River barges in France

I asked this same question a year ago - it seemed that there were no inexpensive ones. In Germany, there are the KD cruises, etc, which you can take cheaply. But I would be interested if there's been improvement in this topic since a year ago.

Yes, Shelley, I'm hoping there will be some new information. Belmond cruises which I contacted are quite expensive.

Are you looking for the self-drive barges or a barge with a crew?

Looking for a barge with crew.

Our neighbor was on a barge in France with 4 other couples that had a captain and a chef. It has to be expensive when you can only spread the costs across ten people. The self drive are cheaper by comparison. You might be able to rent a row boat but it is hard to sleep in row boat especially if it is raining. Now sure you are being realistic.

A barge with a crew is going to be expensive. Your rental charge has to pay the wages of the crew members in addition to the built-in cost of boat maintenance, wear & tear, depreciation. It's like the difference between taking classes at the gym vs. hiring a personal trainer.

I have located a river barge company called Barge Lady Cruises which offers week cruises on rivers starting at $3500 per person if anyone is interested. Surprised no one else knew of these.

I knew of them and several others. Your question asks for "not too expensive". Starting at $7,000 a couple for a week is too expensive for me.

How were we to know that that was within your budget? I work that out at $500 a person per night. Out of my league.

Does the $3500 per person (starting at!) include food and wine?

Most of these are quite expensive, too. Only the 3-star claim to be 3,500, but if you click on those, only two are in the price range. Three star is their lowest category as Barge Lady rates its barges up to six stars.

I believe the 3500 includes food and wine.

Google "Barge Johanna" They have 3 cabins and the cost per week is GBPs 2375.00 for the barge
irrespective of the number of people.
Sounds ideal for 2 or 3 couples.

Steve - That rate is for self-catering.

I have been trying to find a river barge in my price range for years with no luck. It could be that they're all too dear for the likes of me.

I am sorry I should have mentioned it was self-catering in my original post. For those that find an all-inclusive river barge trip too expensive this is another option. I think it would be fun to shop for supplies in all those quaint French villages and towns.

This might be more expensive than you're looking for, but 10 years ago I did a river cruise in Provence on UniWorld. They have multiple cruises in France.. www.uniworld.com

Nancy, We (2 couples) did Canal du Midi two September's ago. We rented a houseboat from LocaBoat Holidays. We rented a Penichette 1106, which was a little to small for us. My wife and I wound up lowering the kitchen table and sleeping on that bed each night versus the bunk beds. We went for 10 days, which was to long. Suggest 6 or 7 days. We went from Negra to Argens. We would recommend the upper part toward Argens. Once we figured out how to run the boat, It was pretty simple. All the canal boats are wrapped in "bumpers", as most drivers are duffers. That is part of the fun! Almost all the locks were "staffed", generally with grumpy lockkeepers. We would give a small tip to the pleasant ones. I would also suggest going one way. The boat company can help you get back to point A.
Strongly recommend you get a boat with a "flying bridge" or upper deck, so you are up higher for sightseeing, navigating and getting a cooler breeze.
Good luck

Compay, thanks for the tips! A self catering barge trip is on my bucket list....next year is a milestone birthday, so I just may take the plunge! (haha no pun intended). I have read that you are situated below the ground level on some of the canals, so you should have a boat that has seating "up top" for those breezes and views you mention...something to keep in mind!

Confusion reigns here. First of all the barges for tourists travel the canals, not the rivers. These carry from two to twelve people. Riverboats travel the rivers and some hold 100+ passengers. These are very different kinds of trips on very different kinds of waterways.
Second, on the canals, you can get do-everything-yourself houseboats to luxury cruises on converted barges with cooks, stewards, guides.

It’s not quite so clear cut. My husband & I spent a week on a DIY barge, just the two of us, on the beautiful River Baise in southern France. We transited to & from the river on a canal.

Charlene, can you share which boat company you used and the route - was it one way or round trip? Were you satisfied, would you do this again? Thanks!

We used Locaboat and rented a Penichette, which was fine except it had no outdoor seating area. Locaboat may have other models, or check out a company called Le Boat.

We did a one week round trip starting in Agen in the Garonne Canal & turning on to the River Baise. We would absolutely do it again. We did like the river more than the canal ... green, quiet, lovely.

Apologies to Nancy for going off her topic. I know you will both have a wonderful experience!