Alsace-Lorraine

Alsace-Lorraine and the Ardennes

Bases at Lutzelbourg and Pont-a-Bar
Lutzelbourg: Canal de La Marne au Rhin, Canal de la Sarre, Moselle, Canal des Vosges

Our base at Lutzelbourg provides an Alsatian welcome, with its castle and its famous crystal workshops.
Whichever way you cruise, half-timbered houses gay with window- boxes, onion-domed church-towers, intricate wrought-ironwork and a hundred small details give the villages a festival air.

Wherever you stop, you'll find the food equally special: choucroute and charcuterie as well as mouthwatering plum and greengage tarts.
Cruising the Canal de la Sarre you pass mainly through woodland with the odd small town to tempt you with a restaurant meal.

At Sarreguemines, you'll be charmed by the hand-decorated pottery.
On your return, you'll travel on the boat lift at Arzwiller which replaces 17 locks.
Following the Marne-Rhine Canal, you pass through Saverne with its ducal palace and across the Alsatian plain to the heart of Strasbourg.
At Toul, a town fortified by Vauban and enjoying fine views over the loops of the river Moselle, you are entering Lorraine.
Its countryside is just as fine as its cities, of which Nancy and Metz are the high-points.

One-week cruises from Lutzelbourg

• Lutzelbourg, Saverne, Strasbourg, Lutzelbourg
  115 km; 60 locks; 4hr45 cruising per day
• Lutzelbourg, Arzviller, Dombasle, Nancy, Lutzelbourd
  188 km; 52 locks; 5hr30 cruising per day

10 or 11-day cruises

• Lutzelbourg, Arzviller, Sarreguemines, Sarrebruck, Lutzelbourg
  234 km; 72 locks; 4hr15 cruising per day

Two-week cruises

• Lutzelbourg, Arzviller, Sarreguemines, Sarrebruck, Lutzelbourg
  234 km; 72 locks; 3hr30 cruising per day
• Lutzelbourg, Arzviller, Dombasle, Nancy, Metz, Lutzelbourg
  303 km; 64 locks; 4hr30 cruising per day

Weekend cruise

• Lutzelbourg, Saverne, Arzviller- Lutzelbourg
  28 km; 26 locks; 5h15 cruising per day

Two or Three-week cruise

• Lutzelbourg, Arzviller, Sarreguemines, Sarrebruck, Luxembourg, Metz, Nancy,  Lutzelbourg
  454 km; 78 locks; 4 tunnels; 2 inclined planes;  3h45 cruising per day if cruising for 3 weeks

Pont-a-Bar : Canal de la Meuse, The Meuse, Canal des Ardennes, Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne

While the Canal de la Meuse takes you through the lush pastures and verdant countryside of Lorraine as far as Verdun, the River Meuse itself loops romantically into the tangled hills of the Ardennes whose forests act as a great lung for Europe.

Home of wild boar, roe-deer and some of France's rarest birds, the Ardennes forests also shelter in their protected wetlands such fancies as orchids and the fly-catching sundew.

At Sedan don't miss a visit to Europe's largest fortress, while you can discover all about marionettes at Charleville-Mezieres, the world capital of this art. If you decide to head for Belgium, you'll be struck by the very special character of the villages and towns of the Ardennes.

Protected by the mountainous terrain they have acted as a natural line of defence and have been scarcely touched by successive wars.
Close to Givet you can admire the ruins of Charlemont Castle, founded by Charles V.

The grand mountain scenery leads on to Namur and Dinant, perhaps the most lively and fascinating towns of the Belgian Ardennes.

One-week cruises from Pont-a-Bar

• Pont-a-Bar, Charleville, Mezieres, Revin, Fumay, Givet, Pont-a-Bar
  187 km; 42 locks; 5hr15 cruising per day
• Pont-a-Bar, Sedan, Mouzon, Verdun, Pont-a-Bar
  217 km; 46 locks; 5hr45 cruising per day

Two-week cruises

• Pont-a-Bar, Charleville, Mezieres, Fumay, Dinant, Namur, Pont-a-Bar
  286 km; 62 locks; 3hr45 cruising per day
• Pont-a-Bar, Sedan, Stenay, Verdun, Saint Mihiel, Pont-a Bar: 232 km; 50 locks, 4hr cruising per day

10/11- day cruise

• Pont-a-Bar, Charleville Mezieres, Fumay, Dinant, Pont-a-Bar
  232 km; 50 locks; 4hr cruising per day

Mini-week, 4-night cruise

• Pont-a-Bar, Charleville Mezieres, Fumay, Pont-a-Bar
  95 km; 24 locks; 6hr30 cruising per day

Waterways on this route

The Colmar Canal, The Marne lateral canal, The Marne-Rhine canal, The Meuse Canal, The Nancy junction canal,