![]() ![]() If you’re up for piloting yourself, you can hire a boat. A top purveyor in the field is Belmond, with its smaller boat, Allouette on the Canal du Midi, or larger ones like Fleur de Lys in Burgundy. Smaller luxury boats can have as few as two staterooms, with a maximum of four guests, which are perfect for friends or family who want a private boat. Levels can become quite luxe, with your own private chef and bespoke food, drink and day trips. what do they offer in the way of day trips and how customizable are they?.how many staterooms will there be (and thus people you may share with).whether there will be a skipper on board, and what other staff, like a cook or steward.Usually, companies, like Barge Lady Cruises, are brokers that then connect you to the outfit owning the boat or boats. Tips for canal travel in France How to book a French canal trip Other regional highlights include wines galore: from the wine-growing villages around Mâcon to Sancerre, which produce some of France's finest whites – taste tests abound. These days it's a sleepier place, but pretty châteaux and little-known Romanesque chapels still sit around almost every bend, hinting at Saône-et-Loire's long history and making this a delightful area for day trips. The Canal du Centre and some fabulous bike paths meander through Saône-et-Loire's forests and pastureland.ĭuring the region's medieval heyday it was home to the largest church in all of Christendom, the magnificent abbey of Cluny. Midway between Dijon and Lyon, Burgundy's southernmost département, Saône-et-Loire, is an inviting land of rolling green fields criss-crossed by hedgerows and dotted with indigenous Charolais beef cattle. ![]() They include the Canal du Centre, Canal latéral à la Loire, and the Canal de Briare. Loire Valley canalsĪ batch of bitty canals interlink between Burgundy and the châteaux-laden Loire Valley. You can also tour the vineyards – or simply stock the wines of the region – with Chablis being its reigning queen. Tucked into this verdant landscape are a pair of exceptional historical sites, the Cistercian abbey of Fontenay and the MuséoParc Alésia historical museum. West of Dijon, along and around the Canal de Bourgogne, the Pays d'Auxois is a rolling land of mustard fields, wooded hills and escarpments dotted with fortified hilltop towns, including Semur-en-Auxois. Highlights Include, of course, touring the regions’ magnificent vineyards and sampling the wines, as well as visiting cities like Dijon and Beaune. The spectacular 242km Canal de Bourgogne connects the river Saône in the south at Saint-Jean-de-Losne, with the river Yonne at Laroche-Migennes – which in turn connects to the Seine if you want to continue on to Paris. Burgundy's 1200km of placid waterways include the Rivers Yonne, Saône and Seille and a network of canals, including the Canal de Bourgogne, the Canal du Centre, the Canal Latéral à la Loire and the Canal du Nivernais, which are detailed below. Canal de BourgogneĬanal boating between Bourgogne vineyards really can’t be beat. Its crowning glory is the Unesco-listed Abbaye St-Pierre, a monumental abbey church. Another fascinating stop along the way is Moissac, a large riverside town, partly on an “island” formed between the Tarn and the Garonne Canal. Or, take a day trip from the boat to Sauternes for its sweet and white wines, or Roquefort, for its world-famous cheese. The Garonne then lets out to the Bay of Biscay just beyond wonderful Bordeaux, a jolly stop for its gorgeous architecture and wine aplenty. With 53 locks, this serene canal falls from the junction with the Canal du Midi at Toulouse to Castets-en-Dorthe at the Garonne river. The Unesco-listed Abbaye St-Pierre in Moissac is a must-see sight along the Garonne Canal © Alamy Stock Photo Canal de Garonne It’s also worth stopping at the Musée Canal du Midi in St-Ferréol, which explores the history of the waterway and the life of its chief engineer, Paul Riquet. You can stroll or pedal along the towpaths as you stop along the canal’s route, or visit its cities – Toulouse, Agde, Minerve, Béziers, Narbonne, Carcassonne and Sète. It’s a work of art as much as engineering, lined with stately plane trees, puttering houseboats and gorgeous riverside towns. Combined with the Canal de Garonne, it forms part of the Canal des Deux Mers (Canal of the Two Seas), which enables boats to travel all the way from the Atlantic (near Bordeaux) to the Mediterranean. Completed in 1681 at the behest of Louis XIV and classified as a World Heritage site since 1996, the canal was designed to provide a trading route between major French ports. Stretching for 241km between Toulouse and Sète, the Canal du Midi is one of the great waterways of southern France. A large barge cruising along the tree-lined Canal du Midi in the south of France © iStock / Getty Images Canal du Midi
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