Paris and the Seine Valley Bike and Barge

Arrive at the barge in Paris, with embarkation at 1:00pm (on the arrival day, you can leave your luggage on board from 11.00 am). There will be a welcome briefing with your guide and an introduction to the crew then the boat will depart Paris and travel along the Seine upstream to Évry to dock for the night. We recommend coming to Paris one or more days earlier, to have plenty of time to discover the city.

After breakfast we begin cycling from the lock of Evry. As we cycle we'll stay along the banks of the river for a while. The first stop is the typical French market of Corbeil-Essonnes. Our destination is Melun, known as ‘le domaine des reines blanches’, because in former years it was the domain of the widows of the French kings.

Today we cycle through the wonderful forests of Fontainebleau. Our first destination is the artistic village of Barbizon, where since the first half of the 19th century many painters have found inspiration. At that time, a group of landscape painters formed the “Barbizon School” and you can visit the local museum. Afterwards we continue towards the palace of Fontainebleau, which was much in favour among the French kings due to the extensive hunting possibilities in the surrounding forest. In the castle itself there is a museum dedicated to Napoleon, among other things. Fontainebleau is also a pleasant town to explore. We'll find the boat again in Moret-sur-Loing, a charming medieval fortified town, strategically situated on the banks of the Loing river. The painter Sisley found inspiration for his beautiful Impressionist paintings here.

The cycle route continues along the valley of the Loing and visits Grez-sur-Loing, where many artists lived in the early 20th Century. In the charming town hall of Bourron-Marlotte you can admire a few magnificent Impressionist paintings. We will meet the boat in Nemours, supposedly named from the woods (nemora) in the midst of which it formerly stood, with Gallo-Roman relics indicating its early origin. The castle, erected around 1120, is now a prehistoric museum of the Ile-de-France region.

This morning we'll have breakfast as the boat cruises. Today's cycle is through a wooded area with rugged rocks. Before lunch we will visit the sculpture garden Jardin Bourdelle, where you can admire some 57 bronze monumental sculptures by the artist Antoine Bourdelle. Around lunchtime we will reach the village of Egréville, which has been an important commercial crossroads for hundreds of years. Its markets and fairs enjoyed great renown. We continue to our destination, the rural town of Néronville.

Today we first cycle to Chateau-Landon, a beautifully situated town with narrow streets, ramparts and wash houses, and the Abbey of St Séverin from the 13th century. We'll continue to the medieval town of Ferrières with its beautifully presented old town centre. In the middle of its narrow streets you'll find a splendid monastery. Our destination is Montargis, the second largest town of the Loiret after Orléans. Unfortunately this former royal residence was destroyed by a fire in the 16th Century, but the canals are still there. They are decorated with many flowers and give the town a lot of charm. Today there is no dinner on board, you are free to dine in a local restaurant.

From Montargis we bike along the l’Ouanne to Château-Renard, where we can visit the ruins of a castle from the 10th century. We will also visit an Apiculture’s Living Museum to see beekeepers and their bees at work, and sample some delicious honey. Return to the barge in Montargis.