Harbour

Quai de halte de Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône

Name: Quai de halte de Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône
Address: Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, FR

Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, France

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Type: Harbour

Fluvial quay at the sea end of the Rhône, in Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, used as a stopover by yachts transiting between the Mediterranean and the Canal du Rhône à Sète.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Enter from the Golfe de Fos through the Passe de Napoléon and the St-Louis lock, which links the sea to the Rhône and the canal network. Lock operated by VNF, VHF 22. Currents in the river channel can reach 4 knots on the ebb after rain on the upper Rhône. No night entry recommended due to commercial traffic.

Practical

Visitor pontoon with water and electricity, managed by the commune. Showers and toilets at the capitainerie. Supermarket, bakery and bar within 300 m in the town centre. Diesel at the Port Napoléon marina across the lock, 1 km by road. Mast crane at Port Napoléon for yachts preparing to step the mast before the canal.

Ashore

Port-Saint-Louis sits at the eastern edge of the Camargue regional nature park. The Tour Saint-Louis, a Vauban-era watchtower from 1737, stands 400 m from the quay and houses the tourist office and a small Camargue museum. Flamingo lagoons and the Plage Napoléon, one of the few remaining unbuilt beaches of the delta, lie 5 km south.

History

The town was created in 1863 when the Saint-Louis canal was cut to bypass the shifting mouths of the Rhône and give seagoing ships a reliable entry to the river. The lock and the grid of streets date from that founding act of the Second Empire.