Everything happened fairly much as planned. Geronimo was very helpful during check-in. He also provided us with a cart to bring back our groceries for the boat. The boat functioned properly except the... See more
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The towns along the Petite Baise were fabulous with power and water at most stops. It exceeded all expectations. The boat was old, beds uncomfortable with very thin mattress and pillows, and mould ar... See more
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An incredible experience on a large and beautiful E400 boat. We were greeted and instructed by very kind and helpful staff. We spent a wonderful weekend enjoying the landscapes along the river. My hus... See more
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The boats clean & tidty great kitchen for on board cooking, plenty of plates glasses etc & utensils.on our boat I was a little disappointed in the fridge,freezer worked well but fridge did not..Predep... See more
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Company details
About Riverly
Written by the company
About us: Riverly is the French No. 1 for licence-free boat rentals, offering getaways on the rivers and canals of France for stays of 2 nights or more (Canal du Midi, Burgundy, Camargue, Canal de Nantes à Brest, Alsace, Lot, Charente...).
Our boats can accommodate from 2 to 12 people and are fully equipped with all the comforts of home (kitchen, bathrooms, cabins...), making them perfect for disconnecting for a weekend or a week.
On the agenda: gliding along the water in the heart of nature, cycling along the towpath, visiting local wine cellars and buying regional produce at the market, exploring 15th-century villages, meeting passionate lock keepers, improvising a BBQ on the riverbank... so many special moments to share with friends, family, or as a couple.
Riverly was born from the merger of 2 leading French companies in the river tourism industry, combining over 50 years of expertise: Locaboat and Nicols.
As a result, our fleet features 2 distinct boat styles:
- The Pénichettes (like the Néo model), which evoke the authentic charm of traditional inland barges.
- The Cruisers, featuring the sleeker lines of classic yachts.
What our customers love: the new "riverlife"
- True disconnection: 99% of our customers say that river tourism offers a real sense of escape without having to travel far.
- Absolute freedom at your own pace: you have the wonderful luxury of following your own desires, with no schedules or set itineraries.
- Being surrounded by nature.
- Spending genuine, quality time together.
- It's very easy:
- No boating licence required.
- Accessible to everyone (including children and pets).
- It's great fun:
- A multitude of activities (boating, sightseeing, cycling, local tastings, golf, fishing, festivals...).
- A refreshing change and a whole new way to travel.
- It brings people together: everyone plays a role in the boat manoeuvres and participates in the adventure.
Contact info
France
- riverly.com/en
4.2
Great
963 reviews
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Trip of a Lifetime
My husband and I spent an incredible 5 days in the south of France, trying local wines from each stop that we made and exploring the incredible towns along the canal. Our trip will be remembered for a lifetime! The staff at Locaboat were so helpful and informative! We loved our vacation!
May 2, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful experience! We’re thrilled that you and your husband enjoyed the beautiful towns, local wines, and that our team could help make your trip memorable.
We look forward to welcoming you back for another unforgettable adventure!
Lovely trip
The boat was ready a bit early. We got all the bikes we needed. With the exception of sharp knives and enough TP, it was pretty well stocked. The fridge was cold when we picked it up and we bought ice ask week thinking it didn't work, but it was just a setting. Maybe if we'd gotten a response when we emailed, it could have saved us a lot of misery. The boat jacked well, and we were pretty comfortable.
May 16, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for your feedback and for highlighting the positive aspects of your trip, including the early boat readiness, available bikes, and comfortable boat.
We apologize for the delayed response to your email and any inconvenience it caused. We also appreciate your comments regarding the kitchen supplies and fridge settings, which will help us improve the experience for future guests.
We hope to welcome you back for an even smoother cruise next time!
lovely holiday
Very friendly and helpful staff, great boats, and lovely locations. Super holiday.
May 26, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for your wonderful feedback! We’re delighted you enjoyed our friendly staff, the boats, and the beautiful locations.
We look forward to welcoming you again for another fantastic holiday!
We enjoyed the cruise in spite of some issues wtih the boat and lack of transportation at the last stop.
We enoyed our cruise. The boat's water system made a horrible noise that could wake someone up in the rear cabins. It needs attention. The boat seemed older and lacked any built-in seating in the upper deck-something we had before with a similar boat.
