The Rhine is surely the world's most cruised river and the full day spent sailing through the Middle Rhine's gorges between Rüdesheim and Koblenz is one of the chief reasons why. Cliffs and steep vineyards alternate with more gentle landscapes dotted with villages such as Boppard and Oberwesel, which still sports 16 medieval towers. Every other crag is topped by a castle, many restored in the 19th century in romantic fairytale style. At Koblenz, the Rhine meets the Moselle and supplies a final, fortress-topped landscape best admired from the 10-kilometre riverside promenade dotted with wine taverns. See www.romantic-germany.info and www.uniworld.com/au

DJERDAP GORGE, ROMANIA/SERBIA

Better known as the Iron Gate, this almost 130-kilometre stretch of limestone gorges forces the wide Danube River through the Carpathian Mountains; at points the constricted river is 80 metres deep. Near the Small Kazan Gorge, cliffs rear 300 metres and are little more than 30 metres from either side of your ship. The region is dotted with Neolithic art and Orthodox chapels, some clinging improbably (alongside the odd crumbling fortress) to toeholds right on the river's edge. The gorges mark the boundary between Serbia and Romania, with national parks on either side. See www.serbia.travel and www.scenic.com.au

THREE GORGES, CHINA

The Yangtze River's Three Gorges, celebrated for centuries in Chinese painting and poetry, are strung out along 250 kilometres and will have you on your ship's deck all day. Xiling Gorge is the longest and deepest, with 1200-metre cliffs on both sides. Wu Gorge is much narrower, almost oppressive, and twists between spectacular peaks. Qutang Gorge is short but dramatic, framed by strangely shaped mountains wreathed in mist. Passengers change on to smaller boats to venture into the Lesser Three Gorges along a Yangtze tributary near Wushan, which features limpid green waters and forest-draped cliffs frequented by monkeys. See www.cnto.org  and www.travelmarvel.com.au

COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE, US

Scenery on the whole Snake-Columbia river cruise in America's northwest is seldom short of magnificent but, just past the town of The Dalles (if you're heading downstream) the landscape buckles dramatically, bringing pine forests, greenery and the snow-capped Mt Hood volcano into view. The dam-controlled river is wide as a lake, on which locals windsurf at Stevenson. Above, the great waterfall-tumbled cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge looms. A shore excursion takes passengers to Chanticleer Point and Crown Point on top of the cliffs, providing the same spectacular scenery from an eagle's view angle. See www.traveloregon.com and www.americanqueensteamboatcompany.com

ELBE SANDSTONE MASSIF, GERMANY/CZECH REPUBLIC

As the Elbe River winds from Děčín in the Czech Republic to Pirna in eastern Germany it breaks through mountains in a series of sandstone gorges whose length may be compact, but whose rugged, weathered scenery is so otherworldly that it was used as a filming location for The Chronicles of Narnia series. Nicknamed 'Saxon Switzerland' and protected as national park, it features caves, rock pillars and chimneys, and cliff faces honeycombed by millennia of frost and wind. Bastei Rock provides a terrific panorama of the Elbe River below. See www.saechsische-schweiz.de  and www.vikingrivercruises.com.au

LES ANDELYS, FRANCE

The Seine River is for the most part a gentle, hairpin-bending river flanked by flat Normandy landscapes of cow-chewed fields and willow trees. But at the town of Les Andelys it briefly flows past pale limestone cliffs that bring three dimensions to the landscape. These barely qualify as gorges, yet provide one of river cruise's most delightful scenes. Fine villas stand along the river, chimneypots puff and, high above on a bluff, looms a ruined castle built by Richard the Lionheart. A stiff walk up to its battlements grants you one of the prettiest outlooks in France. See www.normandie-tourisme.fr and www.aptouring.com.au