Best canal-boating trips around the UK

East Anglian calm: on the river Ouse on the outskirts of Ely

(Image credit: Alamy / Loop Images Ltd)

published 20 May 2025

On a canal boat, you can "step back in time to a slower era", said Paul Miles in The Telegraph. There are over 5,000 miles of inland waterways in the UK, snaking through some of the country's most picturesque spots.

No training or licence is needed to rent a boat; hire companies should give you a "thorough handover". The Canal & River Trust has also put together a boat-handling and safety video, packed with "invaluable tips for first-time boaters". And, if the thought of navigating British waterways is still too "daunting", some companies, like Beacon Park Boats on the Mon & Brec Canal, offer a "hire a skipper" service, providing an experienced sailor to steer the boat and guide you through any locks.

Ideal for beginners, the Lancaster Canal offers 41 miles of "lock-free cruising" between the Preston and Cumbrian border, with easy access to the seaside towns dotted along Morecambe Bay. Or, for something a bit more challenging, cruise through Oxfordshire along the Thames, testing your steering skills on the "twisty waterway". Be sure to stop off in Kelmscott – a pretty Cotswolds village that's home to William Morris' country retreat.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

If it's "dramatic scenery" you're after, head to Chirk in Wales for a journey along the Llangollen canal, said Adrian Phillips in National Geographic. Novices can take a short 16-hour return trip through the Dee Valley, "gliding over the world's tallest canal aqueduct" at Pontcysyllte and through the pitch-black Chirk Tunnel. And, for a fairly easy – but very pretty – four-day route, depart from the cathedral city of Ely along the "scenic" rivers Ouse and Cam, passing through the Wicken Fen wetland nature reserve and stopping off in Cambridge for "picnicking and punting".

Those in need of a relaxing break would be wise to choose a "signal-poor waterway", said Annabel Abbs in The Guardian. I spent a week puttering along Wiltshire's Kennet and Avon Canal with my "screen-addicted" family, and it was glorious. Our days were filled watching the "beady-eyed antics of our resident heron", chatting to other boaters and stopping off to explore the "astonishing" Dundas and Avoncliff aqueducts. "A canal holiday may well be the perfect and most painless of digital detoxes".

Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.