In the houseboat on the Saone in Franche Comté

Burgundy holiday with the houseboat on the Saone

We are travelling on a houseboat on the Saone. You can no longer call us houseboat newbies. This time, on our Burgundy holiday, we are travelling for six days and five nights on a houseboat on the Saone in Franche Comté in FranceThe tourism authority invited us to a research trip for our travel blog We rent the houseboat on the Saône. Here you will find our tips for a houseboat holiday in Burgundy.

 

Discover France on a houseboat holiday

Our houseboat experiences extend far beyond the Saône. On a Tour on the Mayenne In the Pays-de-la-Loire we quickly noticed that rivers can also have their pitfalls. The currents were much stronger than expected and steering the boat required our full attention. But it was precisely this challenge that made the trip so special - every bend in the river felt like a little adventure. Despite this, we explored France in a houseboat without a license.

In the Netherlands we spent a night on a houseboat, which really surprised us. We hardly expected that there could be so much space for guests in a houseboat! The Dutch construction creates a homely atmosphere that is ideal for families or groups of friends. These experiences showed us how versatile houseboats can be - sometimes adventurous, sometimes as comfortable as a small home.

 

 

Enjoy a Burgundy trip by houseboat on the Saône

Not everyone thinks of discovering this region of France on the water when they go on holiday in Burgundy. We discovered how nice it is to travel around Burgundy in a houseboat on our houseboat tour on the Saone.

 

 

Our houseboat France tips on the Saône

Start of our tour with the houseboat on the Saone is the Small town of Gray about 50 minutes northwest of Besancon in France. From Munich it takes about six and a half hours by car. We leave shortly after six in the morning and arrive at 14.00 in the afternoon. So we have enough time to do the paperwork and buy groceries for the week before getting our houseboat.

 

 

This is what a holiday with a houseboat on the Saône is like

The houseboat is a popular alternative to boating. Here we explain what a houseboat tour on the Saone is all about. If you want to do a tour with the houseboat, then you should find out beforehand about the advantages and disadvantages of a houseboat.

Shopping and restaurants

Already last year, we have the experience that there are only a few ways to replenish your supplies. There are places on the Saone that we can visit. But there are limited shopping. Unlike on the Mayenne, we can always stop for a cup of coffee or a drink on this tour. We tried on this tour for the first time a Diabolo Orangeade and Diabolo Citron. We cooked every day in our galley on board the Magnifique. Because not always there were restaurants directly at the moorings or marinas. So our evenings were relaxed and good conversation. Enjoying a glass of wine, where we could watch the sun in peace as it set on the horizon.

Moorings for our houseboat on the Saône

Unlike on the Mayenne, we could dock on the Saone River all over the shore. For this we had steel nails on board, which we simply hammered into the bank. We attached our houseboat to it and were thus independent of jetties. Especially for breaks on the way and walks, swimming breaks or bike rides, this was convenient. Because that's how we were able to invest in all places that appealed to us. (However, the plank could have been a bit wider on which we climbed the shore, which was sometimes a shaky affair.)

 

 

Electricity and water on the houseboat on the Saône

Since we had to recharge our batteries and cell phones as a travel blogger, we were forced in the evening to stay in marinas or campsites. Only there could we connect 220 V power and record water. On the way, only 12 V is available, and if six people want to shower, the water on board is not enough for two days.

charging stations and mobile phone coverage

Houseboat travellers on the Saône are increasingly finding charging stations and mobile phone coverage along the river, particularly in marinas and larger moorings. These often offer 220V power outlets and reliable internet connection, ideal for charging devices and communicating online. In more remote sections, coverage remains patchy, making it important to plan a mix of nature experiences and modern amenities. This allows guests to enjoy the best of both worlds while travelling independently and well-provisioned.

