Burgundy & Provence on Rhone River OR Paris & Normandy on Seine River??

This will be our first River cruise and we want to start with a pre-cruise stay in Paris and then onto either the Burgundy & Provence or Paris & Normandy cruise. Would love some feedback on these two itineraries/areas. Not familiar with either area or ports of call so looking for any input on the difference and which was your favourite and why. As for Suppliers, we have narrowed it down to either Uniworld, Emerald or Avalon but open to any suggestions for the experienced River cruisers!! Thank you in advance!!

I have done both cruises with GCCL and prefer the Paris to Normandy trip. It included more interesting stops and the scenery during the cruise was better. With GCCL, the Paris to Normandy cruise was 10 nights on ship vs 7 nights for the Rhone cruise.

Bonjour MTR,

At CroisiEurope, we are partial to our cruises in France and think that you are looking in the right place!

The Seine River is a really interesting locale that features a lot of diversity - the bustling City of Paris, charming small villages like Honfleur on the coast, a picturesque curving valley, and loads of history.

The Rhone has the culinary capital of Lyon, papal history in Avignon, wine in Burgundy and Provence, and some great excursions to some of France's most remarkable scenery.

Paris and Lyon are only about two and a half hours on the TGV, so its possible to do cruises on both rivers if you have enough time!

We just returned last week from the Grand Circle Paris to Nice cruise. Have not done the Paris to Normandy route so I can't comment, but the cruise we went on was FANTASTIC. The M/S Provence is a little older ship, with large staterooms, and only a max of 46 passengers. Very charming ship, with excellent crew, and very good ports. Vienne and Viviers were especially nice. We did the 3 night pre-extension in Paris because we had never been there before, and winding up in Nice for 2 nights was a great end to this trip. We loved it - a very magical experience from beginning to end.

We did both rivers with Uniworld and greatly enjoyed each itinerary, but as others have said, they are different. We love history and art so the Seine was great for that. But the Rhone also has interesting historical sites as well as the viticulture emphasis. Very glad we did both, and then did 3 days on our own in Paris as we hadn't been there in many years. If we had to choose, I suppose we would go with the Seine, especially if you haven't been to Normandy, but we are so glad we were able to do both.