Iowa, you can even book a 2-day cruise on the Riverboat Twilight along the Upper Mississippi to Dubuque and back (tel. 800/331-1467; www.riverboattwilight.com). To really give the kids that old-timey thrill, though, a longer trip is the way to go, to see how the river changes character over its course. The headwaters begin up in Minnesota at Lake Itasca, but the Mississippi is merely a small stream at that point; after it meets the Minnesota River at St. Anthony Falls, it widens significantly, with steep bluffs on either side. Just above St. Louis it joins up with the Illinois and then the Missouri rivers, becoming truly huge and fast-moving. As it rolls down into Arkansas and Louisiana, the softer soil of the Delta creates a mazy, loopy river course, with many islands and a lazy majesty all its own. By the time it reaches New Orleans, the Mississippi has really been somewhere.

The Delta Steamboat Company rules the river when it comes to these extended journeys: It has three vintage paddle-wheelers with sleeping cabins, theaters, dining rooms, and even a swimming pool; a "riverlorian" on board tells stories of the river, and young passengers can hang out in the pilothouse and earn a cub pilot's license. Itineraries vary according to which river ports you choose, from Minneapolis to St. Louis to Memphis to New Orleans. The boats dock at charming river towns along the way, with guided tours arranged; between ports, take along a copy of Huckleberry Finn or Life on the Mississippi and plunk yourself down in a deck chair while the kids scamper around the ship. A week on the river -- it's a great way to see America in microcosm, exploring it at the pace of another century.

Location & information: tel. 800/338-4962; www.mississippirivercruises.com.

What: Scouting Alaska's Inside Passage: Ferries to the Glacier
Who: All ages
Where: Juneau, Alaska

Every summer, boatloads of tourists crowd onto luxury cruise ships to be pampered on their way through Alaska. But that's not my idea of a rugged wilderness experience -- not when you can still travel in comfort on the swift, well-outfitted ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway System, with the option of planning your own itinerary to suit your family's interests.

Officially designated an All-American Road, the Alaska Marine Highway covers 3,500 nautical miles from Bellingham, Washington, out to the Aleutian Islands. A fleet of sleek blue-hulled ferries steams its entire length, but I think the most interesting segments are those of the Inside Passage, that crazy network of inlets and channels around the countless islands of the Alaskan Panhandle. Squeezed between the Canadian Yukon and the Gulf of Alaska, this little strip of southeast Alaska -- a breathtaking mix of dense green northwest rainforest and pristine white glaciers -- stretches 500 miles from Ketchikan to Yakutat.

In the middle is Juneau, Alaska's capital city and where you'll probably arrive by plane. Before leaving Juneau, trundle the kids off to see the Mendenhall Glacier, Glacier Spur Road (tel. 907/789-0097), where you can stand in front of a wall of blue ice and feel its chilly breath. The two destinations that most interest my kids are in opposite directions from Juneau: Ketchikan, a spruced-up logging town with the world's largest collection of totem poles that's 17 hours south by ferry; and Sitka, an exotic mix of Russian and Tlingit cultures that's 8¾ hours north of Juneau by ferry. The beauty of taking the ferries? Using Juneau as a base and making separate excursions to Ketchikan and Sitka just takes planning. If you schedule it right, you may even be able to hit every town at an hour when the cruise mobs are gone and the locals relaxed.

Spending several hours on these ferries is no problem. These are handsome modern craft, with restaurants, gift shops, and in some cases even movie theaters on board, not to mention solariums and observation lounges where you can park yourselves to watch the scenic coast roll past. Naturalists often come along for the ride to talk about Alaska's wildlife and geology with passengers; some ships have small video arcades or play areas for toddlers. For overnight journeys, you can reserve two- to four-berth cabins (book several months in advance for summer voyages), although you are also free to roll out your sleeping bags on the comfy reclining seats in the lounges. Hey, that counts as roughing it in my book.

Location & information: 6858 Glacier Hwy. (tel. 800/642-0066 or 907/465-3941; www.ferryalaska.com).

What: Pirate Cruising in the Caribbean
Who: Ages 6 & up
Where: The Bahamas or the Cayman Islands

Ever since Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean movie came out (yar, that Johnny Depp), the pirate franchise has gotten a new lease on life; I know several 6-year-olds who won't leave the house without their eye patches and cutlasses. Entrepreneurs from Clearwater, Florida, to Bath, Maine, have launched pirate-themed harbor tours, but if you're going to do it, do it the right way: in the warm blue waters of the Caribbean.