 

 

Limited storage in the houseboat on the Saône

Getting used to are the cabins and the baths on board. Thank God we followed the advice of LeBoat and took small luggage with us. Backpacks and bags that we could fold up and stow in the narrow shelves under the beds. A large suitcase, with which we travel otherwise, would have been completely out of place here and would have stood in the way all the time. Initially, access to the bathroom proved difficult, as you had to squeeze through the very narrow door, but we also got used to it and appreciated the privacy, since we had a private bathroom in our double cabin.

By houseboat on the Saone - the perfect river for houseboat beginners

We found it very pleasant that there were only a few locks on the Saone. These were all (!) Automatic, which means that we did not have to rely on the lock keepers' breaks as on the Mayenne, but were able to operate them ourselves. The handling of the locks has already been explained in detail in a “captain's handbook”, which we received with the booking confirmation. What turned out to be complex turned out to be very simple on site.

Locks on the tour by houseboat on the Saone

This is how the locks work on a houseboat tour on the Saone: turn a rope once in the middle of the river to signal the arrival of our boat to the lock – wait until the lock gates open – slowly enter and pull the boat with the bow and stern ropes Hold the edge of the lock - signal the lock that the lock gates can be opened - continue. It couldn't be easier!

Sometimes farmers from the area were waiting at the locks to help us secure the boat and offer us samples of their products: cheese, wine, jams or honey from their own production. And a little chat at the lock was still possible! French savoir vivre as you wish. This made our houseboat tour on the Saone a real pleasure.

 

 

The current in this section of the river by houseboat on the Saone

Unlike on the Mayenne, the current on the Saone was very weak in both directions. This meant that the Magnifique, our houseboat on the Saone, was easy to steer. The bow thruster was very helpful. Roland from nach-holland.de, our confident helmsman, supported by Angelika from wiederunterwegs.com, brought the Magnifique through the narrowest locks and two tunnels without a single hitch, the entrances to which were narrow and in one case even curved.

 

 

Our crew on the houseboat on the Saone

It was particularly good that there were six of us on board. This meant that two people could take on the tasks at any one time: two people at the helm, two people on the bow and stern lines. This meant that our crew, which was completed by Christina from cityseacountry.com, was the ideal team for our tour on the houseboat on the Saone. The boating experience that Angelika and Christina had already gained on a motorboat in the Mediterranean and a catamaran during an Atlantic crossing was also helpful. This was particularly beneficial when operating the power and water connections on board, as the two of them always knew how to help each other.

 

 

Cycle and walking paths - on the way by houseboat on the Saone

Along the Saone, we were always accompanied by paths along the banks that were ideal for bike tours or walks. At the wider parts of the river there were bays where we could swim. So our days with the houseboat on the Saone were never boring, but offered something new every day. Nevertheless, our houseboat tour on the Saone was very relaxing and relaxing - perfect for a holiday with family or friends.

 

 

Why a houseboat tour on the Saône is a unique experience

Calm and contemplative, they are the villages of the Saone in the Franche Comté in the east of France. So they are just the thing for a relaxing holiday for connoisseurs. We have experienced some of them on ours Houseboat tour from Gray to Scey sur SaoneWe organized this houseboat tour on the Saône at the invitation of Tourisme Franche Comté as a press trip for our Slow Travel Blog Don't expect any great sights in these places. Instead, the villages along the Saone are the perfect stops on our houseboat trip on the river.

 

Route and highlights by houseboat on the Saône

Most of them are located a little off the main route on the river, so we have to make detours through side canals to get to them. This is exactly what makes a houseboat tour on the Saone a perfect experience for anyone looking for relaxation. We had five days for our trip from Gray to Scey sur Saone and back.

The best moorings and stops by houseboat on the Saône

We visited several villages along the route. Because we had to leave the main river, the return journey was also varied and interesting. The villages of the Saone are perfect for anyone who loves slow travel and pleasure trips. Peace, relaxation and slowing down are the order of the day. Anyone looking for this will quickly succumb to the charm of these ancient villages of the Saone.

