Canal journeys

Arguably the world's most beautiful waterway, Europe's oldest functioning canal is the 360-kilometre link between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. From Beziers via Toulouse to Bordeaux, it drifts past majestic hilltop fort towns, rolling vineyards, olive groves and the sunflower fields of Languedoc and Minervois. The brainchild of Emperor Nero, the 'ditch' became reality when Pierre-Paul Riquet (and 15,000 labourers) finished digging it in 1681. Once a transport hub, it is now a Unesco World Heritage Site and used exclusively for boating. Scores of companies offer barges, narrowboats and small cruisers (about HK$12,500 for two weeks, six berth) or luxury fully staffed floating hotels ($70,000 a week; www.franceafloat.com, www.canalmidi.com).

Built in 1874, the Gota is in fact two seas, a river, many lakes and three canals. For 560km, from the seafood mecca of Gothenburg on the North Sea, via Arkosund on the Baltic Sea, to the capital Stockholm, the route takes in large stretches of unspoiled Swedish countryside. About 4,000 boats ply the route each year including steamers from the Gota Canal Steamship Company, which take up to 50 passengers on a cruise up and down what is called Sweden's Blue Ribbon. Pack light because cabins are small, and unlike the Midi, boaters can take a dip. Prices range from $13,728 to $25,740 a person (full board) for a six-day cruise to $3,471 to $7,371 for a two-day sortie (www.gotakanal.se or www.gotacanal.se).

This is the most travelled artificial waterway in the world, not least because taking the 96km short cut between the mouth of the Elbe on the North Sea at Brunsbuttel and the Baltic at Kiel-Holtenau through Germany's charming, rural Schleswig-Holstein, shaves more than 300km off most journeys. Originally 30 metres wide when built in 1784, it was widened 101 years later to 120 metres. The older, smaller locks are used by pleasure boats, making the trip easily navigable despite the ocean-going traffic (www.kiel-canal.org).