The most elaborate outing is Beyond Boundaries's 4-day pirate cruise, on a Windjammer tall ship departing from Miami and ending up in Nassau, The Bahamas. After all, with its scattered islands and secret coves, the Bahamas was a hornet's nest of pirate action back in the day. While at sea, the crew teach passengers sword fighting; pirate movies are projected onto the ship's big white sails; buried treasure is dug up on a deserted island; and a general goofy shipboard atmosphere reigns. Once you arrive in Nassau, there's a dinner at the interactive Pirates of Nassau, Bay Street (tel. 242/356-3759; www.pirates-of-nassau.com), and a sightseeing tour of Nassau led by a pirate storyteller. (Even if you don't do the cruise, these Nassau attractions are good for pirate parents to know about.) Book ahead to get the right cabin configuration, before other families snap up the big cabins. There's a 9-day option if you want to continue on to Jamaica, where the pirate activities are more historic and less interactive.

In the Cayman Islands, a shorter option is a 2-hour coastal cruise out of Grand Cayman on the Jolly Roger, a rakishly decorated blue boat that is a two-thirds replica of Christopher Columbus's flagship, the Nina. The troupe of buccaneer actors on board perform all the standard pirate shtick, conscripting kids to haul the mainsail and swab the deck; there's also a swim stop for some snorkeling and splashing about. This colorful outing feeds on the Caymans's history as a Caribbean pirate hideout -- many present-day Caymanites are descendants of the original pirates. Every October, Grand Cayman holds a weeklong Pirate Heritage Festival that's tons of swashbuckling fun -- though, with most kids in school that time of year, it degenerates into a rum-soaked adult party, quite in keeping with the moral character of pirates.

Location & information: Beyond Borders Adventure Travel (tel. 800/487-1136; www.potcfantrips.com); The Jolly Roger (tel. 345/945-SAIL; www.jollyrogercayman.com).

What: Punting on the Cam
Who: Ages 6 & up
Where: Cambridge, East Anglia, England

Punting on the River Cam in a wood-built, flat-bottomed boat (which looks somewhat like a Venetian gondola) is a traditional pursuit of students and visitors to Cambridge University, one of England's two venerable universities. Wafting your way downstream, you pass along the ivy-covered "Backs" of the colleges, their lush gardens sweeping down to the Cam. It's one of the best ways an outsider can glimpse student life at this university, where the illustrious graduates include everyone from Isaac Newton to Charles Darwin to Stephen Hawking.

Cambridge, founded in the early 13th century, is a conglomeration of some 31 colleges. The most famous of them you'll pass as you head downstream are St. John's, founded 1511, with its Bridge of Sighs arching over the river; Trinity College, founded by King Henry VIII in 1546 and the alma mater of Isaac Newton and Lord Byron; King's College, founded 1441, with its exquisite medieval Chapel (be sure to go visit it on foot after punting); and the lovely Queen's College, dating from 1448, just before the river splits at Sheep's Green.

People sprawl along the banks of the Cam on a summer day to judge and tease you as you maneuver your punt with a pole about 4.5m (15 ft.) long. The river's floor is muddy, and many a student has lost his pole in the riverbed shaded by the willows. If your pole gets stuck, it's better to leave it sticking in the mud instead of risking a plunge into the river.

About 3km (1¾ miles) upriver lie the meadows of Grantchester, immortalized by poet Rupert Brooke (the town lies about a mile from the meadows). When the town clock stopped for repairs in 1985, its hands were left frozen "for all time" at 10 minutes to 3, in honor of Brooke's famed sonnet "The Soldier."

Scudamore's Boatyards, Granta Place (tel. 01223/359750), by the Anchor Pub, has been in business since 1910. You rent boats by the hour, and there's a maximum of six persons per punt; the place is open year-round, although March through October is the high season. If you'd rather not attempt punting yourself, you can hire a "chauffeur" for a (hefty) additional fee.

Location & information: Cambridge Tourist Information Centre, Wheeler St. (tel. 01223/457577).

What: Cruising the Fjords
Who: Ages 6 & up
Where: Norway

It took, oh, 3 million years or so to carve out the dramatic furrows and fissures that make the Norwegian coast look like nowhere else on earth. At some points these deeply indented fjords become so narrow that a boat can hardly wedge between the steep mountainsides. Waterfalls spill down their cliffs, brightly painted storybook villages nestle in their creases, rags of mist trail around rocky coves. To glide up these crystal-clear waters by ship is an unforgettable experience.

