Hotel barges have long been a quiet corner of the luxury cruise world, and Belmond has just raised the bar with Marguerite, the newest addition to its fleet of boats plying the waterways of Burgundy. The writer behind this review was the first guest ever to step aboard, and came away convinced that a week drifting along a French canal is the most restorative kind of travel there is.
The setting is Verdun-sur-le-Doubs, reached via a flight to Lyon and a short transfer. Marguerite is a big, handsome blue-and-white vessel — a far cry from the narrowboats you might picture — with a square pool at the bow, an open-plan salon for cocktails and dinner, and interiors washed in calming greens and yellows inspired by the region's golden marguerite fields, all heavy on teak. It sleeps just eight guests in four bedrooms, each with an oversized bed and en suite bathroom; three sit on the lower deck, where the windows sit almost level with the water.
Guests arrive to Saint James Breton-clad crew and a glass of chilled Ruinart, and from there the week unfolds on a itinerary they had no hand in making — which turns out to be the point. Highlights include a private lunch at Château du Clos de Vougeot, among Burgundy's most prestigious vineyards, plus tastings and excursions designed to introduce the region's history and the people who keep its traditions alive.
The service is the real story. Menus come from Dominique Crenn, the Michelin three-star chef, executed on board by chef Neil Churchill, with local wines and cocktails timed to the mood of the day — including a madeleine-themed drink served the morning after freshly baked madeleines appeared at dinner. The crew lives on board, and their ability to absorb disruption is a lesson in itself: when other boats stole the preferred mooring spot, rain scuppered an outdoor dinner, and delays pushed the schedule back, they quietly produced better outcomes than the original plan.
That resilience is what elevates this from a floating hotel to something closer to therapy. The writer's verdict: slow travel isn't about doing nothing, it's about handing over the planning to someone else and letting your brain switch off. On a barge where towels arrive warm from a heated radiator and any cocktail materialises within minutes, that's easy.
Who's it for? Travellers who love the idea of a river cruise but find big-ship itineraries impersonal. With only eight guests, a crew that knows your name by day one, and a pace set by the canal itself, Marguerite is essentially a private villa that moves — spa-calm, food-obsessed, and deeply French. If your holidays usually leave you more frazzled than you arrived, this is the antidote.
Review based on first-hand reporting by Condé Nast Traveller UK