Routes
The salt road
From Arles to the sea along the right bank of the Grand Rhône: reserve, the industrial village of Salin-de-Giraud, salt works and Piémanson beach.
- Distance
- 57.4 km
- Duration
- 1 h 36 by car
- Stops
- 6
Stops
Arles
We leave Arles, where the Rhône splits into two arms, and follow the D36 road south along the right bank of the Grand Rhône.
La Capelière
La Capelière is the visitor centre of the Camargue national nature reserve, created in 1927 and managed by the Société nationale de protection de la nature. It covers more than 13,000 hectares around the Vaccarès lagoon.
Salin-de-Giraud
Salin-de-Giraud was born in 1856 around salt. In 1895 the chemist Ernest Solvay set up a sodium carbonate factory here. Its brick workers’ districts earned it the nickname ’miners’ terraces of the Camargue’.
Salt works viewpoint
From this viewpoint you can see the salt marshes, which produce about one million tonnes of salt a year.
Domaine de la Palissade
Near the mouth of the Grand Rhône, the Domaine de la Palissade is a protected natural site of the Conservatoire du littoral.
Piémanson beach
The route ends on the long sandy beach of Piémanson, south of Salin-de-Giraud.