Boating holidays in France - a guide to French rivers and canals

Twenty years ago, while navigable rivers in the UK and Holland were already saturated in parts by cabin cruisers, narrow boats, and other rivercraft, French rivers were largely deserted. And relatively speaking, that remains true to this day. As well as all its other tourist attractions and opportunities, France also offers an incredible array of opportunities for anyone looking for the calm and slow life of a holiday on the water. And what's more, there are opportunities for boating holidays virtually all over France, including on rivers that have been reopened to navigation in recent years.

The regions and waterway networks:

The most extensive network of waterways for boating holidays in France is in central eastern and northeastern France. Anyone who has visited Paris will have noticed how busy the Seine is, not just with barges, but also with tour boats and holiday cruisers. But Paris is just one important point on an extensive network of waterways stretching throughout the eastern regions of France.

River Yonne

To the north of Paris, the Seine is a busy waterway, connecting with France's main port of le Havre.
South of Paris, there is a major network of waterways open to pleasurecraft; as well as the rivers Seine, Marne and Yonne, there is a network of canals, once used to transport goods, connecting these rivers to other river basins, notably the Loire valley and the Saone, a tributary of the Rhone. The canals of central eastern France, notably the Canal de Bourgogne (Burgundy canal), the Loire Canal (Canal latéral de la Loire) , the Nivernais Canal and the Canal du Centre, form an interesting network linking the Loire, Seine and Saone valleys.

In Eastern France, a dense network of canals links the main rivers, many of which are navigable for many miles. The Saone and the Doubs rivers are particularly attractive, and also connected to the Rhine and to the Marne, allowing holidaymakers to discover the rural charm of regions such as Franche Comté and Lorraine, which are often well off the beaten track as far as traditional tourism is concerned.

In the south of France, there is one network of canals that is particularly famous, and that is the Canal des Deux Mers, which includes the Canal du Midi, linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. A UNESCO world heritage site, this is the oldest major operating canal system in the world, completed in 1681. It passes through southwest France, linking Bordeaux on the Garonne to Béziers and the Mediterranean coast of the Languedoc region, by way of attractive places such as the walled city of Carcassonne.

Dinner cruise on the ERdre

Western France offers a selection of disconnected navigable rivers - or, to be more precise, - navigable rivers that have disconnected sections or are only connected by way of the coast. Among popular waterways in western France are parts of the river Lot, the river Charente (over 150 navigable kilometers, up as far as Angoulême), or the Sèvre Niortaise. The lower reaches of the Loire are navigable, but the river is not a popular boating area. In the Loire valley, there are two popular boating areas. Firstly the Erdre (which meets the Loire at Nantes), and connects to Vilaine and the the Brittany waterway network; secondly the Sarthe / Oudon / Mayenne network, north of Angers.
The Brittany waterways network is centered on the small town of Redon, where the north south link, cutting right across Brittany from the Rance to the Vilaine, crosses the east-west link from Nantes to Lorient, by way of the still-existing section of the Britanny coastal canal. Contrary to information shown on certain maps and websites, this canal is no longer navigable from end to end.

Click this link for a map of the rivers of France.

Photos on this page. Top, the River Yonne at Auxerre (Photo Nikater, licence CC.), middle the Canal du Midi, bottom: dinner cruise on the Erdre, Photos About-France.com.

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Touring on France's rivers & canals

Holidaying on French waterways