Lastly, we would not able to get any transportation from our last stop and we had to scramble to get off the boat a day early when the only taxi available was free. We moved into 4 hotel rooms. We should have been informed by the lack of services at Corbigny. We got help from the woman at Le Boat.
The canals were lovely and the locations were very satisfying.
May 26, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for sharing your experience. We’re glad you enjoyed your cruise and the beautiful canals and locations.
We appreciate your feedback regarding the water system noise and the boat’s seating arrangements. We will pass your comments to our technical and fleet teams for review.
Regarding transportation at Corbigny, we apologize for the inconvenience caused by the limited services and the lack of prior information. We’ll work on improving our communication about such local details to better assist our guests.
Thank you again for your insights, and we hope to welcome you back for another enjoyable journey.
The staff at locaboat were all very…
The staff at locaboat were all very friendly and helpful, when there was some issues with the boat, they responded quickly via phone and sent a technician within a couple of hour. The boat could benefit with more kitchen equipment, such as a microwave for reheating. Also more advice where toilet waste water can be emptied, as majority of these facilities were not working during our trip & this made it very stressful & uncomfortable on the boat
May 19, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for your kind words about our team’s responsiveness and support — we’re glad we could assist quickly.
We appreciate your suggestion regarding kitchen equipment and will keep it in mind for future improvements.
Regarding the disposal of toilet waste water, please note that our bases have all been recently upgraded with new, modern facilities. We thank you for your feedback as it helps us ensure these installations are well-maintained and fully operational.
We hope to welcome you again soon for an even smoother experience!
Great holiday
As with a previous holiday with Locaboat, everything worked seamlessly. It transpired that the boat we hired was around 10 years old but as it’s maintenance had been done well everything worked just fine, a measure of the care and attention that this company pays to all that it does.
May 26, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you very much for your kind words and for choosing Locaboat again! We’re delighted to hear that the boat’s maintenance ensured everything worked seamlessly throughout your holiday.
We take great pride in caring for our fleet to provide the best possible experience, and your feedback means a lot to us.
We look forward to welcoming you back for another wonderful adventure on the water!
Failure to fix a fault spoiled an otherwise good service.
Generally service was good but this was marred by their inability to fix a key fault on the boat. As a result the boat had no heating unless we were hooked up to shore power. Had some very cold nights as a result.
May 5, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about the heating issues you experienced due to the boat’s fault and understand how uncomfortable cold nights can be.
To help maintain the batteries’ charge, we generally recommend navigating at least 4 to 5 hours per day when not connected to shore power. This helps keep all systems running smoothly throughout your trip.
We appreciate your understanding and hope to provide you with a better experience on your next cruise.
Rural France by boat
This is a terrific way to see rural France slow time. Do things at your own pace - choose where you want to stop. Easy to drive and manage.
May 26, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for your wonderful feedback! We’re delighted that you enjoyed the relaxed pace of exploring rural France with us and found the boat easy to handle.
We hope to welcome you back soon for another peaceful adventure on the water!
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for your kind words! We’re glad to hear you found our staff friendly and helpful, and that you enjoyed your boat.
We look forward to welcoming you again soon!
Bit different from on a canal!
We've hired from Locaboat a few times and had expected to find a clean, tidy marina type setting, however their base at Cahors is run by Babou Marine in a working boatyard. Access is not immediately obvious as we initially drove past the entrance. As you would expect, a working yard had boats, bits of boats,vans and miscellaneous stuff lying around and we had to have the office pointed out. The car park is an uneven area of rough grass and despite the website stating the yard is secured around 20.00 hours, the gates are not closed. Steps from the car park to the quayside were covered in dead slippery leaves (but had been swept clean when we returned after a week) and much of the quayside was a muddy mess. Having said all that, the staff were lovely, made easier by some of them speaking English and were extremely helpful, particularly in resolving a small issue of our own making! The River Lot is spectacular, soaring cliffs giving way to cultivated fields. Not a lot of wildlife though we regularly saw kingfishers and red kites just hanging in the air. Locks were hard work but as there were few other boats about, there was no pressure to get through them. We quickly learned the trick of ensuring the latch from the sluice was properly engaged to ensure the gates opened properly. Some of the currents around the weirs made for challenging manoeuvring and previous experience certainly helped. The river was quiet but I'm not sure we'd want to be there in high season. All in all we had a great week and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
May 12, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you very much for your detailed feedback. We appreciate your honesty about the facilities at our Cahors base operated by Babou Marine. We understand that the working boatyard environment and access can feel different from a traditional marina, and your comments about the car park and quayside conditions will be shared with Babou Marine to see how improvements can be made.
