In the Community Perspective it says: ‘Navigating the Canal by boat seems to evoke the most positive reviews.’

I can only confirm this, here is my personal story with the Canal du Midi:

In 1999, I went on holiday on a houseboat on the Canal du Midi. We travelled the stretch between Agde and Port-la-Nouvelle (on the Canal de la Robine side channel) there and back. That would have taken us about 3 hours by car, but it took us 1 week by boat! And it was wonderful!
Houseboats without a licence can only travel very slow, so we cruised leisurely through the beautiful French countryside, regularly interrupted by a lock where we had to crank our boat up or down ourselves. I highly recommend this type of holiday!

In 2020, I became part of the community of this website and of course rated the WHS I had visited so far. For the Canal du Midi, I knew it had to be 5 stars!
Sometime later I discovered the ‘Rating Stats’ and realised that my 5 stars were massively higher than the average rating. So I questioned my judgement: Am I even allowed to give 5 stars for the Canal du Midi?
But yes, I stuck with it, after all I only had wonderful memories, although on fading analogue photos (see above).

I have visited the Canal du Midi several times in recent years, unfortunately no longer by boat. The area around Béziers is the perfect place to visit, with the fascinating Fonserannes staircase locks and the nearby canal bridge over the Orb river (a lovely walk in between), and the Tunnel de Malpas and the Ouvrages du Libron are not far away either. Even if these visits don't have the charm of boat holidays on the Canal du Midi, I always find these 450-year-old engineering feats very impressive.

These engineering achievements, together with the beautiful landscape through which the Canal du Midi winds and my romantic memories of 1999, confirm to me again and again: Yes, the Canal du Midi clearly deserves 5 stars!