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
Robert
My wife and I completed a 3 week driving trip out of Bordeaux which was organized by France Just for You. The Bed and Breakfast accommodations were superb, the personalized guidebook comprehensive and well-organized, and the booked activities were high quality. Having the rental car booked for us was a major advantage (Don’t drive in France without …
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 …
Jennifer & Keith
Exceptional Trip to France We are posting this review with huge thanks to Laura and her colleagues. They planned a trip for us in June 2023 and created a perfect itinerary for our first time to France. We visited Paris, Burgundy, Provence and the Riviera. All accommodations were beautiful and their booking and recommendations for tours were …
Leslie & Family
Just returned from an amazing trip with our family, including 3 teenage boys. Emilie carefully listened to our request to focus on military history and arranged an itinerary with just the right balance of history, culture, art, and military history. We had incredible guides to Paris, WWI, and WWII sites plus unique B&Bs. So many memories!
Cynthia
We enjoy drive yourself travel and located Emilie's France Just For You online. How fortunate we were. In September and early October we traveled 17 days in Loire, Bordeaux, Dordogne, Carcassonne and Provence. All the accommodations were in historic B&Bs. Our hosts were invariably gracious and helpful. At every stop Emilie included a home cooked …
Kris & Kristina
Thank you so much Emilie for all your hard work on our anniversary trip to St. Emilion and the Loire Valley! We had such a great time and everything you planned for us was just perfect. Having traveled to Paris and Nice many times, this was our first time exploring the countryside and we had a blast. We cannot thank you enough for everything! Kris …