Eight guests, four suites, and a Burgundy canal that moves slower than a bicycle. This is the former Amaryllis, rebuilt from the hull and renamed for the daisy fields it now drifts past.
Marguerite, A Belmond Boat, Burgundy — Courtesy of Belmond
Les Bateaux Belmond keeps its boats at Saint Jean-de-Losne, a small river town southeast of Dijon. Marguerite was built there, out of a vessel that used to sail under the name Amaryllis. The hull is the same. Almost nothing else is.
She carries eight guests across four double suites, each with its own bathroom. There is an open-plan salon for the hours between locks, and a deck edged with wildflowers and herbs where lunch is served in the open air. A plunge pool sits at one end. The boat runs from late summer 2026.
The daisy
Marguerite is the French word for the ox-eye daisy, and the flower runs through every room. Soft yellows, small floral motifs, stained glass cut in a modern hand to catch the light like a petal. The petal-plucking game, the one children play to settle a question, turns up in the glasswork and in the bespoke rugs underfoot.
The stained glass came from Atelier Loire in Chartres, a workshop that has been working in coloured glass for generations. The joinery was cut in Saint Rémy. Belmond's own architect drew the boat, then handed the details to French artisans. Maxime Brun, who runs Les Bateaux Belmond, has described the result as a piece of national craft rather than a refit.
The hull remembers being a working boat. Everything above the waterline has forgotten on purpose.
The Splendid EditThe table
At the centre of the boat is a dining table inlaid with a mosaic of daisies, each petal shaped and set by hand. A green and white striped awning hangs above it and softens the afternoon light. In the evening the landscape lighting takes over and the deck holds its warmth into the night.
The menus are Dominique Crenn's. The Michelin-starred chef designs the dishes around Burgundy's own produce, and an onboard private chef cooks them for the eight guests aboard. Dinner might be taken on the deck, in a village restaurant along the route, or at a Michelin table off the water. Crenn also shapes the menus for Belmond's Champagne and southern French journeys.
The route
The itinerary keeps to the quieter waterways, away from the parts of Burgundy that fill up in summer. Days are built one guest at a time by a dedicated Guest Experience Executive. Dijon comes with a mustard-making class and a walk through its old streets. The Route des Grands Crus is covered by guided electric bicycle, with tastings at estates both famous and hidden.
Lunch one afternoon is served in the historic salons of the Château du Clos de Vougeot, the walled vineyard that sits at the heart of the Côte de Nuits. Between the wine and the water there are castles, art tours, and long stretches of nothing much, which is the point.
The fleet
Marguerite joins five other boats in the French collection: Alouette in Bordeaux, Pivoine and Napoléon in Provence, and Fleur De Lys and Lilas already working the Burgundy canals. She is the newest, and the only one built around a single flower.
A week starts at eighty-five thousand one hundred euros, taken as a full charter. For that the boat is yours, the crew is yours, and Burgundy passes at the speed of the towpath. Book through belmond.com.
Marguerite, A Belmond Boat, Burgundy enters service in late summer 2026 as part of Les Bateaux Belmond. Charters from approximately €85,100 per week. Details at belmond.com.
Photography courtesy of Belmond — © Belmond, Marguerite, A Belmond Boat, Burgundy