Uniworld River Cruises

Daily Itinerary

1. Day 1

   Paris

   France

   

   Paris rewards every arrival as though it were the first — the sweep of the Seine, the Gothic tracery of Notre-Dame rising again from its 2019 ashes, the Eiffel Tower somehow managing to astonish at each encounter, the Louvre's glass pyramid reflecting clouds in the courtyard of a palace that served French kings for four centuries. Beyond the monuments, Paris is a city of neighbourhoods: the Belle Époque brasseries of Montparnasse, the covered passages of the 2nd arrondissement, the rooftop terraces of Le Marais. The Luxembourg Gardens in April, or a late-September evening on the Canal Saint-Martin, are among the most civilised experiences in the world.

2. Day 2

   Vernon

   France

   

   Vernon is a quietly beguiling Norman town on the Seine whose greatest treasure lies just four kilometers beyond its medieval bridge: the garden and water lily ponds at Giverny, where Claude Monet lived and painted for forty-three years, creating the luminous imagery that changed the course of modern art. The town itself retains considerable charm — a romanticly ruined twelfth-century bridge tower draped in ivy, half-timbered houses along the riverbank, and a fine museum housing several original Monet canvases. Monet's garden is open from April through October, reaching its peak splendor in May and June when his beloved water lilies are in full, painterly bloom.

3. Day 2

   Vernon

   France

   

   Vernon is a quietly beguiling Norman town on the Seine whose greatest treasure lies just four kilometers beyond its medieval bridge: the garden and water lily ponds at Giverny, where Claude Monet lived and painted for forty-three years, creating the luminous imagery that changed the course of modern art. The town itself retains considerable charm — a romanticly ruined twelfth-century bridge tower draped in ivy, half-timbered houses along the riverbank, and a fine museum housing several original Monet canvases. Monet's garden is open from April through October, reaching its peak splendor in May and June when his beloved water lilies are in full, painterly bloom.

4. Day 2

   Giverny

   France

   

   Giverny, a charming village in Normandy, is renowned as the home of Impressionist painter Claude Monet, whose gardens inspired his most famous works. Visitors must experience the Fondation Claude Monet and savor local delicacies like tarte Normande. The best time to visit is during spring or summer when the gardens are in full bloom.

5. Day 3

   Rouen

   France

   

   Rouen, the medieval capital of Normandy set in a wooded meander of the Seine, rewards slow exploration with one of France's richest concentrations of Gothic architecture. The vast cathedral — immortalised by Monet in his celebrated series of canvases — dominates a city where half-timbered lanes wind between Renaissance mansions and the square where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431. The covered market overflows with Normandy's great dairy bounty: camembert, livarot, and pont-l'évêque alongside cider and calvados. Paris lies just ninety minutes south by train. Spring and early autumn offer the most atmospheric conditions.

6. Day 4

   Caudebec-en-Caux

   France

   

   Caudebec-en-Caux nestles in a Seine meander between Rouen and the sea, famous for its Flamboyant Gothic Eglise Notre-Dame — a masterwork of late medieval stone lacework so exquisite that Henri IV called it 'the most beautiful chapel in my kingdom.' The town serves as an ideal quiet base for exploring the Seine Valley's quieter pleasures: the remarkable Abbaye de Jumiéges, its roofless nave open to the Norman sky, and the Manoir d'Ango, a Renaissance manor of extraordinary ambition, are both within easy reach. The tidal atmosphere of the Seine at this point rewards early morning walks along the embankment. Rouen, with its Gothic cathedral and Impressionist legacy, lies forty minutes east.

7. Day 5

   Rouen

   France

   

   Rouen, the medieval capital of Normandy set in a wooded meander of the Seine, rewards slow exploration with one of France's richest concentrations of Gothic architecture. The vast cathedral — immortalised by Monet in his celebrated series of canvases — dominates a city where half-timbered lanes wind between Renaissance mansions and the square where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431. The covered market overflows with Normandy's great dairy bounty: camembert, livarot, and pont-l'évêque alongside cider and calvados. Paris lies just ninety minutes south by train. Spring and early autumn offer the most atmospheric conditions.

