Frequently Asked Questions

First canal boat vacation?

Answers to frequently asked questions

We’re proud to welcome many overseas visitors to experience a self-guided canal boat tour on Britain’s historic network of scenic waterways. Most of our overseas visitors come from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and The Netherlands.

Great British Boating offers self-drive canal boat rental from 40 locations across England, Scotland and Wales, giving you access to hundreds of historic destinations. All our operators uphold certain industry standards of excellence, ensuring we are among the best in the business and all our customers can expect professional care and attention.

You don’t need a licence to drive a canal boat and all our boating vacation operators offer expert tuition as part of their boat rental.  

Late spring (May), summer (June, July, August) and early autumn (September) are the best time to take a canal boat holiday vacation. The weather is generally drier and the days are longer. Though the British weather is notoriously unpredictable!

From Royal residences and gardens, to world famous university cities and castles, you can visit some of Britain’s best-loved destinations on a narrowboat vacation.  

For example, on a short break (3 or 4 nights), you can visit:

  • Shakespeare’s Stratford on the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
  • The Georgian City of Bath on the Kennet & Avon Canal
  • The world-famous university city of Oxford on the Oxford Canal
  • The ancient university city of Cambridge on the Fenland waterways
  • Edinburgh on the Scottish Lowland Canals
  • The UNESCO World Heritage Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the Llangollen Canal
  • UNESCO World Heritage Saltaire on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal
  • The ancient city of Chester on the Shropshire Union Canal

It’s free and safe to moor up along the towpath on most of our canals, but boaters are advised not to park their boat within 50 metres of a lock or bridge. We recommend using designated mooring areas where possible, for example close to canalside pubs and other waterside destinations.

There are some specially designated visitor moorings at very popular places where you may have to pay a small fee (for example at marinas), and some limit your stay to 48 hours.

For more information about mooring your boat, go to Moorings | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)

It’s useful to have a canal map to help plan your trip. You can usually buy one at the boat yard when you arrive to pick up your boat, or you can buy one online beforehand. For example, Amazon sells Nicholson’s and Pearson guides to individual canals.  

The Canal & River Trust also has a free online route planner Planning your boat route | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)

Our narrowboats are just 6 feet 10 inches wide, but they do vary in length – from 48ft to 69ft. They range in size from boats for 2, up to boats for 12 people. We also offer larger wide beam boat rental from Silsden in West Yorkshire and Falkirk in Scotland.

Our boats have comfortable beds, flush toilets, showers, fully fitted and well-equipped kitchens, central heating, hot water, TV’s and most now have WiFi too.

Most have flexible accommodation layouts. For example, you can ask for a cabin to be configured as a double or 2 singles. Bedding and towels are provided for all our overseas visitors.

Some boats offer standard fittings, while others have luxury extras such as extra-wide and king-sized beds, larger showers, baths, wine fridges and multi-fuel stoves.

Our canal boats have well equipped kitchens with everything you need to cook with, including gas cookers with hob, oven and grill, cooking utensils, saucepans, plates, bowls, mugs, knives, forks, spoons, etc. Our boats all have a small fridge on board.

The standard height on board our narrowboats is around 6ft.  But some of our boats offer 6ft 4inch headroom.

We’ve provided details in our popular routes guide. The website Roam to Rio is helpful when planning your journeys Rome2Rio: discover how to get anywhere. And Trainline is useful for booking rail tickets.

You can hire a car from the airport you arrive at or travel on from the airport by train and take a taxi to our boat yards.

The longer boats have more space to store your luggage.  Some of our boat yards will store extra luggage for you on request, or if you’ve hired a car, you can leave your suitcases there. We also offer wide beam boat hire from Silsden on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in West Yorkshire.

Most of our canal boats can charge a sleep apnoea machine that is used for comfort.  Please do mention this at the time of booking as the boat will need to have 240 volt inverter charging points. However, we can’t power sleep apnoea machines that are required for life-threatening conditions. You can hire a portable/battery CPAP machine from the British Snoring Association: http://www.britishsnoring.co.uk/cpap_battery_rental.php

  • All weather/waterproof clothing and deck shoes, pumps or sneakers
  • Slippers or thick socks to wear on board
  • The fridges are small so it’s best to buy smaller items and do regular top-up shops along the way
  • There isn’t any freezer space on board so don’t bring frozen food
  • We recommend bringing wine in a box/carton rather than a bottle

Our boats are carefully designed and hand built by British craftspeople. They all have Boat Safety Scheme Certificates, which means they are regularly independently checked to ensure they comply with all the necessary safety laws. All our boats are licensed with the relevant navigation authority.

All our operators offer a 24-hour emergency telephone & assistance service.

All our boats are insured for accidental damage and public liability cover. Our operators may ask customers to purchase a compulsory damage waiver policy – either as a compulsory extra or included in the hire price.

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