 

 

Seveux – insider tip for nature and culture enthusiasts by houseboat on the Saône

Seveux is the first of the villages on the Saone that we get to know on our houseboat tour. We leave Gray at around nine in the morning and reach the marina in Savoyeux in the early afternoon. The town is just after the exciting tunnel before Savoyeux. An exciting experience! The marina is right after the tunnel. Because the weather is so nice, we decide to spend a quiet afternoon here.

The marina and its surroundings are perfect for this. On the other side of the river there is a nice bike path that invites you to take a ride on the bicycles that we have on board. Petar and I decide to take a walk into Seveux, which is only a mile from the marina. Simone of nach-holland.de join us. Signs of a bakery and a restaurant make the decision in the afternoon heat easy. For what is more seductive than a cool drink after a walk through one of the villages of the Saone?

 

 

Savoyeux and the Tunnel de Savoyeux – A highlight by houseboat on the Saône

We cross the bridge over the Saone Canal and watch boats as they cross the tunnel of Savoyeux. An exciting affair to watch as other boaters do that. Bird chirping and the aforementioned signs for refreshing drinks lure us further towards the village. Past ancient deciduous forests, from which the song of the birds spreads summer mood, we approach the main river of the Saone, which is quite wide and shallow at this point. On a hill above the village, a castle emerges whose farm buildings are located near the thoroughfare through Seveux. At the sight of farms, in front of which a herd of cattle grazes contentedly, seeking the shade of centuries-old beech and oak trees, the charm of this village opens up to us. Here time seems to stand still.

Restaurant tip in Seveux

The midday heat is slowly passing, the shadows are getting longer, and people are coming out of their houses: in the farm that advertises homemade goat cheese, the farmer's wife is on the phone with the cell phone and is sitting on a hay bale. In the village center, a couple of men are cleaning the pretty flowers around the village fountain and the washing area. And from the café "Chez Berthe" the owner comes to us with outstretched hands, shakes our hands and greets us with a friendly: "Bonjour M'sieur, M'dame" before he immediately disappears into a car and drives away . We cannot resist this personal invitation and sit down at one of the tables on the terrace of "Chez Berthe", where we try a diabolo orangeade, a cool refreshing drink that tastes of almonds and orange. Perfect for a slow travel day like this.

village life

We stop by the village church, which - like many churches in the Franche Comté - has one of those church towers whose roof is covered with beautiful glazed tiles. Inside she looks rather modest. Tantalizing scents of food coming from one of the farms in the village eventually make us return to the marina, where we prepare a delicious ratatouille for dinner in our own galley.

Ray-sur-Saône – The castle of Ray-sur-Saône by houseboat on the Saône

The next day we make a detour to Ray sur Saone, one of the most beautiful villages in the Saone, which is off the main waterway. Because we cannot see the jetties, we moor on the river bank and climb ashore over our shaky ship's plank. In just a few minutes we are in the center of the village with its ancient farmhouses, which you can see the age. Weathered, with crumbling plaster, some with sloping roofs or bricked-up windows, the houses of the place quickly make it clear that Ray sur Saone is a village with a lot of history.

The castle of Ray sur Saone and a pretty village center

This is also indicated by the castle that rises on the mountain above the village. Because it is in private hands and is not open to visitors, we give ourselves the steep climb and prefer to look around the village. The French and European flags and two coats of arms, unknown to us, decorate the entrance to the “Mairie”, the town hall of the village. Loving flower arrangements adorn the old courtyard gates and overgrown gardens. The front door of a house on the church square is open and only an airy curtain prevents us from looking inside. Next to it is the old washing place of the village, which is surrounded by an arcade hall, on the arches of which blooming roses wind upwards. Now only one cat is missing. And actually one of them is sitting in the next entrance to the courtyard and licking her paws with relish.

• Ray-sur-Saône Castle: The castle offers regular guided tours and themed events. You can find current information on the official website of the castle.

Worth seeing - the village church

A surprise is the village church: not only that its church tower is also covered with beautiful glazed tiles. Inside, we find beautiful reliefs and a group of sculptures representing the tomb of Christ. Particularly impressive are the reliefs on the pulpit, which depict various saints, and a beautiful stained glass window in the side chapel.

