Journeys That Connect: Routes of Shared Heritage in the Danube Region

Over the past decades, cultural routes have gained increasing prominence within tourism offerings, responding to a growing demand for more meaningful and sustainable travel experiences. Unlike mass tourism concentrated in a single destination, cultural routes invite visitors on a slow and continuous journey, encouraging deeper engagement with places and local communities. They often combine physical activity with mental relaxation, offering travellers a more immersive and reflective way of discovering cultural heritage.

Cultural routes connect places, landscapes, and traditions that share a common historical, cultural, or symbolic theme. Beyond their tourism value, they play a significant role in preserving both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, promoting shared history, and protecting landscapes. At the same time, they generate important economic and social benefits by supporting local development, contributing to job creation, and strengthening community pride. By facilitating intercultural dialogue and fostering mutual understanding and tolerance, cultural routes also enhance social cohesion, particularly along cross-border routes where shared narratives reinforce regional cooperation.

Spanning 14 countries, the Danube river basin is characterised by a high density of national borders, making it one of Europe’s most diverse regions. At the same time, the region shares deep historical roots that have transcended centuries and remain visible today in its traditions, beliefs, and cultural expressions.

In line with its mission statement, “From a region of barriers to a region of flows,” the Danube Region Programme (DRP) supports, through its funded projects, the development of new cultural routes as well as the enhancement of existing ones. Through the routes they are developing – the Roman Legacy Route, which builds on shared Roman military, civil, and archaeological heritage; the Danube Wood(s) Route, linking forests, wood-based crafts, traditions, landscapes, and sustainable forestry heritage; the Culinary Trail Route, showcasing ethnic and local cuisines across the region; the Green and Mystical Danube Storytelling Route, focusing on legends, myths, storytelling, and intangible cultural heritage; and the Traditional Crafts Route, which integrates local traditions into innovative thematic tourism products and services - these initiatives reflect the richness and diversity of the region. 

The RomansWineDanube project builds on the Council of Europe–certified Roman Emperors and Danube Wine Route, which connects Roman heritage sites while showcasing the region’s wine traditions. The project aims to add high-value tourism products and solutions to the route, including collaborative governance models, innovative approaches to sub-destination development and management, and eco-friendly travel solutions.

In recognition of partners’ commitment to excellence and innovation in cultural route development, the RomansWineDanube project received the Cultural Routes Best Practice Award in the Research and Development category at the 13th Annual Forum of Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe in September 2024.

Cultural routes not only translate shared heritage into innovative, sustainable tourism experiences but they also strengthen local economies, encourage cooperation, and support a more inclusive and resilient regional identity, thus turning the Danube region from a line of division into a living corridor of cultural exchange.