First check the availability of our boats and then choose the one you wish to book.
Booking your canal boat holiday can be done by either using the search facility at the top of every page, or you can use our Interactive Map.
With the interactive map you can see the areas, canals and our bases. If you click on any base, you can see all the routes and recommended holidays from that location. There’s also a search option to help you find a boat based there.
Once you’ve chosen your holiday, you can then click the 
button.
Making a payment
We will phone you within 24 hours of receiving your booking to run through the details and take payment over the phone. For some of our holidays, we can email you a link to pay securely online if preferred.
You’ll be contacted shortly afterwards by the Drifters member company you’ve booked with, so they can confirm your party details and issue your paperwork.
You can call us for advice
Our friendly Helpline is open seven days a week.
0344 984 0322 (Overseas +44 1252 796404)
Or you can email us info@drifters.co.uk
Office Hours:
Mon – Sat: 0900 hrs to 1730 hrs.
Finding your perfect Drifters Boating Holiday.
Choose a location:
Narrow down the results to the base or area that you wish to visit. We have 40 bases and over 500 boats.
You can choose by general geographical area, by county, waterway or starting location. You can also search on City Breaks, Rural Retreats or Cruising Rings.
In England and Wales, we have canal boats (narrowboats) and barges on the canals, rivers and most of the inland navigations.
In Scotland, we have canal boats (narrowboats) on the Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal.
Select dates:
Select the period containing the date you would like the holiday to start.
Search results will be listed in date order so you can skip to your ideal dates quickly.
Holiday duration:
Select the length of holiday you are looking for.
How many people:
The number of berths is the number of people the boat has accommodation for. Select a slightly larger boat if you can’t find the size of boat you are looking for.
Advanced search:
This optional section lets you choose your preferred start day and various other criteria.
Search results:
Once the results of your search have been displayed (in date order), there are two clear additional options to help you further refine your choices.
Filter your results:
Another chance to use the Advanced Search options on your results.
Sort your results:
Another set of helpful options to allow you to further refine your selection.
Flotilla/multi-boat bookings:
If you’re looking to book two boats from the same location and for the same dates, when you use our online search, look out for the ‘Show all boats at this location’ button beneath the image of the boat’s layout. Most of our operators offer a discount on the second flotilla/multi-boat booking.
Drifters boating holidays are also available in German and Dutch language versions at Great British Boating