THE COSTIERES CAMARGUE MEDITERRANEAN TOURIST CENTRE

LAND OF CONTRASTS

The Costières Camargue Mediterranean Tourist Centre is rich in contrasts, between land and water, grapevines and salt works, hillsides and marshes, pine forests and rice paddies. From the gentle and colourful hills of the Costières, to the lakes, canals and other marshes of the Camargue, it offers visitors authentic nature, which is still very much intact.

THE HILLSIDES OF THE COSTIERES

The hillsides of the Costières, with their soil of siliceous rolled pebbles, the "Gress", ends in a gentle slope towards the Petit Rhone and the Camargue. In this very sunny "vallat" (valleys and ravines), the remains of the garrigue, covered with evergreen oak, pubescent oak or kermes oak.... and even parasol pines, is home to a rare and characteristic fauna (Long-eared owl, Eurasian Hobby, Bee-eater, European Roller, Green Woodpecker, Great-spotted Cuckoo...).

THE CAMARGUE : A PARADISE FOR BIRDS

The Camargue Gardoise has a very rich biological diversity resulting from the presence of one of the largest wetland areas in the Mediterranean. This variety concerns just as much the habitats (pine forests, salt water wetland, marshes...) as the animal species (in particular bird life). The fauna residing in these natural areas, or which stop over here during migration, is estimated to represent almost 400 species. This is proof of the incomparable biological wealth of this semi-dry, semi-wet, semi-freshwater, semi-saltwater region, where marshes and canals, reedbeds and copses offer fauna an exceptional variety of environments.

THE CANAL FROM THE RHÔNE TO SETE, A LINK BETWEEN THE HILLSIDES AND THE WETLANDS

It is even more beautiful when seen from the water, gliding along the Canal from the Rhone to Sète! The intimacy of our region reveals itself along this navigable body of water, which, at the time of its construction (start of the 17th century), was a major trading route. Four ports and a stopover are available to travellers, whether it is for a long or a short shady cruise... between Costières and the Camargue.