Epic sagas and fairy-tale settings await in this part of the world, with its history of Viking conquests and its turret-topped castles. But the wonders of nature are just as grand: Iceland’s bubbling geothermal lava fields and ethereal blue lagoons; the pine-forest-flanked fjords of Norway; and skyscraping glaciers and neon-blue icebergs within the Arctic Circle. Cruising in Northern Europe unlocks elemental scenes like nowhere else. Time it right and you could even see a total solar eclipse (on an incredible 12-country voyage in 2026).

This region is also a crucible of culture and visiting in its midsummer – when days stretch to midnight in some parts – is magical. On our Northern Europe cruises, you can view Dutch Old Masters in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum and modern art in the Danish city of Aarhus; be inspired, as Shakespeare was, by the royal palaces in and around Copenhagen; marvel at the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings of mighty ship-building Gdansk in Poland; learn about the folkloric legends of Lithuania at places with Tolkien-esque names such as the Hill of the Witches and the Dead Dunes. Music is stitched into every experience in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, with medieval scores in a church and classical concerts in a national park; and Riga outmaneuvers Paris when it comes to Art Nouveau (the Latvian capital has 700 buildings in the sculptural style). You can even visit a museum dedicated to the pop group Abba in Stockholm – our luxury Baltic cruises tap into it all.

Steer a course further west to discover why Scotland’s late summer is the time to visit the Shetlands (the northernmost point of the UK), getting under the skin of island life on a traditional croft as farmers muster sheepdogs and wrangle shaggy-maned ponies. While the otherworldly Faroe isles offer hiking to a gravity-defying floating lake suspended over cliffs, and sailing right up to waterfalls and into grottoes. And, this being Europe, epicurean delights are never far away: from the cool café culture of Helsinki (Finns are the world’s top coffee drinkers) and creamy pints of Guinness with a view in Dublin, to a praline-making workshop in Belgium and an innovative food lab in dynamic Hamburg. Topping it all for bragging rights is a private Grand Cru wine tasting at one of the oldest châteaux in Bordeaux – a sample of France’s joie de vivre, which stretches south to its Mediterranean shores.