The Danube flows through Budapest and is the longest river in the European Union. It runs about 2,850 kilometers from the Black Forest in Germany to the Black Sea, crossing or bordering ten countries. Budapest is divided by the river into Buda on the west bank and Pest on the east.
The Danube has long served as a commercial, cultural, and political route through central and southeastern Europe. Important cities along it include Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and Belgrade. The river’s drainage basin extends beyond the countries through which its main channel passes, reaching much of the continent.
The Danube’s delta on the Black Sea is one of Europe’s most important wetlands and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. The river is sometimes confused with the Rhine, which is also economically important but shorter and flows into the North Sea. The Danube’s name comes from an ancient Indo-European river-name tradition shared with several other European waterways.