Besancon (France)

Besancon is a Doubs River (Saone River) cruise port and city in France's Doubs department (Bourgogne-Franche-Comte region) with population around 120,000 (metro around 250,000). Besancon is located on a meander of Doubs River (tributary of Saone River) and close to the France-Switzerland border. By length (approx 453 km / 281 mi) Doubs River is ranked France's 10th-longest.

Besancon is also the capital city of Franche-Comte (historic and cultural region in Eastern France) and the region's administrative centre. During its long history (dating back to the Roman Empire), the town was developed as a military stronghold, garrison city, political center and religious capital. The city is also considered France's historical capital of watchmaking.

City's current-day economy is based on innovative technologies (microtechnology, micromechanics, biomedical engineering), education (the 1423-founded University of Franche-Comte enrolls annually 24,000+ students), watch industries (brand watches), history- and culture-themed tourism. The city is famous for its large urban open spaces (nature parks and gardens) covering an area of approx 24 km2 (~9 mi2 / ~6,000 acres), of which most (20 km2) are pristine forests.

As cruise port, Besancon was included in the 2019 schedule of the luxury hotel barge Deborah. The ship is 2016-built and owned by CroisiEurope - one of the world's largest river cruise companies. Next table shows CroisiEurope's 6-day itinerary between homeports Besancon and Dijon.

Prices started from ~USD 1900 pp (double-occupancy riverview cabin).