About us

Once upon a time… Les Canalous

Les Canalous is the sto­ry of an idea that has already come a long way in 41 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 35th 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 35 years
• 4 ranges of canal boat :
  • Pre­mi­um : top of the range
  • Clas­sic : the ref­er­ence of riv­er tourism
  • Low cost : best qual­i­ty to price ratio on the market
  • Access : acces­si­ble to peo­ple with a dis­abil­i­ty, labi­al­ized “Tourism and Handicap”

Our Team

VERONIQUE

Expe­ri­ences : Receiv­ing guests at Les Canalous’ bases, along with 26 years in Les Canalous’ sales and mar­ket­ing depart­ment.
I’ve been work­ing for Les Canalous group for over 20 years, guar­an­tee­ing my knowl­edge of boats and the water­way envi­ron­ment.
Lan­guages : French and basic English

CHARLOTTE

Expe­ri­ences : Embarka­tion and dis­em­barka­tion man­age­ment, receiv­ing guests at Les Canalous’ bases, lin­guis­tic assis­tance dur­ing board­ing ini­ti­a­tion, after-sales ser­vice, 14 years in Les Canalous’ sales and mar­ket­ing depart­ment.
Lan­guages : French and Eng­lish, Ger­man and Italian.

OPHELIE

Expe­ri­ences : 4 years in Les Canalous’ sales and mar­ket­ing depart­ment, sales and mar­ket­ing man­ag­er.
Lan­guages : French, Eng­lish and Spanish

GODELIEVE

Expe­ri­ences : 3 years as a host­ess on the Ville de Digoin tour boat, 4 years in Les Canalous’ sales and mar­ket­ing depart­ment.
Lan­guages : French, Ger­man, Dutch and English

MARIE

Expe­ri­ences : 2 years in Les Canalous’ sales and mar­ket­ing depart­ment.
Lan­guages : French, Span­ish and English

IGOR

Expe­ri­ences : Boat sales man­ag­er and 3 years in Les Canalous’ sales and mar­ket­ing depart­ment.
Lan­guages : French, Russ­ian and English

LAUREN

Expe­ri­ences : 2 years on a work-study con­tract with­in Les Canalous’ sales and mar­ket­ing depart­ment dur­ing her BTS (advanced voca­tion­al cer­tifi­cate), which she went on to build upon through a tourism degree.
Lan­guages : French, Ger­man and English

Our engi­neer­ing depart­ments : vis­it our work­shop on sim­ple request

Do you wish to buy a boat ? Check our offers

Our engagements :

• Pro­pose the best quality/​price ratio on the market
• A mul­ti­lin­gual team at your com­plete dis­pos­al to advise you on the choice of the boat and the area
• Very flex­i­ble Hir­ing Conditions/​Terms
• Use your sug­ges­tions to improve our boats

Our sales team is at your com­plete disposal

Have a nice cruise with Les Canalous !