Here's #6 on my top ten list from Virtuoso Travel Week.
Sometimes the best appointments are the ones that aren't on your schedule. When I sat down for breakfast one morning, it turned out that the person seated immediately to my right was the representative for French Country Waterways … and we spoke informally for 15 or 20 minutes while having breakfast. I was very impressed by the product.
I have previously enjoyed one barge trip in France. It was a very enjoyable experience, even for someone who doesn't like cruising. There were just twelve guests on the barge (6 cabins), and we became good friends while enjoying amazing meals. Barges travel very slowly; in fact, you can ride a bike on the path adjoining the canal and cycle faster than the barge. The advantage to barge cruising is that you can get to some smaller and lesser known destinations that you'd probably never reach any other way … and avoid all of the big ports that the big cruise ships visit.
What sets French Country Waterways apart is the stress on scenery. This was my own criticism of the former barge trip I took — the first 30 minutes were extremely scenic, but the rest of the trip was kinda … blah. But this Virtuoso company creates 6-night itineraries that emphasize gorgeous scenery and include all meals, estate bottled wines at lunch and dinner, and alcoholic beverages. The company has four ships that explore Burgundy-Cote d'Or, the Upper Loire Valley, Central Burgundy, and the Champagne region of France.
I would love to experience this!
copyright (c) 2014 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
epalantzas@fcwl.com
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