Thinking of taking a barge vacation in France. Has anyone every done this and any suggestions would be helpful.

My friends and I did this in June, 2002. There were 14 of us. We "bare boated". No crew. We all "crewed" the boats. We rented 2 beautiful, useful, big galley, 2 full bathed, barges from Crowne Blue LInes. We chose the Cote d'Or canals to explore and eat and drink.
And, there are crewed barges available. Floating hotels in a manner of speaking. Which do you want to do?

Hi loon-

If you type "France Barge" in the search box above, you'll find lots of old (and recent) threads on that subject.

We used France Cruises (www.francecruises.com) last july and were delighted with their services...They do not do "self drive" though...crewed barges only.

I did a barge trip last year on the Canal du Midi (southeastern France) run by European Waterways. Wonderful! Four double cabins, 4 crew members including a gourmet chef. Most relaxing trip I have ever taken!

Friends of mine did a one-week barge cruise (all services provided) from
Uniworld, Lyon to Nice (or Marseille, I forget which.) They liked it very much.