Midweek Breaks

With Black Prince, if you fancy a short break you don’t have to wait for the weekend! Enjoy a midweek break, perhaps as a family break, couple’s break or half term holiday, and take advantage of all that the UK waterways have to offer.

A relaxing alternative

With a large proportion of the population usually slaving away at work and families limited to the school holidays for a family holiday, it’s easy to appreciate the peaceful and relaxing nature of the canals during a midweek break!

Mondays to Friday breaks are often a lot quieter than the weekends, allowing you some real relaxing down-time, taking the cruising well within your own pace. Midweek breaks have the added benefit that local attractions are generally less busy also, particularly in the summer holidays. For a romantic break, enjoy peaceful lunches at canal-side pubs and relaxing walks around local towns and villages.

If you’ve always wanted to visit new attractions on your family holidays or romantic breaks then the midweek is a perfect time to travel. There are so many fabulous places for breaks in the UK so whether it’s the famous Roman Baths and Spa at Bath, the National Waterways Museum in Cheshire or the Potteries in Stoke on Trent for example, you’ll discover a more relaxed environment that suits a exploring at your own pace.

Autumn midweek break
Bath wier

Variety of canal routes

A short midweek break is available from all of our nine bases across the UK and there is generally a wide choice of routes available. This is particularly useful if you’re booking last minute breaks, as you’ll have a lot more to choose from.

These routes will most commonly be a ‘there and back’ route, as opposed to a circular ‘Ring’ route which will demand more time. These shorter trips are more suited to family breaks with younger children who will enjoy shorter and more varied experiences.

Check out the routes available on all our base pages or you can take advice from our teams on the bases on your arrival.  Don’t forget we have dog-friendly boats as well as family-friendly options, for a pet-friendly river cruise.

St-Ives-Bridge

Midweek break start dates

Midweek breaks with Black Prince Narrowboat Holidays are generally four-night breaks, with three-night breaks starting either on a Friday or a Saturday. Many of our narrowboat bases offer either a Monday or a Tuesday starting date, meaning your midweek short break ends on either a Friday or a Saturday.

Choose from a range of starting bases across the UK, from Scotland to Cheshire, the Midlands to Wiltshire. You can see the full range of our nine bases here.

Falkirk Wheel

Customer feedback

“We had a holiday on the Oxford canal, our first ever on a canal boat and the whole party (7 in total) had a brilliant time, we are talking about repeating this next year as it will be my husband and mine 70 birthdays and we will have been married 50 years in 2019 and thought this would be an excellent treat for having achieved these milestones.”

“Great way to travel we called it our ‘bo-tel’ which offers excellent flexibility and reduced cost over having a hotel in the cities we visited. The boats are very easy to operate and very well equipped.”

“Our first time barging, we were nervous at first but all the people we were involved with were excellent from Gail in the office to the volunteers on the locks are so helpful and nothing was a bother, amazing holiday, loved every minute.”

“As an advert once said – a canal boat holiday is the fastest way to slow down, and that was certainly our experience. The K&A is a lovely canal and Bath is a city well worth visiting.”

“Fabulous boat and attentive staff at Black Prince made this a week to remember and the Llangollen canal is certainly a wonderful place to while away a few very relaxing days on the water.”

“Great boats, well kitted out, clean and comfortable, friendly staff with a great attitude for customer service. We want to do it again.”

“A most relaxing week, even though some flights of locks were hard work, you know there is no rush and there is always friendly help about. The standard of equipment on the boat, the cleanliness and the comfort of the beds could not be faulted.”

Relaxing narrowboat break