Pick your region first. The barge follows.

The quiet one. Papillon cruises the Nivernais Canal past Auxerre and the Chablis vineyards, with a day trip to the hilltop basilica at Vezelay. Pick this region for crisp white wine, small villages, and calm water.

The wine heartland around Beaune, with cellar tastings and chateau visits most days. This region has the deepest bench of barges in our fleet, so charter dates are easiest to find here. If your group debates pinot noir at dinner, this is your week.

France’s warm south. The 17th-century Canal du Midi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, shaded by plane trees and sunny well into October. More barges cruise here than anywhere else in the fleet, and most weeks include a day inside the medieval walls of Carcassonne.

One thing, done at the source. Kir Royale cruises the River Marne through the champagne vineyards, with visits to the houses and cellars where the bottles you know are made.

C’est la Vie’s spring and fall route, through chateau country on the canals beside the Loire. The week’s big moment is the Briare aqueduct, where your barge crosses high above the river itself.

France’s Celtic corner, with granite towns and cider tastings where the vineyard stops would usually be. Nymphea cruises the Nantes a Brest canal between Redon and Josselin, mooring beneath Josselin’s chateau walls, and day trips can reach the coast for sea air.

Red wine country. Tango cruises out of the city of Bordeaux with tastings in Saint-Emilion and the Medoc. There is also a Grand Cru cruise option for the serious collector in your group.

The long one. Aurora runs 13 days between Brugge and Paris, the only cruise in our fleet with a great city at each end. Departures run in pairs, one in each direction.