7 days locally hosted
22 passenger hotel barge
Canal de la Marne au Rhin and Canal du Rhône au Rhin

A journey through Alsace, perhaps the most picturesque province in France, is a voyage of discoveries - of art and architecture, gourmet food and wine, history and heritage. The Vosges Mountains, dotted with turreted castles and picture-book villages with amazing displays of petunias and geraniums, make this a most memorable cruise.

Saturday, Paris / Boofzheim    D
Meeting point: 9.30am at the Hôtel Régina in Paris. Transportation is provided by 1st Class train to the Strasbourg meeting point. From the Strasbourg rail station coach transfer is provided everyone to the boat moored in the village of Boofsheim, 30 kilometres south of Strasbourg, close to the junction of the canal with the river Rhine. The crew offers welcome aboard "apéritifs" as the luggage is taken to your cabins. You have ample time to settle in before dinner.

Sunday, Boofzheim / Krafft    BLD
After breakfast we cruise on the Canal du Rhône au Rhin, a peaceful waterway that has seen little use since the building of the Grand Canal d’Alsace (the canalisation of the Rhine) in the nineteen-fifties. We moor during lunch at the village of Krafft from whence we take the coach to drive south to Colmar for a guided tour of the city centre with its magnificent medieval and Renaissance buildings, 13th century collegiate church, and the waterside "little Venice" area. There is free time to explore the city further, its shops and museums, particularly the Unterlinden museum. , This museum is famous for its collection of Renaissance art works and specifically for the masterpiece of Mathias Grünewald, "The Issenheim Altarpiece". Towards the end of the afternoon we head back northwards along the "Route des Vins", a small road running at the base of the foothills of the Vosges Mountains parallel to the Rhine through the famous vineyards of Alsace. We pass through several typical wine growing villages and make a short stop at the picturesque, medieval village of Riquewihr for a visit to a cellar to taste some local vintages before returning to the boat at Krafft.

Monday, Krafft / Waltenheim    BLD
We cast off early and cruise over breakfast and through the morning toward Strasbourg. During lunch we enter the heart of Strasbourg and pass through the commercial docks before leaving the city to the north. We pass the ultra modern buildings of the European Parliament. Here we will disembark for an afternoon guided walking tour of the principal sights of Strasbourg. The unique beauty of picturesque "petite France" riverside district is magnificent. The remarkable cathedral of Notre Dame, whose construction spread over five centuries from the Romanesque choir to the flamboyant gothic spire, is a highlight. Afterwards there is free time to explore this capital of Alsace, perhaps visit one of the museums, take advantage of the excellent shopping or just stroll through the cobbled streets of timbered houses before returning to the Lorraine at her mooring close by in the village of Waltenheim sur Zorn.

Tuesday, Waltenheim / Saverne    BLD
This morning we begin cruising after breakfast passing several typical Alsatian villages including Hochfelden, where ancient documents prove there was a brewery as early as 870 A.D. This tradition is continued to this day by the Meteor beer company. We stop for a sample before beginning lunch on board. A number of locks and the recently restored towpath give excellent opportunities for our guests to walk alongside the boat or maybe cycle into one of the villages to appreciate the produce of a local brewery in a "Bierstub". We moor in Saverne, an attractive, bustling town with a population of some ten thousand inhabitants. From our mooring we have an excellent view of the imposing red sandstone château built by the Rohan family during the eighteenth century. Saverne is a special place with typical Alsatian architecture and a narrow, winding main street. This is a perfect place for a delightful stroll before dinner.

Wednesday, Saverne / Niderviller    BLD
After breakfast we make a short drive to visit a unique crystal factory to see the most famous products of this area. Beautiful pieces of crystal are still individually blown and fashioned by hand. We join the boat a few kilometres further on and cruise over the border into Lorraine near the attractive village of Lutzelbourg. Here the canal follows the steep-sided, tree-lined valley of the river Zorn to the famous inclined plane of Arzwiller. Seventeen locks have been replaced by a counterbalanced hydrolic barge lift that hauls the Lorraine up nearly 150 feet to the summit level of the Marne to Rhine canal. Then we cruise through a cutting and two tunnels under the peak of the Vosges Mountains before mooring for the evening at a quiet spot near the village of Niderviller with it’s remarkable pottery works. Artisans have been producing figurines and fine tableware since the early eighteenth century in Nederviller..

Thursday, Niderviller / Gondrexange    BLD
We begin a morning along the summit pound, the highest section, of the Marne to Rhine canal. This section of some thirty kilometres with no locks passes through the regional park of Lorraine, a nature reserve with numerous lakes and vast areas of woodland. The canal then begins its descent towards the plain of Lorraine through a series of locks, the first of which was built in the nineteen-fifties to replace a flight of seven of the original early nineteenth century locks and has a drop of nearly fifty feet. This afternoon we will take the coach for a drive to Sarrebourg and visit the chapel of the Cordelieres where we can see the stained glass window created by Marc Chagall. We return to Lorraine for our farewell gala dinner.

Friday, Gondrexange / Paris B
Leave the Lorraine after breakfast and coach transfer to Saverne train station for return to Paris.

Note: The route is run in reverse on alternate weeks. Excursions/mooring places and the route may be modified due to unforeseen circumstances.