# The Camargue: A Guide to the Delta — The South of France
> White horses, pink flamingos and the salt at the edge of France. A guide to the Rhône delta — Arles, the Saintes-Maries, Aigues-Mortes and the road to the sea.

*Source : https://the-south-of-france.com/en/camargue/camargue-guide/*

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By **The Editors** — _the Rhône delta_

Spring 20268 min read Share LinkMail

The Camargue is where the Rhône gives up and turns to water, reed and salt. It is flat to the horizon, half land and half lagoon, worked by white horses, black bulls and the men who ride them. Come for a day and you will only see the road; come for two and the place starts to make sense.

## I. The delta and its birds

At the **Parc ornithologique du Pont de Gau**, near the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, the flamingos stand in their thousands and let you walk among them. South of Arles the road runs down to **Salin-de-Giraud**, where the salt pans turn the water rose and the harvest still piles in white hills.

“The Camargue keeps the horizon honest — there is nothing to hide behind.”

From the notebook

![A white Camargue horse at the water’s edge](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1562747981-1975c624e26e?fm=jpg&q=74&w=1400&auto=format&fit=crop)

The white horses are born dark and pale with the years — like the salt they live on.

## II. The walled town and the sea

To the west, **Aigues-Mortes** sits inside its complete medieval walls, a perfect square in the marsh from which Louis IX once sailed for the Crusades. Beyond it the empty beach at **Beauduc** runs for kilometres — wind, sand, and the long line of the Mediterranean.

The Practical Carnet · Carnet pratique

### Plan the _delta_

When to go

April–June and September. Spring for the birds, autumn for the light; high summer for the mosquitoes.

Getting around

By car — the delta has no other way in. Bikes and horses for the last mile.

Don’t miss

The salt pans at **Salin-de-Giraud**; the walls of **Aigues-Mortes**; a manade in the open range.

Read next

[Arles in a weekend](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/camargue/arles-in-a-weekend/)

E

About the Author · L’auteur

#### Élise Marchand

Travel Editor — based in Marseille

Élise has been driving the back roads of the Midi for the journal since its first issue. She pays for her own rooms and her own lunches — and only writes about the places she would return to.

[More by Élise Marchand — voir ses articles](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/journal/)

Continue reading · À lire ensuite

### More from the _South_

[

![The Camargue delta](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1666782226528-24ea8565fdbd?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Camargue

#### Arles in a weekend

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/camargue/)[

![A village in Provence](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1576658709998-27872694e217?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Provence

#### A weekend in the Alpilles

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/provence/)[

![A mas in the Camargue](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1624355806360-2056d8039d35?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Stays

#### Where to stay in the Camargue

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/stays/)