 

 

Drinking coffee at the street café of Chez Yvette

At "Chez Yvette" we join the French crew of a second houseboat that has moored in the harbor. They enjoy the lunch from Yvette, who obviously knows something about cooking, because she is happy to provide information about the recipe that she uses for her carrot vegetables. The men from the village who sit behind us at the table are just as friendly. They greet with a smile, and it doesn't seem to bother them that strangers are guests in their village. In general, we often notice the openness and friendliness of the people in the villages on the Saone. Here you are hospitable and helpful to visitors. And what we particularly appreciate because school French is a bit rusty with all members of our houseboat crew: English is spoken almost everywhere, sometimes German. In any case, one tries to understand us and to communicate with us. And almost always works well.

After our several hours stop in Ray sur Saone we drive on to Scey sur Saone, where we arrive too late in the town center to get there a berth. Therefore, we pay the visit and continue the next day

Traves in Franche Comté by houseboat on the Saône

The third village we look at on our houseboat tour is Traves. Similar to Ray sur Saone, this village is located off the main waterway on the Saone. To reach it, we have to drive along a few kilometers of side arm, which alone is worth the visit of this village. Through dense deciduous forests our way leads us to Traves. The branches of beeches and weeping willows hang down to the water surface. Some tree roots give us the impression of being in a mangrove forest, and we almost expect to see alligators and spoonbills among the trees. A fallacy, because what we see are swans, herons and again and again a fast-floating kingfisher, whose bright blue plumage makes us twitch the camera in our hands. But they are always too fast for us to banish them.

 

 

At the port of Traves by houseboat on the Saone

In Traves, a bay opens up, into which the river sign points us, and we come to a very pretty harbor with many well-kept jetties. If you arrive here by boat during the day, you can park for free, as long as he consumes something in the bar of the holiday park to which the marina belongs. Exactly what we are looking for! First of all, we welcome three donkeys on our pier who are apparently used to the river, because they follow us wherever we go - always in the hope of getting some food or being petted. It should not be missing pats, because the three are just too golden.

Hidden beauty

Before we have a refreshing drink, we take a look at the village. The path up to the church is quite steep and the interior looks rather gloomy. The village of Traves is similarly disappointing at first glance. It is only when we walk through that we discover charming details, pretty floral decorations and the picturesque beauty of the half-ruined buildings. Here you have to look a little deeper to discover the charm of the village.

A drink in the bar at the marina

So it doesn't take long before we head back to the bar at the marina, where we relax under a shady canopy with a Diabolo Citron and use the free WiFi to publish a few posts on our social media channels. Afterwards, we continue our tour on a houseboat on the Saone.

Enjoy a journey by houseboat on the Saône through the villages along the river

Our houseboat trip along the Saone has turned into a real pleasure trip thanks to our detours to the villages of the Saone. Pleasure, this time not in the culinary sense, but in the sense of leisurely relaxation and peace. We enjoyed these during the five days on the Saone, so much that it was hard for us to say goodbye at the end - both to our crew, our houseboat, which became our home during this week, the French food and from the pretty villages on the Saone.

Travelling by houseboat on the Saône in Franche-Comté

If you want to rent a houseboat on the Saone, you can look forward to a peaceful houseboat holiday. On the Saone in Franche-Comté, you can enjoy nature. I have never seen as many swans anywhere as on the Saone. During the five days of our houseboat tour, we encountered swans everywhere, in every bay and every marina. Well, in the marinas they were attracted by the leftover food that they fished out of the water. But that couldn't be the case along the route. They greeted us at breakfast through the open door of our houseboat galley. Or they watched us washing the dishes and also flew over our heads.

Watching swans by houseboat on the Saône

A houseboat tour on the Saone is not only very relaxing, but also a wonderful way to see the wildlife of Franche-Comté from an extraordinary perspective.

