Atout France SMARTguide

THEME HOLIDAYS / CRUISING
Cruising
FRANCE, MARITIME CRUISE
DESTINATION
France is known for both its
design and construction of ships,
a healthy outbound market and
as a host destination for cruises.
France counts 32 maritime cruise
destinations offering 84 ports of call.
Marseille is the #1 port with more
than 945,000 annual passengers,
followed by Noumea, Cannes and
Ajaccio, which each received between
300,000 and 350,000 passengers in
2015.
RIVER CRUISES: THE MOST
EXTENSIVE WATERWAY NETWORK
IN EUROPE
France boasts the longest navigable
river network in Europe with 8,500
km of waterways. To this can be
added barge-hotels and houseboat
rentals without a licence. Holidays
combining biking and boating, are
also increasingly popular.
MARSEILLE’S
MUCEM
WELCOMES
CRUISE
PASSENGERS
FROM AROUND
THE WORLD
At the entrance to the old Port,
Marseille’s MuCEM (Museum of
civilisations of Europe and the
Mediterranean) is a “must”. Over the
centuries, this has been a place of
passage for countless travellers, but
while it is strongly anchored in the past,
MuCEM is also above all a witness to
the present. A true heritage complex, it
spans 40,000 square meters and houses
no less than a million works, objects
and documents. Beginning with the
history of Mediterranean civilisations
from the Neolithic period, it takes us up
to the present day through the Gallery of
the Mediterranean, a semi-permanent
exhibition space. Varied programming
also involves discussions, performances
and film screenings.
By the Mediterranean sea,
the MuCEM, inaugurated
in 2013, is linked to the
Fort Saint Jean
© Catout-France Robert Palomba
USPs
• Caters to all types of clients
(couples, families, seniors).
• Ease of access and connections.
• Dynamic excursions “off the beaten
path”.
KEY FIGURES
France has the second maritime
territory in the world.
The Mediterranean is
the #1 French cruise
region with 2.16 million
passenger arrivals in stopovers and
557,000 departing passengers.
8,500 km of fluvial waterways
“IMPRESSIONIST” CRUISES
To discover Normandy in a different way
and enjoy some romantic moments, what
better than a cruise on the Seine? During
the Honfleur musical and impressionistic
cruise in Rouen, a guide relives the history
of Impressionism on the Seine, with, as a
background, music from their time of the
Impressionists.
A discovery cruise of Rouen on the other
hand allows one to navigate the most
beautiful loop of the river Seine, in the
midst of scenery that inspired the great
Impressionists. It is also possible to take
a cruise by outboard boat, Mastercraft
or Cape Camarat, in order to appreciate
the beauty of the Seine in a different
way: pass the locks, discover the chalk
cliffs and the cave habitats, admire the
surrounding valley while the off barge
that characterises the region’s economic
wealth glides by.
Seine valley
© Rouen Vallée de la Seine
10 France: Destinations to (re)discover france.fr