Even if the Canal du Midi (near Toulouse) is the most famous river cruise in France, there are many more options to relax on a barge (called péniche) in one of the French rivers.

There are 113 nautical bases for river cruising, covering about 5,000 miles of waterway. Most of them are located in the Eastern part of France. The South West is also very nice with the Lot or the Canal du Midi. We have tested for you the navigation on the Mayenne river, located near Angers in the Loire Valley.

 

This type of tourism is for travelers who want to go slow and enjoy life ; maybe around a glass of rosé wine with some cold cuts ; or taking a sunbath on the deck of a boat.

Your journey is about getting cooler in the river, passing locks and strolling villages along the way. At night, you’ll find a pontoon either in the nature or in a small river port.

Everything you need is onboard including a kitchen, a bathroom and bikes.

This is a really nice way to discover the French countryside!

France Just For You

Experts in self-drive tours in France

Travelers Reviews

5.0
Martina & Simon from the UK
A fantastic well-planned self-drive tour We had the most amazing time on our 6 week self-drive tour designed by Laura, travelling through Brittany, Loire, Dordogne, Medoc, Basque France, Languedoc, Provence, the Alps, Alsace and Champagne. This was a big trip for us and it was everything I’d hoped and dreamed and even more besides. All our …
Liz & Chris
A great team of Professional, Friendly people who really know France ! The team at France Just For you are Fantastic. From the first introductory email to the last farewell, they listened, planned, helped and crafted a brilliant trip around Bordeaux, Medoc and Dordogne. They responded immediately to questions as if we were the only people they had …
Annie & Rob from Australia
We had the most amazing holiday visiting all the wine regions in France fully arranged by France Just For You. Those ladies thought of everything….from parking & fuel station options to fabulous restaurants & patisseries, scenic walks & some of the prettiest villages, chateaus & gardens you’ll ever see. They also shared such a lot of history & fun …
Jan & Ray
We were overwhelmed by the wealth of information available when attempting to plan our 6 week self drive holiday in France. Never having been to France before we found the task daunting and sifting through forums full of information only confused us. We have traveled in New Zealand using a New Zealand based travel adviser and decided to look into …
Robert
From Bordeaux, Medoc wineries, Basque country of France and Spain, Carcassone, Dordogne, pre-historic caves, beautiful medieval towns and villages, switch-back mountain roads, sunshine, truffles, food & wine and gracious b&b hosts to final flight home, this was the trip of a lifetime! We drove over 3,200 kms with the help of our included gps and …
Candy
Wherever possible we prefer to travel on our own as opposed to going on a tour package. With France - Just For You, they arranged for a vehicle and booked us into a couple of lovely B&B’s and a great Boutique Hotel in Paris and booked a couple of activities that we were interested in. Besides that, they put together a book for us with everything we …