2022 Tour code: CLV22
About the tour
Cruise serenely along the idyllic waterways of the Loire Valley and take in the historic towns and villages that have grown prosperous on the bounty of the region's world-class wine trade.
Highlights
What’s included
Itinerary
Our journey begins at our dedicated Departure Office in London St Pancras, where you meet your Tour Manager before boarding the Eurostar service to Paris. From here, transfer to your barge, The Deborah, at Briare. After meeting the crew, enjoy dinner on board, cruising through the Briare Aqueduct.
The aqueduct was once the longest navigable aqueduct in the world between 1896 and 2003 until the introduction of the Magdeburg Water Bridge. The Briare Aqueduct was originally designed to replace a river-level crossing as it was too susceptible to being flooded.
Additional information
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Reviews
4.2 / 5 · 15 reviews
A Bainbridge
Submitted 27/Sep
The food and drink onboard the barge, MS Deborah, was wonderful. The crew could not have been more helpful and our fellow passengers (13 total) were interesting and fun. The youngest was 66 and the oldest 91, which made the transfer in Paris interesting. The only down side was the Covid 19 testing and paperwork required to re-enter the UK which took up the whole of our last afternoon on the barge. What would have happened in the event of a positive PCR test on the penultimate day of the holiday, as required under the regulations at the time, nobody appeared to know.
Collected by Trustpilot
Mr P James
Submitted 22/Sep
Excellent value holiday with superb Croisi staff on the Peniche Great Rail Journeys were able to give us great support for both the journeys with a tremendous Tour Manager. Most important all the necessary Covid paper work was covered both by GRJ and Croisi to enable us to travel smoothly
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John Oakley
Submitted 22/Sep
As to be expected
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Mr M Taylor
Submitted 14 Jul 2019
The standard of accommodation, staff and food on the barge was outstanding. Nothing too much trouble and the team made the whole experience a first class holiday. However... the coach journey from Gard du Nord to meeting the barge took over 4.5 hrs. Just getting out of, and back into, Paris took over 2 hours. This was an extremely long and tiresome journey meaning that we didn't get to the barge until after 2030 hrs.
Collected by Great Rail Journeys
Mr J Taylor
Submitted 10 Aug 2018
I had an unfortunate experience on MS Deborah because I had an upset stomach and had to miss some of the meals and one of the trips. On the way back I had a bad fall en route from the coach to the Gare du Nord and, as I eventually discovered, I broke my left collar bone. The Tour Manager helped me enormously by arranging for a push chair to assist me to Eurostar and subsequently at St Pancras and Derby. I enjoyed the earlier part of the holiday and the company of fellow passengers.
Collected by Great Rail Journeys
Mrs E Reynolds
Submitted 10 Aug 2018
The time spent on the barge was excellent. Due to the heat we only went on one trip, to Sancerre, which was most enjoyable but we left the guide, when we reached the town square, and had a coffee. We gathered from fellow bargees that the other trips were good. Whilst the food was very good and masses, rather too much, of it we felt it lacked the sparkle of our trips on the Annacolouth. However, the reason we only gave it four stars was the complete mess up on our return to Paris. Despite walking the huge distance, from the coach to the station, as fast as we possibly could, and with an enourmous amount of help from fellow passengers and Eurostar staff, we only just reached Eurostar in time to take off. This has convinced us that we can no longer make this journey.
Collected by Great Rail Journeys
An all inclusive barge cruise through the scenic loire valley
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