Cruise route map
Bases at Joigny, Corbigny and Dompierre sur Besbre
As you follow the valley of the Yonne and the Canal du Nivernais, you are travelling through a landscape where at each bend or lock new vistas open up, often punctuated by the tower of some little-known but sublime Romanesque church.
Here, at superb restaurants in Joigny and Auxerre, food and fine Nivernais architecture complement each other like capon and a good Chablis.
Irancy, surrounded by vineyards, sleeps around its church which felicitously combines Gothic and Renaissance features.
The dramatic location of Châtel-Censoir, a pretty village with a 5th-century crypt and ancient church vies in splendour with the excursion to glorious Vézelay, its main street lined with medieval bouses and its magnificent Sainte-Madeleine basilica.
Friendly, bustling Clamecy retains its ancient dovecots.
The canal also makes the most of its verdant setting as it passes the Rochers de Saussois where, if rock- climbing is your thing, you can try your hand at scaling the crags.
One-week cruises from Joigny
- Joigny, Auxerre, Vermenton, Chatel-Censoir, Joigny
154 km; 68 locks; 5hr30 cruising per day - Joigny, Auxerre, Vermenton, Clamecy, Corbigny ONE WAY
128 km; 62 locks; 4hr45 cruising per day
10 or 11-day cruises
- Joigny, Auxerre, Chatel-Censoir, Clamecy, Joigny
194 km ; 86 locks ; 4hr45 cruising per day - Joigny, Villeneuve, Sens, Bray, Nogent sur Seine, Joigny
256 km; 48 locks; 4hr15 cruising per day
Three-week cruise
- Joigny, Sens, Montereau, Moret, Montargis, Briare, Sancerre, Nevers, Decize, Chatillon, Baye, Clamecy, Auxerre, Joigny CIRCLE
553 km; 214 locks; 5hr15 cruising per day
One-week cruises from Corbigny
- Corbigny, Tannay, Clamecy, Chatel-Censoir, Corbigny
108 km; 62 locks; 4hr15 cruising per day
10/11-day cruise
- Corbigny, Tanlay, Clamecy, Coulanges, Vermenton, Corbigny
158 km; 92 locks; 4h15 cruising per day
Two-week cruise
- Corbigny, Chatillon, Decize, Nevers, Sancerre, Corbigny
340 km; 168 locks; 6 hr cruising per day
One-week cruises from Dompierre sur Besbre
- Dompierre, Decize, Cercy, Chatillon en Bazois, Dompierre
170 km; 58 locks; 5hr cruising per day
Two-week cruises from Dompierre sur Besbre
- Dompierre, Decize, Chatillon en Bazois, La Collancelle, Clamecy, Auxerre, Joigny: ONE WAY
260 km; 129 locks; 4hr30 cruising per day
Locaboat rental boats for the Nivernais canal & River Yonne
There are 13 self-drive boats for the the Nivernais canal & River Yonne
