Alsace Canal
A barge cruise through the rural heart of Alsace. Taking to the water with a maximum of twenty guests, the MS Péniche Madeleine boasts air-conditioned cabins, an elegant dining room, lounge bar, sun deck and terrace, with bicycles for guests’ use when the vessel is moored. As relaxing and refreshing as the landscape it traverses, the barge begins its travels in charismatic Strasbourg, where a small boat cruise lets you see the city by night. Between here and journey’s end, land-based highlights include dinner ashore in canal-side Waltenheim, sightseeing amid the half-timbered houses of Saverne and the nearby Chateau Haut Barr, and climbing the hill to Lutzelbourg’s castle in the Zorn Valley. From here, the canal itself is the star as the barge navigates two tunnels, the unique and ingenious Arzviller Inclined Plane boat lift, replacing a series of 17 locks, and the huge Réchicourt lock; then sails through the lakes to Sarrebourg, to view Chagall’s stained-glass windows, before a gala dinner in its final mooring at charming Lagarde.
May 15. Jun 12. Sep 18 - 6 nights
Champagne
A cruise is aboard the Péniche Déborah, each spacious vessel complete with stylish lounge bar and dining room, sun deck and jacuzzi terrace, and ten well-equipped cabins. The meandering Canal de la Marne teams the tranquillity of its rural journey with the taste of the best Champagnes, and tours of historic towns, on a route from proud landmarks in the heart of Paris to prestigious Champagne houses in Épernay. Constructed in the mid-19th century, it is a delightful fusion of form and function, its first port the ancient city of Lagny-sur-Marne, focused on an abbey and a Jeanne d’Arc legend. Majestic façades meet the water’s edge at Meaux, famed for its episcopal status and for its Brie cheese; while grandeur gives way to a gentler tempo in the tiny rural town of Saint-Jean-les-Deux-Jumeaux and amid the charming streets of Chateau-Thierry, nestled beneath sun-soaked vineyard slopes. Monuments in Dormans mark its cultural heritage; Hautvillers, ‘the Pearl of Champagne’, feeds body and soul with the wines and abbey of Benedictine monk Dom Perignon; and regal Reims trumpets a thousand years of history in a feast of Gothic glory.
May 29 , September 18 - 6 nights
Provence
The exclusive MS Péniche Anne-Marie has just ten air-conditioned cabins, an elegant dining room, lounge bar, and sun terrace with jacuzzi, and carries bicycles for guests’ use when the vessel is moored. The 60-mile tour of tranquillity floats from herb-scented hills to medieval towns and Mediterranean beaches along the Canal du Rhône à Sète, a unique waterway which is mostly straight, almost totally at or near sea level and, in parts, parallel with the shore. Beginning on the banks of the Rhône, among the Roman relics of Van Gogh’s old home of Arles, the journey’s westward run leads to the wine cellars of Gallician; the imposing fortified town of Aigues-Mortes, in the heart of the marshlands; through the Camargue to the 7km of sandy beaches at seaside Villeneue les Maguelone; to journey’s end at captivating Sète, criss-crossed with canals; from where we visit the oyster farms of Étang de Thau, and the pilgrimage village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. With excursions enroute, to Pont du Gard, Nîmes, and Montpellier, we conclude with a sightseeing tour in Avignon on the last day.
May 8 , June 19 , September 25 - 6 nights
Burgundy
The six-night cruise starts amid the grandeur of Dijon, replete with Gothic and Renaissance architecture; and floats through Burgundy vineyards and beautiful villages, soporific scenery and charismatic cities, to its final port of call at unhurried, uncrowded, undilutedly French Besançon. Between the two, your cruise is aboard the Péniche Danièle, where high standards of service, comfort, and cuisine complement ten well-appointed cabins, a stylish lounge bar and dining room, a sun deck and jacuzzi terrace. Its effortless journey encapsulates the character of Bourgogne, includes wine tasting on the Grand Crus route, and encompasses the ancient and intriguing village of Petit-Ouges; the country’s ‘capital of canal barging’, Saint-Jean-de-Losne; the jumble of juxtaposed eras and architecture in the hillside city of Dole; and the Saline Royale, where precision geometry meets practical purpose.
- 6 nights
Douro
Royal Barge experience. The MV Spirit of Chartwell carried Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the Thames in 2012. Now this elegant and sophisticated little ship carries a maximum of just thirty guests along the Douro, its sun deck a perfect viewing platform for the river’s remarkable scenery. As it flows through a 2,000 year legacy of winemaking, the river meanders around the sun-soaked slopes of its famous valley vineyards, from which, in times gone by, flat-bottom boats would brave the rapids to carry the wine to the river mouth. Now tamed and shelved with five dams and locks, it is a serene journey from the port wine cellars, bell towers and beaux-art buildings of Porto, to the uppermost Portuguese port on the river, Barca d’Alva, its sleepy quayside lining a lazy bend in the river. In between, we sail beneath the Douro’s seven bridges, cross the Carrapatelo, the highest of the dams, float through super-scenic UNESCO listed landscapes, and go ashore to medieval villages, the Mateus Manor House, port wine tasting at a Quinta, and Lamego’s Moorish castle, museum and holy shrine.
May 9 , June 6, June 20, October 10, October 17
