canal barge cruising in France

I don't have any experience with a barge cruise, but on our recent trip we stayed in Tanlay right along the Canal de Bougogne, and saw several small cruise barges docked there, including one whose owners we met. There's a lot of info about Burgundy canal cruising on this site: http://www.burgundy-canal.com/

I know a couple of people who have done different cruises on the canals and loved them. Choices of staying on the boat and lazing, riding a bike or hiking the towpath, so each day is somewhat varied. Also fun helping open and closing locks. Apparently food was excellent as was the wine. The boats varied in size, one was just two couples plus crew, the other was a single lady in a group of 8. Her only comment was that she wished she had chosen the Canal du Midi as she went in October and it was rather cool further north.

Ours was small (8 passengers) but definitely luxury. We booked through The Barge Lady - her website lists the various boats and crews. Again, we were a wonderful "luxury" cruise and our host had rented the whole boat so it was 8 people who knew one another. If the price gives you sticker shock I'll tell you that it did include absolutely everything except for tipping the crew and buying souvenirs. This meant incredible meals cooked by our own chef as well as dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant, different wines each day that were so much better (and much more expensive) that what we'd drink on our own, a touring itinerary that we customized for our group, and of course the biking and walking along the canal. We did Burgundy, near Dijon - trip also includes pickup and drop off in Paris. You'll see our pictures when you look under the boat Prosperite. It was such a wonderful trip that we're putting together another trip of our own to do it all again!