About us

Once upon a time… Les Canalous

Les Canalous is the sto­ry of an idea that has already come a long way in 42 years…

In 1982, René Carig­nant and his son Claude had the idea of intro­duc­ing an orig­i­nal alter­na­tive to tra­di­tion­al tourism : allow­ing peo­ple to dis­cov­er Charo­lais – Brion­nais from a new and unusu­al per­spec­tive, nav­i­gat­ing the canal aboard a house­boat… A crazy project or a glimpse of the future ? Arguably a bit of both…

Now, sea­son after sea­son, Les Canalous are attract­ing more and more fans seek­ing a dif­fer­ent kind of hol­i­day expe­ri­ence : cou­ples, fam­i­lies, but also groups of friends and asso­ci­a­tions set­ting off for an adven­ture on the canals… Per­haps this idea wasn’t so crazy after all… Les Canalous are get­ting big­ger. Hav­ing first start­ed in Bur­gundy and Franche-Comté, they then estab­lished them­selves in the South of France, Camar­gue, but also Mayenne, Alsace and, more recent­ly, Char­ente, Aquitaine and Lot..

Eager to pro­vide an ide­al hol­i­day for every­one, Les Canalous have also been devel­op­ing their fleet : from the small­est to the largest boats and the sim­plest to the most com­fort­able of set-ups… there is now a wide and var­ied choice for any­one who wants to sam­ple the sim­ple joys of water­way tourism. Over the years, Les Canalous have become a big fam­i­ly and a hotbed of new ideas and inno­v­a­tive projects. This 40th anniver­sary is sym­bol­ic, remind­ing us that any lit­tle idea can evolve into a great sto­ry. It is, above all, a step­ping stone in an ongo­ing pro­gres­sion – there’s no doubt that Les Canalous will have many sur­pris­es in store for you over the com­ing years…

France’s lead­ing renter-manufacturer

“From Producer to Consumer”

Les Canalous is a com­pa­ny found­ed in 1982 in Digoin, Bur­gundy, on the ini­tia­tive of a hand­ful of water­way enthu­si­asts who were among the first to encour­age hol­i­day­mak­ers to dis­cov­er their regions aboard a houseboat.

Les Canalous is more than a trav­el agency – it also builds boats, includ­ing the famous Tar­pon (a water­way cruise clas­sic) to nav­i­gate the canals and rivers of Europe.

Today, Les Canalous, with its 41 bases in Europe, has become a ref­er­ence for water­way tourism and offers trips for all bud­gets and all types of clien­tele (cou­ples, fam­i­lies, groups of friends, peo­ple with reduced mobil­i­ty, etc.).

Our confidentiality’ Guaranties :

• 1st French renter and manufacturer
• Spe­cial­iz­ing in riv­er tourism for 42 years
• 6 ranges of canal boat :
  • Cosy : The only Péniche P
  • Pre­mi­um : top of the range
  • Elec­tric : the green fleet
  • Clas­sic : the ref­er­ence of riv­er tourism
  • Sim­ply : best qual­i­ty to price ratio on the market
  • Access : acces­si­ble to peo­ple with a dis­abil­i­ty, labi­al­ized “Tourism and Handicap”