Ask Joan: Europe by river, Bordeaux for wine lovers, fun in the snow

My wife and I want to travel the rivers of Europe, but the cruises all seem OTT to us, with food and gourmet offers. We want, turning 60, to travel with rucksacks as in our 20s, independently and favouring local options. Is this possible to do on the Rhine, Danube or the great rivers in France? Travel on the river from city to city by day, staying locally at night, getting back on again as you would on a train? – DD, Derry You can still be rucksack-carrying travellers on the Rhine, Main and Moselle rivers with K-D Koln Dusseldorfer Lines, k-d.com. This fleet of boats operates all along the rivers providing daily services to both small towns and bigger cities.

You can get on and off as you please, stopping wherever takes your fancy, staying a night or two, and then hopping back on again. The route from Rudesheim north to Koblenz will take you through the most picturesque part of the Rhine, the upper middle section, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

There are more than 20 castles and stately homes to see and, of course, the mystical Lorelei. Along the Moselle the journey takes you through vineyards and romantic villages of the Palatinate.

Accommodation along the river is reasonable. Small hotels will cost about €30-€50 per night and you can usually book as you go along. See, the Germany.travel website for more information.

The other rivers of Europe tend to be more focused on the all-inclusive river cruises and commercial traffic and do not offer the same opportunity to travel from place to place by boat.

My husband will be 50 next year and loves Bordeaux wines. I would like to organise a five-day trip with our eight-year-old daughter with a wine course and tasting activity for him. Where is a good place to stay? What family activities would you recommend in Bordeaux? Will we need to rent a car? – BM, Offaly Bordeaux is an ideal city to visit and you will not need a car. You can walk about easily or take the tram. The city of wine is perfect for your husband to enjoy his hobby. You will find a great variety of wine classes, tours and visits on bordeaux-tourisme.com.

The website also has a whole section devoted to things to do for families with children of all ages. The Mercure Hotels are a nice French group and will have rooms for three and prices from €82-€99 per night, mercure.com.

A group of friends aged 32-50 want to spend a week in an alpine destination in January or February. While we might try skiing one or two days, we would just like to stay in a chalet in a resort that has plenty to do, with some decent nightlife. – AC, Dublin Unless any of the group has skied before I would not recommend trying it: it is a sport that has to be learned from a qualified instructor. Or beforehand you could take lessons in the Ski Club of Ireland in Kilternan, skiclub.ie or Ski Ireland in Sandyford, skicentre.ie. Alpine ski resorts are one to three hours' transfer from airports.

Austria tends to have fun resorts and places like St Johann, Soll and Zell am See all have good nightlife and winter activities other than skiing. In France, Meribel is a good resort for nightlife and things to do with an ice rink and large indoor leisure centre.

The main tour operators from Ireland for ski are Topflight.ie, Crystalski.ie and Highlife.ie and they all have chalet accommodation.

Send your queries to jscales@irishtimes.com