Nymphea is a classic Dutch style river barge with shallow draught.

She was built in 1921 to carry cargo along the canals of Europe and presently serves as a hotel barge in France.

Nymphea originally carried barley and hops from Rotterdam to a brewery in the northern part of the Netherlands and would return with bottles and barrels of beer, making one round trip per week.

She was the first hotel barge on the southern Canal du Nivernais and the River Seille.

In 2005, part of the Rick Stein's French Odyssey for the BBC was filmed on board.