 

 

Some pairs of swans had their solid territory and guarded this with stoic calm. Others enjoyed the last rays of the evening sun during a round on the water. And again others cleaned their plumage and then shook it out full of pleasure. We were therefore able to observe and photograph swans in all possible positions. We brought home so many photos of the swans of the Saone that we do not want to withhold them from you. That's why we present them here on a separate page. Experience with us the elegant swans of the Saone on this page.

 

 

Our tour in the houseboat on the Saône shows us other animals

Although swans are certainly the animal species we saw most often on our houseboat tour on the Saone, there are other animals to see along the way. It's worth keeping an eye out for them. We saw herons, kingfishers (unfortunately no photos), donkeys, horses and cattle. You can see what other animals we encountered on our houseboat tour here:

 

 

These are just a few atmospheric shots of nature along the Saone. With a houseboat tour that lasts several days, there are plenty of opportunities to see wild animals and domestic animals along the way. We had a lot of fun looking out for them and watching them. All you need is enough time, and you should take it. The art of Slow Travel is to be able to do without something every now and then in order to then be able to enjoy such moments intensively. That was nature enjoyment at its finest.

Conclusion: a tour with the houseboat on the Saone is varied

The only thing we regret when we return to Gray on the Saone on the sixth day of our tour is that it's already over. We could all have continued for weeks. Our crew had grown into a great team after these days together and it was hard for us all to say goodbye to the Saone and the Magnifique. But who knows: maybe more houseboat tours will be waiting for us in the future? We are ready for new adventures!

Questions and answers about a tour in a houseboat on the Saone

What do I need to take with me for a houseboat trip on the Saône?

You should bring waterproof, comfortable clothing, sunscreen and mosquito repellent to be prepared for all weather conditions. Binoculars and a camera are useful for capturing scenery and wildlife. Chargers and adapters for electronic devices are also important, as you will often be travelling in rural areas.

Can I drive the houseboat on the Saone without a boat license?

For many houseboats on the Saône, you don't need a boating license because the operators give you thorough instructions. They explain how to steer the boat and how to operate locks, so you can travel safely even without prior knowledge.

What do the sanitary facilities on board look like?

On board you will usually find a bathroom with a toilet and shower, which is compact but offers comfort for several days. You can refill the water at certain moorings along the way if you run out, and care is taken to ensure that the boat is thoroughly cleaned when it is handed over.

During a houseboat tour on the Saone, can I moor the boat at any time and explore the surrounding area?

There are many free moorings on the Saône, and moorings are also available in smaller towns. This gives you the freedom to moor spontaneously to explore the surroundings, visit local markets or simply take a break. However, please respect local rules so that you do not disturb anyone and respect nature.

How flexible am I when planning my route by houseboat on the Saone?

You have a lot of freedom when choosing your route, but you have to take lock opening times and the season into account. The houseboat providers will give you route suggestions and maps that will help you make spontaneous stops and explore sights along the river at your own pace.

Learn more about a houseboat tour on the Saone:

• Helpful and worth reading are Angelika's stories of Schippers and locks - houseboat driving in France.
• Christina from City, Sea, Country has Tips on what to know when renting a houseboat, And you travel decelerates on the Saone.
• Simone of nach-holland.de rightly raves about ours Drive on the Saone in the Franche ComteYour great photos from our houseboat tour on the Saone show how beautiful it is there.
• Franche Comté
• Wikipedia
• The Waterways of France

 

 

 

 

Do you know this?

• 16 tips for beginners on a houseboat tour on the Mayenne
• France travel destinations
• Camargue France
• Nile cruise
• Compare motorhome prices here.
• Or do you prefer to travel with him Rooftent or  Tent?

Source by houseboat on the Saone: research on site. We thank LeBoat and Tourisme Franche Comté for inviting us to this trip. However, our opinion remains our own.

Text By houseboat on the Saone: © Copyright Monika Fuchs and Travel World Online
Photos by houseboat on the Saone: © Copyright Monika Fuchs and TravelWorldOnline
Video By houseboat on the Saone: © Copyright Petar Fuchs and TravelWorldOnline