This fairytale odyssey takes in France’s most iconic vineyards

November 8, 2026 — 5:00am

Our river ship slips away from the quay in Lyon before dawn, and when I rise under a pink-stained sky, we’re beyond the city and into leafy countryside. The ship is sailing the Saone River, which is grey-green, the sort of colour that looks improbable in Impressionist paintings.

I get a surprisingly good coffee from Scenic Sapphire’s Panorama Lounge and scoop up a freshly baked croissant to have on deck. Soon the landscape opens up, flat and tranquil. Tractors trundle in fields. We pass villages of pink houses, church spires and flapping French flags. As we glide under the occasional bridge, I can’t help feeling smug at the sight of commuters heading to work.

A river cruise isn’t just an escape but a complete surrender to utter indolence. I’m ready to spend 11 days having every triviality and trouble of travel taken care of by the crew. I’ve unpacked and unwound, and now I can turn all my energies to this holiday afloat on both the Saone and Rhone rivers.

A drift through southern France features medieval abbeys, crumbling castles, lavender fields and glorious little folds of hills hiding limestone villages in skirts of buttercups. History, summarised by excellent guides, is a violent muddle of rampaging Romans, rival exiled popes and guillotined aristocrats, but its horrors and confusions are no more.

The past unfolds in a peaceful assemblage of fortified villages and worn towns. This cruise provides a snapshot of French history without the tedious bits, and supplemented with bustling contemporary life.

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Vienne is the perfect example. One of Europe’s best preserved Roman temples sits right downtown, surrounded by popular cafes and bars. The whole town is littered with Roman foundations and lopped-off walls on which locals sit in the sun, complaining about bread prices and politics.

At the other end of history, I spot two nuclear power plants and several high-speed train lines from the ship and, in the Confluence district of Lyon where the Rhone and Saone rivers meet, odd-angled contemporary buildings in startling orange and green.

A hundred fabulous buildings appear on this cruise, showcasing two millennia of architecture. Vienne alone is quite the marvel. Roman temple apart, it has a Gallo-Roman museum, a ruined Burgundian fortress, and a cathedral where our guide, Juan, points out the clear switch from Romanesque to Gothic styles during construction.

A Roman theatre is hacked into a hillside. Above it is a church whose door creaks like the prelude to a horror movie. Dusty statues lurk in the shadows inside. Outside, I sit on a bench and enjoy the same views of the Rhone Valley the Romans appreciated.

In the town below, people bustle about with shopping bags and boxes of patisseries. A street market bursts with honey, truffles, white asparagus, huge oranges and goat cheese in brine.

This is fairytale France, just as you want it to be, that skips all the ugly bits. Fortunately, however, this cruise is an adult fairytale that also takes us through the vineyards of southern Burgundy and Cotes du Rhone, and aboard the ship the wine flows freely.

The river ship’s dining is certainly for grown-ups, too. Chilled champagne soup. Beef tenderloin with aged port wine jus. Oozing cheese. Escargots and frogs’ legs, and oddities such as green lentil and roasted walnut soup that is delicious.

We depart Vienne before dinner. The Rhone is tight between hills and flanked by the occasional village or chateau with slate roofs. The declining sun turns the water silver as we dine.

Next day we’ve been magicked into Tournon, which claims a 10th-century castle and, across France’s oldest suspension bridge, prestigious Tain l’Hermitage vineyards and upmarket chocolate maker Valrhona.

This cruise takes in the big sights everyone wants to see and French clichés everyone wants to experience, but provides lesser-known joys too, and the chance to soak up local life.

Tournon is an unremarkable but deeply pleasant stop, allowing me time to slow down and study people. I conclude that the French love dragging sulky little dogs on leads, pruning trees with cruel enthusiasm, pushing shopping caddies across cobblestones, and erecting vastly expensive contemporary public art as perches for discontented pigeons.

The French like their little fairgrounds too, and there’s one by the river, where lurid merry-go-round horses whirl, and women in headscarves giggle over ice-creams. Small-town provincial France is the real deal, a cosy place away from the pretensions of Paris and stateliness of grand showcase regional cities.

Avignon, the next day, is famous for its half-collapsed Gothic bridge that French kids sing about. The town, a quick walk from the ship’s dock through a gate in the medieval city walls, makes for charming wandering, with cafe-filled squares shaded by trees, and boutiques of impeccable French fashion.

Looming over it all is a colossal fortress-residence built by medieval popes who lived in exile in Avignon for a century. Our guide, Theo, does a top job explaining the history and architecture on a tour, but the Pope’s Palace is even more beautifully showcased that evening, when a special event takes us there for a gala dinner.

Serenaded by a string quartet and under illuminations projected onto the walls, we dine beneath a vast medieval vaulted ceiling of the banqueting hall once used by popes: a night to remember.

An overnight stay in Avignon allows for excursions into the surroundings. Some passengers are off to see the Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard. Some wine-taste in the prestigious vineyards of Chateauneuf-Du-Pape. For me, it’s a visit to Senanque Abbey and the village of Gordes, teetering on a hilltop with fabulous views over a jigsaw-puzzle-perfect corner of Provence.

Arles is as far south as we sail, before the Rhone River dissolves into a delta. The town was founded by Julius Caesar and has an excellent preserved Roman amphitheatre. If you don’t like that speed date with history, you can move along: Arles was also home to Vincent van Gogh for a frenzied while, during which he produced abundant paintings.

Back upstream at Viviers, there’s more history for those who want it: a French Resistance walking tour, an excursion to the Chateau de Grignan. I like the choices in each port, which allow guests to tailor the day to their interests or mood.

For me, it’s a walk through Viviers with amusing guide Alwine, which culminates at the hilltop cathedral. The townsfolk started building it in the 5th century, though apparently not very enthusiastically, since it’s the smallest cathedral in France.

From terraces beyond we can see a nuclear power plant, a hydroelectric station and wind turbines. The Rhone has always been a corridor of energy, says Alwine, and in more ways than one. History doesn’t stand still hereabouts.

In the evening, rowers exercise on the peaceful arm of the river where we’re docked, and swans paddle through the reeds. It’s a peaceful ending to the day as I tuck into smoked tomato soup and braised beef short ribs, followed by a selection of French cheeses. It’s another reminder of the glorious ease of river cruising, and how you’re never beyond agreeable sights whenever you glance out a window.

The next day is just as relaxing as we sail back towards Lyon. Some guests take a cooking lesson, some treat themselves to a massage in the ship’s wellness centre. Others are content to flop on the sun deck and admire the passing sights.

I sit at the prow of the ship and watch the scenery glide towards me over lunch in the River Cafe. We still have a couple of days ahead to explore Lyon, one of France’s most enjoyable cities, but I’d happily sail on for another couple of weeks. My speed date with French history has blossomed into a romance.

DETAILS Scenic’s 11-day Tastes of the South of France – a Wine Cruise, return from Lyon, has departures from 27 March, 2027, $7995 a person twin share including dining, beverages, Wi-Fi, gratuities and shore excursions. See scenic.cruises, france.fr

The writer was a guest of Scenic

For more on river cruising in France, watch Getaway on 9now.

Brian Johnston seemed destined to become a travel writer: he is an Irishman born in Nigeria and raised in Switzerland, who has lived in Britain and China and now calls Australia home.

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