France » La Grande Saône, Auxonne - Lyon
Additional informations: Piers, ports & harbours with informations on waters. House boat & yacht charter.
River Saône, Auxonne to Lyon
Suitability for a houseboat holiday *****
Description
After the entry of the Canal du Rhône au Rhin at St. Symphorien, the Saône becomes “La Grande Saône” and is developed for big ships too. This luckily doesn’t have any influence on the beauty of this river and its surroundings. Besides the short, canalized track between St. Jean de Losne and Seurre, the Saône has kept its natural beauty.
Great attention is necessary when passing Lyon. St. Jean de Losne is the best developed inland port of France and offers all possible conveniences.
Information:
Advantages: You can enjoy a big, broad river. It is no problem to pass the large Cargo ships, just pay attention to the beaconing. Some big, attractive towns invite you to stay.
Disadvantages: Watch out for Cargo ships and pushed convoys, so that you don’t get a shock when they “plough” by. Since the river collects the waters of a big area (Vosges and Jura) high water is possible very fast. In bad weather conditions always take care when attaching your boat, give enough rope for the rising water level.
Length: 215 kms; locks; 4; boat hirers: See “Infrastructures” and Canal du Bourgogne and Canal du Rhône au Rhin. 
A river for families (children should not be too small), friends, sportsman and young people.
Tourism
The river offers something to everybody, perhaps not to enthusiasts of locks. You can stop at any time along idyllic banks and attach your boat on a tree. If you prefer civilisation, stay in one of the ports for sport boats. Trevoux, Belleville in Beaujolais and Seurre are rather small towns but offer full service. Lyon, Macon, Tournus and Chalon sur Saône are all big towns offering whatever you might be looking for. If you have enough time, branch of to the Seille, beneath Tournus, up to Louhans in Bresse, or onto the short branch between Tournus and Macon to Pont de Vaux. Be aware that official landing places become less and less around Lyon, this also counts for rests in natural surroundings. 
You will not have any problems with the wines here. Right after the Côte d’Or you get into the Beaujolais region and the excursion to Louhans lets you meet the wines of the Jura of the Ardoise. Fish of the Saône, meat of the neighbouring Charolais cattle and Lamb of the surrounding hills will provide a large choice of meals. Unfortunately quality standards have a large scale too. If you visit Ducloux and the Greuze** in Tournus, you can enjoy the regional French cooking with a lot of meat, big portions and the usually rather heavy French gravies. Only, don’t eat anything before on this day!
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