Slow Tour by houseboat

Let’s talk about houseboat: a boat/camping van used to go on a trip on rivers and canals. This way of travelling is a dream of mine. I tried it just once, on a tiny trip from Chioggia to the Po river. Houseboats are the perfect mix between a boat and a camping van, including everything that these two vehicles symbolize: freedom, independence, self-sufficiency. Sailing is far better than travel on the road! Adventure and close contact with nature are guaranteed.

The water flowing in rivers and canals is much more reassuring than the sea one. Driving a houseboat is suitable for everybody, you just have to respect the rules and to deal with narrowing (which is actually very simple). You can go ashore whenever you want, you can dock, cook, sleep and discover itineraries nearby that people who are travelling on the road could never discover: different perspectives can be surprising.

River travels are perfect slow tour, completely eco-friendly. Indeed, houseboats are very little polluting, very little noisy and they create only little waves. During river travels you will rediscover tastes, traditions, places quite unknown, you will appreciate the landscape and its resources, out from the flows of mass tourism. Rent a houseboat is easy and you can choose the most appropriate one.

I like travelling on small ships. In the rest of Europe, this is a popular kind of holiday, but not yet in Italy. However there are many different itineraries here: you could sail on the Po river till its delta, or in Milan on the Navigli, and many others trails in the Pianura Padana area. Recently the Ferrara waterway has been reopened, it runs from the Po river to the Adriatic sea. In the past, rivers were essential life lines to freight transport… Nowadays they could become out and out unconventional tourist destinations. It would be great!