The scenic city of Bergen, a quarter of the way up Norway's coast, is often called the gateway to the fjords; north of here, the coast suddenly fragments and crumbles dramatically into scattered archipelagoes and inlets. Elegantly appointed steamers travel north from Bergen along this breathtaking coast, taking 5 or 6 days to round Scandinavia's northern tip and reach Kirkenes. The round-trip journey circles around and sails back south, timing things so that you'll see in the daytime anything you missed while sleeping in your berth on the way up. Though these are luxury cruise vessels -- and you'll pay cruise prices to travel on them -- the ships are also transport for locals, stopping at 34 ports en route, with enough time for passengers to hop off for shopping and shore excursions.

Among the major stops are Trondheim, a city with a remarkably well-preserved timbered medieval district; Bødo, the first port north of the Arctic Circle; Tromsø, site of the world's northernmost planetarium (see Tromsø ); the fishing port of Hammerfest, where you may see local Lapps with their reindeer; and Honningsvåg, the world's northernmost village and terminus of the Midnight Sun Road, where you can take an excursion to the stark Nordskapp plateau, the "top of Europe," with its dark cliffs dropping precipitously into the Arctic Ocean. But it's not the sights onshore that the kids will remember in the end -- it's the day after day of those stunning fjord views, with the northern light sparkling off the waters and each new turn revealing another dramatic forested chasm.

Location & information: Bergen Line (tel. 800/323-7436 or 212/319-1300). Norwegian Costal Voyages (tel. 800/334-6544; www.cruisenorway.com).

Best Time to Go: Summer June-July, when the sun barely sets.

What: Crisscrossing Lake Como
Who: All ages
Where: Como, Italy

Back and forth we went, trying to decide which of northern Italy's romantic lakes to visit: Garda? Maggiore? Como? We finally chose Lake Como because it's the smallest, only 4km (2½ miles) across at its widest point, with the far shore always visible, and therefore easier for our toddler son to scope out. (It's also closest to Milan, about 48km/30 miles away). I've heard the other two are spectacular, but I don't see how they could out-enchant Lake Como, its shimmering deep-blue waters bordered with flowery gardens and aristocratic villas of soft golden stone. And even though we had a rental car, we soon realized the best way to enjoy Lake Como is to crisscross it on ferries, sitting in the balmy open air with other travelers instead of enclosed in a steel cocoon.

Lake Como is incredibly long and skinny, with its most charming towns clustered mid-lake. Starting from the town of Como at the southwest tip, we headed north along the western shore 5km (3 miles) to Cernobbio, a chic haven dominated by the celebrated Villa d'Este (see the hotel recommendation below), originally built in the 16th century. After a stroll in its lush gardens, it was north another half-hour to Tremezzo, where the landscaping is surprisingly tropical -- citrus trees, palms, cypresses, and magnolias -- and as we stood on its panoramic lakeshore we felt our urban anxieties begin to dissolve. Leaving the car behind, we hopped a ferry to Bellagio, a tony resort town as gracious as its Vegas namesake is garish. Clinging to a promontory at the lake's fork, Bellagio has steep cobblestone streets to climb, as well as arcaded shops, smart cafes, and a blossoming lakeside promenade.

Our next ferry took us to picturesque Varenna, which still has a certain fishing-village quaintness despite a stock of resort hotels. Here we investigated Italy's shortest river, the Fiumelatte, a mere 250m (820 ft.) long. It only appears in summer, rushing frothy and milk-white down a rock face to crash into the lake. Leonardo da Vinci once tried to determine the water's source, but neither he -- nor anyone else -- has ever found it. We boarded another ferry (by this time it was like a game to our son) and crossed back west to Cadenabbia to see 19th-century Villa Carlotta (tel. 0344-40405), or at least its gardens, with exotic flowers and banks of rhododendrons and azaleas. (There's a fine art museum, too, but we had a toddler to amuse.) A mile south and we were back at Tremezzo to reclaim our car.

Lake Como is definitely a summertime destination -- the boat service operates only Easter to September, and many hotels close November to March. But under a blue sky, when the sun shines and the flowers bloom, it's like heaven on earth.

Location & information: Società Navigazione Lago di Como, Lungo Lario (tel. 031-304060 or 031-579211). Como tourist office, Piazza Cavour 17 (tel. 031-269712; www.lakecomo.org).

What: Gliding down the Danube: From Vienna to Budapest in Style
Who: All ages
Where: Vienna, Austria, to Budapest, Hungary

Vienna and Budapest are two of Europe's most romantic cities, and two of my personal favorites, so the idea of linking them with a boat trip up the beautiful blue Danube was impossible to resist. Though the Danube doesn't have the majestic Wagnerian chasms and castles of the Rhine, I love the way it waltzes sweetly through green forests and farmlands, through eastern Austria, past Bratislava and along the Slovakia/Hungary border, and then down through the lush Hungarian lowlands. The water may be more brown than blue these days, but the Danube is still beautiful.

