Renaissance is a 130 ft long vessel which accommodates eight guests in a spacious hotel barge accommodation, and cruises along the canals of Briare and Loing, between historic regions of France Burgundy & LoireValley, on hour South of Paris
Cruise guests will enjoy the various sightseeing including vineyards (Sancerre), châteaux (Sully, Fontainebleau), Gothic churches, and typical local villages
This area features several excellent golf courses such as Augerville, Roncemay, Sully Sur Loire, Chateau de Vaugouard and the famous Tom Simpson design, Fontainebleau
Day 1
Sunday Paris to Montargis : Arrival - Guests are met at the designated meeting hotel in Paris at 2.30pm and transferred to the spacious Renaissance where a Champagne Welcome awaits you. Time to explore the pretty village of Montargis by foot or bicycle. Dinner aboard.
Day 2
Monday Montargis to Montcresson : Cruise through the Loire countryside with towpath cycling to Montcresson
Today is dedicated to Fontainebleau (Golf and Castle)
Fontainebleau golf course
Set in the heart of the most famous sandstone forest, Fontainebleau golf course is a real gem designed by Tom Simpson and has been ranked among the top ten courses in Continental Europe since 2001.
With its narrow and undulating fairways, surrounded on both sides by dense forest and numerous bunkers, this magnificent and peaceful course requires great accuracy.
The exceptional sandstone rocks are scattered throughout the course, especially on the 12th, a short par 5 where strategy will prevail over power. Each hole is separate from the others, providing an exceptional quietness and calm to golfers. In 1953, Ben Hogan played here for American soldiers.
Suggested Visit of Château de Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau castle has been kings of France’s castle for centuries.
The renaissance rooms which are unique in France have retained their decoration of frescoes and stucco created by Italian artists in the reigns of Francis I and Henry II. The State apartments of the sovereigns evoke the sumptuousness of the Court of France until the end of the 19th century.
The private apartment of Napoleon Bonaparte was converted from 1804 for the Emperor.
Return to the barge and enjoy a late evening cruise to Montbouy, before dinner aboard
Day 3
Tuesday Montcresson to Rogny Les Sept Ecluses : Morning cruise to historic Rogny and its 350 year old floodlit 7 lock-flight.
Today's visits :
Château de Guedelon
A team of fifty people (Quarriers, stone hewers, masons, carpenters ) have taken on an extraordinary feat to build a castle using the very same techniques and materials used in the Middle Ages. Work on the site began in 1997 and is scheduled to take 25 years to complete. Guédelon offers a unique opportunity to witness the different stages of a castle's construction with each phase being of interest in its own right.
The natural site in the middle of the forest will provide them with all the building material necessary: wood, water, stone, earth, sand and iron.
Alternatively we visit the Castle of Saint Fargeau which is 1000 years old. In 980, Héribert, Auxerre's bishop and biological son of King Hugues Capet, built this fortified hunting meeting place.
Dinner aboard.
Day 4
Wednesday Rogny Les Sept Ecluses to Gazonne: After a leisurely breakfast of fresh croissants, baguettes and assorted pastries golf at Domaine de Vaugouard Golf Course.
Vaugouard is a charming golf course designed in a beautiful site with forests and lakes surrounding a wonderful castle.This challenging course features a collection of interesting hurdles, natural water hazards with creeks at both first and 18th hole.
If the front nine are on a flat ground, the back nine are hilly and require accuracy and wisdom. Vaugouard is also renowned for the quality of its greens
Today’s cruise leads to La Gazonne a beautiful mooring surrounded by lakes and ponds with SeineRiver one side and the SaoneRiver the other side.
Dinner ashore at the Michelin Star restaurant Auberge des Templiers in Les Bezards.
Day 5
Thursday Gazonne to Briare: Today’s cruise to Briare and Gustave Eiffel’s magical aqueduct across the River Loire with walking and bicycling for those that wish to do so. We preview Friday’s crossing of this amazing 10,000 ton, 662 metre PontCanal which was completed in September 1896.
Today we visit Chateau de Sully sur Loire.
The castle originally belonged to Georges de la Trémoïlle, who infuriated Joan of Arc by encouraging the Dauphin to devote himself to idle hunting in the forests around Sully. After Joan's failure to liberate Paris 1430, de la Trémoïlle virtually imprisoned her in the castle. In the 18thC Voltaire, exiled from Paris, also spent time at the Château.
Alternatively we visit Gien, home of the Faience pottery and hunting museums and Chateau de Gien. Dinner aboard.
Day 6
Friday Briare to Chatillon sur Loire : Today wander around fruit and vegetable, seafood, cheese and French fashion stalls in the market in Briare and then a short cruise across the aqueduct.
Briare, the Brivodorum of the Romans, is situated at the extremity of the BriareCanal, which unites the Loire and its lateral canal with the Loing and so with the Seine. The lateral canal of the Loire crosses the Loire near Briare by the Briare aqueduct 720 yards in length.
Golf today will be at Domaine de Roncemay golf course.
Designed in 1989 by Jean Garaialde and Jeremy Pern Roncemay Golf Course is beautiful layout (6,270m ) meandering in a great forest of old oak trees, hedges and silver birches, skirting 5 lakes and then opening onto a vast plateau modeled and coloured like links courses.This wonderful 18 hole course respects the lovely aspects of nature through which it winds. It is varied and demands all types of golf shots. It is a selective golf course, but it can be played by any level of golfer, and putting on the subtly modeled greens is particularly challenging.
Then visit to a family-run vineyard in Sancerre Henri Bourgeois. This medieval hilltop village overlooks a vibrant and pulsating region which has known viticulture since Roman times.
Captain’s Farewell Dinner aboard.
Day 7
Saturday Chatillon sur Loire to Paris : After breakfast (9.00 / 9.30 am) transfer back to the defined point in Paris.
Cruise map
Prices indicated are in euros, per person, based on double occupancy.
Regular season
Low season
Individuals
4790€
4130€
Charter 8 persons
4570€
3890€
For a group of 8 persons, Barge can be chartered for the group.
Low season : April 01, 08, 15, 22, 29, July 15, 22, 29, August 05, 12, 19, October 07, 14, 21, 28,
Regular season : May 06, 13, 20, 27, June 03, 10, 17, 24, July 01, 08, August 26, September 02, 09, 16, 23, 30,
Including :
* Lodging in a twin bedded or double room
* Daily buffet breakfast
* 3 rounds of golf with pre-booking of tee times
* Chauffeur driven service for ground transportation during the cruise (golf, excursions for non golfers)