8. Day 6

   Mantes-la-Jolie

   France

   

   Mantes-la-Jolie is a captivating port town in France, steeped in history and characterized by its stunning architecture and vibrant atmosphere. Must-do experiences include indulging in local dishes like coq au vin and visiting the lively weekly market. The best season to visit is spring, when the town bursts into bloom, offering an inviting backdrop for exploration.

9. Day 7

   Paris

   France

   

   Paris rewards every arrival as though it were the first — the sweep of the Seine, the Gothic tracery of Notre-Dame rising again from its 2019 ashes, the Eiffel Tower somehow managing to astonish at each encounter, the Louvre's glass pyramid reflecting clouds in the courtyard of a palace that served French kings for four centuries. Beyond the monuments, Paris is a city of neighbourhoods: the Belle Époque brasseries of Montparnasse, the covered passages of the 2nd arrondissement, the rooftop terraces of Le Marais. The Luxembourg Gardens in April, or a late-September evening on the Canal Saint-Martin, are among the most civilised experiences in the world.

10. Day 8

    Lyon

    France

    

    Lyon sits at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône — a geographic destiny that made it the capital of Roman Gaul, a Renaissance silk-trading powerhouse, and, by contemporary consensus, the undisputed gastronomic capital of France. The UNESCO-listed Vieux Lyon preserves Europe's finest concentration of Renaissance architecture, its labyrinthine traboules — secret passageways threading through courtyard after courtyard — offering endless discovery. Paul Bocuse's legacy lives on in the city's constellation of bouchons, where quenelles de brochet and tablier de sapeur are served with the straightforward confidence of a city that has never needed to prove its culinary supremacy. Lyon rewards a visit in any season, with the Festival of Lights in December being particularly magical.

11. Day 9

    Lyon

    France

    

    Lyon sits at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône — a geographic destiny that made it the capital of Roman Gaul, a Renaissance silk-trading powerhouse, and, by contemporary consensus, the undisputed gastronomic capital of France. The UNESCO-listed Vieux Lyon preserves Europe's finest concentration of Renaissance architecture, its labyrinthine traboules — secret passageways threading through courtyard after courtyard — offering endless discovery. Paul Bocuse's legacy lives on in the city's constellation of bouchons, where quenelles de brochet and tablier de sapeur are served with the straightforward confidence of a city that has never needed to prove its culinary supremacy. Lyon rewards a visit in any season, with the Festival of Lights in December being particularly magical.

12. Day 10

    Macon

    France

    

    Macon is a city in central Georgia. Ocmulgee National Monument has large Native American earthen mounds from around 1000 A.D., and its museum displays artifacts spanning thousands of years. The Tubman Museum’s exhibits on African-American art, history and culture include a huge mural and the Inventors Gallery.

13. Day 11

    Tain L’Hermitage

    France

    

    Tain-l'Hermitage is the beating heart of the northern Rhône wine country, a compact town whose steeply terraced granite hill has yielded some of France's most majestic Syrahs and finest Marsannes since the Roman era. The revered Hermitage hill — its legend entwined with a thirteenth-century crusader hermit — rises directly behind the main street, and the great wine estates of Jaboulet, Chapoutier, and Ferraton offer some of the Loire Valley's most memorable cellar tastings. Autumn harvest season brings the vineyards to their most photogenic golden glory; spring and summer offer ideal touring weather along the Rhône cycling routes between vines and river.

14. Day 12

    Viviers

    France

    

    Viviers is one of France's most beautifully preserved medieval secrets — a cathedral town of barely four thousand souls perched on a limestone spur above the Rhône, serving as an episcopal seat since the fifth century when its bishops chose this formidable rock over the declining Roman city below. The Romanesque bell tower, vaulted passageways, and Renaissance townhouses of the haute ville form an ensemble of extraordinary architectural coherence, virtually unaltered since the seventeenth century. River cruise guests arriving from Lyon or Avignon typically spend languid afternoons exploring these narrow, time-suspended streets, best visited in spring or early autumn when Rhône Valley light is at its most golden.

