Harbour

Carcassonne

4.0Carcassonne, France

Maximum length: 30 m
Maximum draught: 3 m

Inland port on the Canal du Midi at Carcassonne, alongside the SNCF station in the lower town, below the medieval Cite.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach by the Canal du Midi. The port sits in the bief between the Saint-Jean lock to the west and the double lock of Fresquel to the east. Canal draught 1.4 m, air draught 3.2 m. Speed 8 km/h. VNF operates the locks in daylight hours.

Practical

Pontoons along the quai Riquet with water and electricity. Capitainerie in season. Supermarkets, bakeries and restaurants within 300 m in the Bastide Saint-Louis. SNCF station directly on the quay with TGV to Paris and regional trains to Toulouse, Narbonne and Perpignan. Hire bases for canal cruisers on the basin.

Ashore

Cite de Carcassonne, UNESCO World Heritage since 1997, at 1.5 km across the Pont Vieux over the Aude. The fortified city has 3 km of double curtain walls and 52 towers, restored by Viollet-le-Duc from 1853. Bastide Saint-Louis, the 13th century lower town laid out on a grid, starts at the port. Place Carnot market on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, 250 m.

History

The Canal du Midi reached Carcassonne in 1810 only, more than a century after Riquet's death in 1680, after a long dispute in which the town had initially refused to fund a diversion. The original route bypassed the Bastide by 1 km to the north. The diversion was finally built under Napoleon I, and the port quays were completed in the 1820s.

Story

In 1849 the railway between Bordeaux and Sete was built parallel to the canal and directly alongside the port, which explains why quay, canal and train platforms are still side by side today.