Vienna and Budapest make a natural pairing: Both have a 19th-century look and pace, great for strolling aimlessly, lingering in coffeehouses (where the pastries are fabulous!), and listening to schmaltzy music. Their grandest churches are both dedicated to St. Stephen -- Vienna's Gothic Domkirche St. Stephan and Budapest's domed St. Stephen's Basilica. Vienna has the Prater (home of the Ferris Wheel ); Budapest, the zoo and amusement rides in City Park. Budapest has medieval Buda Palace, Vienna the baroque Habsburg palace of Schönbrunn. Budapest still bears traces of its years under Communist rule, but less so than other former Iron Curtain capitals.

River steamers make a day of this journey, leaving Vienna at 6am and making stops in Komaron, site of a famous Austro-Hungarian fortress, and Esztergom, with its massive neoclassical cathedral. You'll arrive in Budapest late that night, ready to find your hotel and set off sightseeing the next morning. To make a round-trip in 1 day, you can travel via hydrofoil, which takes only 5½ hours to get from Vienna to Budapest or vice versa; you can opt to take the train back that night, which gives you an extra 3 hours for sightseeing in Budapest. There are three downsides to the hydrofoil option: The spray raised by the boat's jets obscures some details of the scenery, there are no sightseeing stops along the way, and it runs only April through October. But still.

Another (considerably cheaper) option is just to do the Hungarian section of the river, departing from and returning to Budapest. This particularly scenic stretch of the river, called the Danube Bend, is overlooked by tall forested hills; there's a dramatic horseshoe bend at Visegrád, known as the Elbow of the Danube, and stops can be made at several charming riverside towns. Leisurely boat rides up the Danube bend are run April through September by MAHART, the state shipping company (tel. 1/318-1704; www.mahartpassnave.hu). From Budapest to Esztergom takes 5 hours.

Location & information: DDSG Blue Danube Shipping Co., Friedrichstrasse 7, Vienna (tel. 01/588800; www.ddsg-blue-danube.at).

What: Riverboating up the Amazon: Songs of the Rainforest
Who: Ages 8 & up
Where: from Manaus, Brazil

If your kids are like mine, they've raised money in school for saving the rainforest -- but do they really know what it is that they're saving? Before they grow up, at least once they should encounter the world's biggest forest, this amazing tropical wilderness that accompanies the world's largest river on its mighty course through Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean. Indeed it is endangered, indeed we ought to save it -- and, properly inspired, your children and mine can do it.

Thanks to the rise in eco-tourism, rainforest outings are much more accessible than they used to be. The usual starting point for visiting the Amazon basin is Manaus, the largest city in the region, located on the shores of the Rio Negro. Numerous operators run boat trips out of Manaus, usually on a double-decked riverboat that serves as your home base. These package tours generally include certain common elements: nature-spotting excursions in canoes up the smaller channels, sunset and sunrise tours, wildlife-watching walks under the leafy canopy of the rainforest, caiman spotting, piranha fishing, and a visit to a caboclo (river peasant) settlement with houses built on stilts. But when you're not on an excursion, you're moving on the wide brown river, its green shores slipping away to either side. There is always something to see, even if it's just the vastness of the river itself. Viverde (tel. 092/248-9988; www.viverde.com.br), a local travel company, handles a range of tours; Amazon Clipper Cruises (tel. 092/656-1246; www.amazonclipper.com.br) has three old-style Amazon riverboats which make regular 3- and 4-day trips.

The most amazing thing to see around Manaus is the Meeting of the Waters (Encontra das Aguas), where the dark, slow waters of the Rio Negro meet the fast, muddy brown waters of the Rio Solimões. Because of differences in velocity, temperature, and salinity, the two rivers don't immediately blend but carry on side by side for miles. If the boat trip you're signed up for doesn't pass through this phenomenal juncture, try booking a flight-seeing tour over it -- and actually, come to think of it, that's the best way to see how its contrasting colors gradually mix and mingle, from up on high.

Location & information: Manaus Tourist Center Tourist Service Center (tel. 092 3231-1998; www.amazonastur.am.gov.br).

This article is an excerpt from 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up, available in our Online Bookstore now. Author Holly Hughes has traveled the globe as an editor and writer -- she's the former executive editor of Fodor's Travel Publications, the series editor of Frommer's Irreverent Guides, and author of Frommer's New York City with Kids. She's also written fiction for middle graders and edits the annual Best Food Writing anthology. New York City makes a convenient jumping-off place for her travels with her three children and husband.

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