15. Day 13

    Avignon

    France

    

    Avignon's Palais des Papes — a fortress-palace of staggering medieval ambition where seven successive popes held court for seventy years — still dominates this Provençal city's skyline, its limestone bulk enclosing frescoed chapels and vast ceremonial halls that once shaped the destiny of Christendom. In July, the city transforms for the celebrated Festival d'Avignon, Europe's premier theatre gathering, turning every courtyard and cloister into a stage. Year-round, the beautifully preserved historic centre offers world-class Rhône Valley wines, refined Provençal cuisine, and the beguiling spectacle of the Pont Saint-Bénézet stretching halfway across the river. Lyon and Marseille are each accessible in under ninety minutes by TGV.

16. Day 14

    Arles

    France

    

    Arles, the most important city in Roman Gaul after Lyon, wears its history with casual magnificence: a first-century amphitheatre still hosts bullfights beneath open skies, and the haunting Alyscamps necropolis — once among the most prestigious burial grounds in the Western world — lines a poplar-shaded avenue with ancient sarcophagi. Yet Arles is equally celebrated as the city that intoxicated Vincent van Gogh, who produced over three hundred works here in fifteen fevered months; the Fondation Vincent van Gogh now honors his legacy in beautifully renovated rooms. Spring and autumn are ideal, with the Camargue's flamingo-filled wetlands just minutes south. Lyon is two hours north by TGV.

17. Day 15

    Arles

    France

    

    Arles, the most important city in Roman Gaul after Lyon, wears its history with casual magnificence: a first-century amphitheatre still hosts bullfights beneath open skies, and the haunting Alyscamps necropolis — once among the most prestigious burial grounds in the Western world — lines a poplar-shaded avenue with ancient sarcophagi. Yet Arles is equally celebrated as the city that intoxicated Vincent van Gogh, who produced over three hundred works here in fifteen fevered months; the Fondation Vincent van Gogh now honors his legacy in beautifully renovated rooms. Spring and autumn are ideal, with the Camargue's flamingo-filled wetlands just minutes south. Lyon is two hours north by TGV.

Cabin Categories

Deluxe French Balcony

Balcony

194 sq ftMax 2DFB

Lavishly appointed riverview staterooms (194 sq ft - 18 sq m) with a French balcony Handcrafted Savoir Beds of England, built-in closet, hair dryer, safe, individual thermostat, flat-screen TV with infotainment centre and satellite, and bottled water Marble bathroom with Asprey bath and body products, plush towels, towel warmer, cosy bathrobes and slippers

DoubleShowerToiletries ProvidedTVSafeHair Dryer+6

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French Balcony

Balcony

194 sq ftMax 2FB

Lavishly appointed riverview staterooms (194 sq ft - 18 sq m) with a French balcony Handcrafted Savoir Beds of England, built-in closet, hair dryer, safe, individual thermostat, flat-screen TV with infotainment centre and satellite, and bottled water Marble bathroom with Asprey bath and body products, plush towels, towel warmer, cosy bathrobes and slippers

DoubleShowerToiletries ProvidedTVSafeHair Dryer+6

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Classic

Outside

162–180 sq ftMax 2C

Lavishly appointed riverview stateroom (162-180 sq ft - 15-17 sq m) Handcrafted Savoir Beds of England, built-in closet, hair dryer, safe, individual thermostat, flat-screen TV with infotainment centre and satellite, and bottled water Marble bathroom with Asprey bath and body products, plush towels, towel warmer, cosy bathrobes and slippers

DoubleShowerToiletries ProvidedTVSafeHair Dryer+6

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Grand Suite

Suite

305 sq ftMax 3GS

Lavishly appointed riverview stateroom (410 sq ft - 38 sq m) with a French balcony Handcrafted Savoir Beds of England, built-in closet, hair dryer, safe, individual thermostat, flat-screen TV with infotainment centre and satellite, and bottled water The Grand Suite offers extra benefits, including a separate spacious living room, bathroom with a separate rain shower and tub, and secluded toilet and bidet area

DoubleSofa BedShowerToiletries ProvidedTVSafe+12

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Suite

Suite

410 sq ftMax 3S

Lavishly appointed riverview stateroom (260 sq ft - 24 sq m) with a French balcony Handcrafted Savoir Beds of England, built-in closet, hair dryer, safe, individual thermostat, bottled water and flat-screen TV with infotainment center and satellite Marble bathroom with Asprey bath and body products, plush towels, towel warmer, cozy bathrobes and slippers

DoubleSofa BedShowerBathToiletries ProvidedTV+12

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