Hotel barge

This trend began in the 1960s and has now grown into a network of hotel barges operating on the canals and rivers of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.

The high standards of accommodation expected by American clients rapidly drove the levels of luxury hotel barges upwards.

In 1969, Richard Parsons teamed up with Guy Bardet, Martin Jacques and John Mathisen to launch Continental Waterways Ltd, a company that eventually ran 15 hotel barges in France.

In recent years, the market has seen significantly increased custom from British, Australian, New Zealander and Russian clients, equalling those from the United States, according to statistics maintained by Voies Navigables de France.

Today boats such as Prospérité Barge, as photographed above, tour the European canals and offer weekly charters to discerning travelers from around the globe.

The great majority of boats are to be found in France, but there are also hotel barges operating in Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.

The French 'Classic' routes (Burgundy, the Loire Valley and the Canal du Midi) are the busiest, with the most hotel barges, as well as an appreciable number of hire boats and private pleasure craft.

Many barges also provide excursions to visit local sights, for example vineyards, restaurants, artisan workshops, markets or castles, most according to a pre-arranged schedule and others according to the wishes and interests of guests.

Hotel barges have to comply with a number of legal requirements, including those in France being scrutinised by the Commission de Surveillance inspectorate.

[6] The barge has to have a qualified pilot in control that has the following credentials: The vessel itself will be certified for certain category of waterway, ranging from the straightforward to major rivers such as the Seine or Rhone to tidal coastal waters.

[citation needed] Some barges - particularly the smaller owner-operated ones - offer kosher, halal, vegetarian, vegan, zero starch or low carbohydrate diets.