We are delighted that despite these challenges, our staff were able to assist you effectively and that you enjoyed the spectacular River Lot and your week overall. Your tips and observations about navigating the locks and currents will surely be helpful to future guests.
We hope to welcome you back for another great Locaboat experience—perhaps on one of our other bases with a different setting.
Our initial rental was terrible
Our initial rental was terrible. The boat heating system did not work. The boat was not fit to be rented. And apparently the team at Dompierre had no idea. We ran the boat for 5 hours in the rain, plugged in for the night and the starter battery was dead in the morning. The lead hand at D came and took the cabin apart to manually start the heater and got the boat started but the heater would not start on its own. The windshield wiper did not work and the battery check switch indicated dead batteroes. We left the boat in Decize and went to Joigny to get the new boat that was offered to us. The management at Joigny are great, friendly, helpful and sympathetic.
We had their oldest boat with a generator and electric drive and living on it was wonderful.
Steering and handling is a problem for all 1020FB as they have no directional stability especially in a cross wind or current. I have designed and piloted boats for 40 years and I found that our 1020 FB did not have any reserve power and the bow thruster was insufficient to counter river current especially going upstream into locks that are blessed with a vigorous back eddy. That said we treated our boat like a hotel room and parked it in Auxerre and took the train to the cities, towns and markets we wanted to visit. So on balance our trip was 90% great and the Dompierre staff should be given a close look as they should never have rented us that boat.
May 19, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for sharing such a detailed review of your experience. We sincerely apologize for the issues you encountered with the initial boat, especially with the heating system and battery problems. We agree that this situation was far from ideal and appreciate your understanding and patience while the Dompierre team worked to assist you.
We’re glad to hear that the team at Joigny was able to provide you with a better vessel and that you enjoyed the comfort of the boat with the generator and electric drive.
Your feedback regarding the handling and steering of the 1020FB model is very valuable. We understand how important boat performance and safety are, especially when navigating challenging conditions. We will share your observations with our technical team to explore any possible improvements.
Thank you also for highlighting the positive aspects of your trip, including the opportunity to explore the region by train from Auxerre.
We truly appreciate your honesty and hope to welcome you back for an even better experience in the future.
The Locaboat team was excellent
The Locaboat team was excellent. Explained the boat and operation. Assisted in reservations and a few questions during our week. They provided guidance on how to schedule the trip and the locations to stop. The boat was well equipped and performed the entire trip with no issues.
May 26, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you very much for your kind words! We’re delighted that our team could assist you throughout your trip and that the boat met your expectations.
It’s wonderful to hear you enjoyed the guidance on planning your itinerary and that everything went smoothly during your cruise.
We look forward to welcoming you back for another great Locaboat experience!
Need more information and orientation
We liked the boat and experience but the base marina didn’t give us enough information or orientation. There was a bit of a language barrier.
May 19, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for sharing your experience. We’re glad to hear you enjoyed the boat and your overall trip. We apologize if the information and orientation at the base marina did not fully meet your expectations, and for any inconvenience caused by the language barrier.
We appreciate your feedback and will share it with the team to improve our communication and support for international guests.
We hope to welcome you back on board for another great adventure!
Our Buzet experience
Our Buzet experience. The barge we rented was in desperate need of maintenance and the steering was very poor. Also the bedding needed dry cleaned as it was sweaty. Staff were very helpful though.
May 12, 2025
Unprompted review
Reply from Riverly
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience in Buzet. We’re truly sorry to hear that the condition of the barge and the bedding did not meet your expectations. Your comments have been shared with our technical and cleaning teams for immediate follow-up. On a positive note, we’re glad our staff were able to support you throughout your trip. We hope to have the opportunity to offer you a much better experience in the future.
