Depending on the timing of your flights you may need to stay overnight somewhere before joining your hotel barge cruise, not least to recover from a weary journey and jet-lag.
Resting up overnight also ensures that you have time to relax and acclimatise, allowing you to make the most of your champagne welcome and your first evening on board your barge.
Booking a hotel is also a great way to secure a base from which to venture forth on sight-seeing tours away from your cruise route – there’s so much to see and do either before or after your experience afloat.
Here are some of the hotels that our barges pick up from – all tried and tested.
Hotel Barge Meeting Points | Pick-ups for selected hotel barges
In Burgundy
The Westminster Hotel, Paris:
Located in Paris’ central district, near the Place Vendôme and Opéra Garnier, this large hotel offers plntiful accommodation whichever direction you’re headed.
81 rooms
Meet in the hotel lobby for your pick-up for cruises aboard
L’Art de Vivre, cruising the Nivernais, at 2pm.
L’Impressionniste, cruising the lower section of the Canal de Bourgogne, at 2:30pm
La Belle Epoque, cruising the upper section on the Canal de Bourgogne, at 1:45pm
and Renaissance, cruising the Loire valley, at 2:15pm
The Mansart Hotel, Paris:
This relatively small boutique hotel is ideally located at the corner of Place Vendôme and the Rue des Capucines, a step or two away from the arts and business district in Paris and central for sight-seeing, being close to the metro station.
57 rooms
Meet here for your pick-up aboard barge Luciole, cruising the Nivernais, at 2:15pm
The Madison Hotel, Paris:
This beautiful large hotel is ocated in the auspicious Boulevard St Germain on the left bank this hotel is in easy reach of the famed Luxembourg gardens and all the sights of the Ile de Paris.
230 rooms
Meet here for your cruises aboard C’est la Vie luxury barge, cruising through various regions throughout the season. 3pm
In eastern France
The Regent Petite France Hotel, Strasbourg
A wonderful location in the central ‘Petite France’ area and just 5 minutes from the TGV train station and the waterways that surround the city. A wonderful welcome to Alsace.
Only 17 rooms.
This is the pick-up hotel for luxury barge Panache, when she cruises in Alsace, 4:15pm
In the southern region
Ile du Gua Suites, Narbonne
A very convenient canal-side location for exploring the southern coastal areas and Narbonne itself, this hotel has just 54 spacious suites.
Meet here for the pick-up for your cruise along the Canal du Midi aboard:
Enchante, 3:35pm or Narbonne TGV Train Station, 3:30pm
Anjodi, 3pm or Narbonne TGV Train Station, 2:45pm
The Pullman Toulouse
This large hotel lies just north-east of this pink city’s centre, handy for the TGV train station and the Canal du Midi itself.
125 rooms
This is the pick-up hotel for barge Rosa’s eastern Gascony route along the Canal de Garonne.
4pm
Intercontinental Bordeaux
Centrally located by the crescented riverside and close to the Miroir d’eau and the Place de la Bourse, this hotel has 130 rooms
This is the pick- hotel for barge Rosa’s western Bordeaux route along the Canal de Garonne if staying there the night prior to the cruise. 4pm
Otherwise, the meeting point is Bordeaux St Jean Train Station at 4.20pm
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All barges chartered for a private group can be picked-up from these hotels but can also be collected from hotels of their choice or airports in the above cities.
