France » Canal du Rhône à Sète

Additional informations: Piers, ports & harbours with informations on waters. House boat & yacht charter.

French water way:
The Canal du Rhône à Sète
From the Rhône to the Atlantic Ocean: Canal du Rhône à Sète – Canal du Midi / Canal lat. à la Garonne / Garonne

Suitability for houseboats **** 
Length: To Beaucaire: 97 km, to St. Gill 70 km, Look: 1

Information to the Canal:
Advantages: First class surroundings, some of the landing places have easy access to the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea.
Disadvantage: It can get very hot in summer. There are no trees providing a bit of shadow. Together with the hot nights of Carnon, Palavas, Sète and others, this can become a bit much…. .
A journey for families, friends and young people. Lovely surroundings, beaches and nightlife are offered. The canal however should be visited outside of high season.

Canal du Rhône à Sète, description.
This canal was built to connect the Rhône with the Canal du Midi. It was finished in the year 1820 and leaded from Beaucaire to Sète and the Etang de Thau. As a result of the canalization of the Rhône during the last century, the lock of Beaucaire was closed down. Now one reaches the Petite Rhône above Arles by the lock of St. Gill. Soon, we have to decide whether to pass by the town of Aigues Mortes, luckily we decide against it. Despite of the huge number of tourists, this formerly very famous Port of the Mediterranean Sea is always worth a detour. (You might even feel like another one to the picturesque fishing-port Le Grau du Roi at the Sea). We, however, have to continue, the Atlantic Ocean is waiting. Back at the main-canal we pass the “silos for tourists” of “La Grande Motte” on our left hand side the Sea and on our right a strange pink cloud suddenly flying away – hundreds of flamingos. By Palavas the redone connection to Montpellier turns off, at its end is a well developed port. As from here there is only water on our both sides, we are in one of the many salt lakes which are protected with dams towards the Sea, an incredible experience. The surroundings, animals and now and then a lonely fisherman, beautyful! With a bit of luck we just manage the lift bridge of Frontignan after which we stop at the nice port.
From Frontignan it is a further 2 kilometres to the Etang de Thau. We can either cope with the rather complicated procedure of entering into Sète or visit one of the beautiful harbour towns of the Bassin de Thau. We choose Mèse and find there, after a never ending journey passed oyster and mussel banks, a charming former Sea harbour. Since the Bassin de Thau doesn’t have an entry from the Sea, luckily the big Yachts and their owners are missing here. The Bassin has an impressive size of 20 km2; very heavy storms are therefore possible. Before entering, get informed about the weather forecast, especially if you on a charter boat; also pay attention to storm warnings. At the end of the Bassin, south-westerly of Marseillan at “Les Onglous”, we reach the Canal de Midi at last.

Food and Drinks
The Mediterranean Sea has great influence on the food. Mussels and oysters of the Bassin de Thau are served a lot too. Special wines of this region are Muscadet, around the Bassin and “Sandwein”, around Aigues Mortes. Of course you have a great choice of other wines of this region, the Languedoc. 



waterways,  for a house boat & canal holiday in France and Europe.