Very helpful staff
Very helpful staff, good instruction on the use of the boat. Everything worked on the boat as advertised.
May 5, 2025
Reply from Riverly
Thank you very much for your kind words! We’re delighted to hear that our team was helpful and that everything on board met your expectations. We hope to welcome you back on board for another cruise soon!
Unique experience
Unique experience. First lock is a little intimidating but it’s exactly as they say. Nice relaxing way to get around without having to pack/unpack
May 9, 2025
Reply from Riverly
We're delighted to hear that you enjoyed your cruise and embraced the unique experience of navigating the locks — the first one can be a bit of a challenge, but it sounds like you handled it perfectly. We're glad you appreciated the relaxing rhythm of travelling without the hassle of packing and unpacking. We hope to welcome you back on board soon for another adventure!
Reply from Riverly
We're so glad to hear you had a great time pottering about in your little boat — that’s exactly the kind of relaxed adventure we love to offer. We hope to see you again soon for another peaceful escape on the water!
Very good experience with a lot of fun
The boat was clean and important equipment in a good condition. Nevertheless it was already old and some of the small and not important staff was not in the best condition.
The information was given perfectly and staff was very open and helpful
May 5, 2025
Reply from Riverly
We're pleased to hear that you found the boat clean and well-equipped, and that our team provided helpful and clear information — your kind words mean a lot.
While it's true that our fleet includes boats of different ages, we take great care to maintain all of them during the winter season, ensuring they’re in good working condition for every departure. We’ll also take note of your feedback regarding the smaller items, as we’re always looking to improve the onboard experience.
We hope to welcome you again soon for another enjoyable cruise!
As always heavenly vacations
Beautiful Boats with absolutely everything you might need. Friendly welcome every time.
April 14, 2025
Reply from Riverly
We're thrilled that you enjoyed our boats and found everything you needed on board. It’s also wonderful to hear that you felt warmly welcomed each time — that’s exactly the experience we aim to offer. We look forward to seeing you again soon for another great adventure on the water!
Almost a perfect trip!!
We had to rent from 2 bases due to the closure on Trebes. The boat from Bram was perfect and the people at the base were all wonderful. However, the longer experience with Angers Minervois was completely different. The boat was extremely old and d
badly maintained with several loose parts (seat on flying bridge, seat on the pilot station inside, throttle on the flying bridge barely operational, closure from the flying bridge to inside the boat was barely operational requiring extreme force to be opened and closed) additionally, we had to problems. One the turbine of the water pump destroyed itself and we needed to sleep on the wild until being rescued the next morning. Wonderful experience with a very nice mechanic. However, we lost a full day of cruising. We also had another problem with an under water huge piece of Bimini cover that got caught by the propeller. Again, we’re able to stop and sleep in the wild. Next day we had the visit of another excellent and very friendly mechanic that was able to remove the fabric. Unfortunately, we lost another day.
The worst experience was when we returned to the base in Argens. We did sleep there and were supposed to return the boat next day. The contract states 9:00AM. However, we were running a bit late and requested some lenience. The manager of the base come in and was extremely rude and disrespectful. He increased the tone of his voice as well. This individual hates people mainly foreigners. His attitude was very similar to the Neo Nazis. We also saw several interactions with other employees that was deplorable to witness. This individual should not work in the industry you are in.
April 17, 2025
Reply from Riverly
We're pleased to hear that your experience with the team in Bram was a positive one, and we’re especially grateful for your kind comments about the mechanics who assisted you — we’re proud to have such dedicated professionals on our team.
However, we're truly sorry to learn about the issues you faced with the boat from Argens-Minervois, and the impact they had on your cruise. Even though our boats are regularly serviced during the winter season, technical incidents can occasionally occur, and we understand how frustrating it must have been to lose cruising days.
We are also very concerned about your comments regarding the welcome at the Argens base. Please know that this is not the standard of service we strive for, and we take such matters very seriously. Respect and professionalism are fundamental to our values, and we will look into this situation carefully.
If you would like to submit a formal complaint, we encourage you to send us an email at info@locaboat.com so that we can open a file and follow up accordingly.
Thank you again for your feedback — it helps us improve, and we hope to have the chance to offer you a much more satisfying experience in the future.
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