Why Slow Barge Cruising Is a Fast-Growing Luxury Option

Now this is slow travel. Some might call barging river cruising downsized, but it’s really its own unique sector of the water travel market. While barge travel might largely be a French phenomenon, it is growing in popularity throughout Europe. “France is the epicenter of classic canal barging, with about 85 percent of the product based there," said Stephanie Sack, the self-described marketing maven of Chicago-based Barge Lady Cruises, a barge travel brokerage. Business booms in the country thanks to a network of preserved 17th and 18th century canals that cover the French countryside — something you would expect from a country that takes its heritage seriously. A government agency maintains the canals and keeps them in order, largely for tourism. While many of the hotel-style barges are independently o