A question to help me finalize our plans for our trip in October. When I watched Rick's Burgundy episode I saw him taking a canal cruise that appeared to be only for the day but just cannot find anything in his book about it. I've also seen websites for canal barge cruises in Burgundy that are for multiple days. Has anyone been on one that is perhaps for just 1/2 a day or so? If anyone has been on one, can you recommend a company that does this type of short cruise?
Posted by
Panguitch, Utah
2703 posts
It takes 1/2 day just to check out, complete a briefing, and provision a boat. The absolute shortest period I might consider would be 7 days but some companies have offered 3-day weekend trips.
There are companies offering 1/2 day excursions on the Canal du Midi or the Canal du Rhône à Sète but I am not familiar with any on the Burgundy canals.
Posted by
big blue marble
427 posts
Les Canalous rent boats in Digoin in Bourgogne along the Canal du Centre and a few other canals. They have other locations throughout France and adjacent countries.
I don't believe they would do hourly rentals but they do weekend rentals and "mini semaine" (mini week, which I presume is a partial week) rental. You can even take your rental boat on a pont canal (a canal on a bridge) over the Loire River in Digoin.
Nicols is another option, but, again, it's a minimum weekend or mini-semaine.
Posted by
Vancouver, Washington
298 posts
Both Canalous and Nicols are self hire/self driving canal boat outfits. I highly recommend Nicols. I believe you are looking for an all inclusive canal boat journey which I don’t have a recommendation for.
The Burgundy area of canals including the Burgundy, Nivernais, Yonne and Loire lateral have been heavily affected by the drought and high temperatures. Much of the canal network in the area is closed due to low water levels and heavy algae blooms causing aquatic plants to take over and making the canals unnavigable. As a result, many companies have shifted their canal cruise ports.