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River

Gardon

127 km from source to mouth · France.

FranceFranceFlows into Rhône

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

127km

Average flow

32m³/s

Basin

2,200km²

Drop

233m

from 243 m to 10 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

127 km of river and 26 stops on the way: 20 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

243 m10 m
Sourceat 243 m0 km
Saint-Jean-du-Gard2,917 people10 km
Anduze3,295 people27 km
Gardon d'Alèstributary45 km
Gardon de Saint-Jeantributary45 km
Saint-Geniès-de-Malgoirès2,001 people66 km
La Calmette1,808 people72 km
Alzontributary99 km
Pont du GardUNESCO World Heritage105 km
Rhôneat 10 m127 km
050100127 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 243 m
  2. 10 kmSaint-Jean-du-Gard2,917 people
  3. 27 kmAnduze3,295 people
  4. 30 kmBoisset2,181 people
  5. 36 kmLézan1,073 people
  6. 40 kmRibaute-les-Tavernes1,359 people
  7. 45 kmGardon d'Alèstributary
  8. 45 kmGardon de Saint-Jeantributary
  9. 46 kmVézénobres1,619 people
  10. 62 kmMoussac1,108 people
  11. 66 kmSaint-Geniès-de-Malgoirès2,001 people
  12. 68 kmSaint-Chaptes1,282 people
  13. 72 kmLa Calmette1,808 people
  14. 85 kmSaint-Nicolas-de-Campagnac Bridge
  15. 85 kmBlauzac1,031 people
  16. 90 kmPoulx3,950 people
  17. 99 kmAlzontributary
  18. 103 kmVers-Pont-du-Gard1,786 people
  19. 105 kmPont du GardUNESCO World Heritage
  20. 107 kmCastillon-du-Gard1,078 people
  21. 110 kmRemoulins2,164 people
  22. 111 kmSernhac1,331 people
  23. 119 kmMeynes2,130 people
  24. 120 kmMontfrin3,188 people
  25. 121 kmGardon Viaduct
  26. 122 kmComps1,617 people
  27. 126 kmVallabrègues1,304 people
  28. 127 kmRhôneat 10 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in southern France

At the mouth it carries 32 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 78 seconds. It drops from 243 m to 10 m, 1.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,200 km², about the size of KM. 10.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from November to December; lowest: from July to August. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (10% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • PoulxLargest city on its banks · 3,950 people
  • Nîmes-Arles-Camargue Airport (FNI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 17 km from the cityCar hire at FNI airport (Nîmes/Garons)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water12 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe9 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to AugustThe best months to visit

Gardon, month by month

Highest water: from November to December

Lowest water: from July to August. Best months to visit: from May to August.

1,900
5°60 mmJan
1,900
6°62 mmFeb
1,800
9°62 mmMar
1,600
12°54 mmApr
1,400
16°58 mmMay
1,200
20°46 mmJun
920
23°27 mmJul
850
22°48 mmAug
1,200
19°80 mmSep
2,000
14°106 mmOct
2,200
9°69 mmNov
2,200
6°63 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 850 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,200 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Gardon: the basin in numbers

94,984 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 10% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 10.3millionpeople live in the basin
  • 111/km²people per km²
  • 793maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,019mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 8.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 22%protected areas
  • 0.9%covered by lakes
  • 1%glaciers
  • 1%permafrost
  • 5.4km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 46% Forest
  • 19% Cropland
  • 21% Pasture
  • 5% Towns and cities
  • 1% Ice

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Gardon: what you find on the way

  • 3DamsBarrage de Vallabrègues
  • 19Weirsla Rasclausa and 18 more
  • 2LocksLe Rhône - Canal de Beaucaire
  • 2Waterfalls
  • 3Rapids
  • 6Canoe put-ins
  • 9Boat rampsPortage Kayak Barrage de Vallabrègues and 8 more
  • 1MarinasHalte nautique de Vallabrègues
  • 2Boat rentalsKayak Vert, Bureau des Moniteurs du Gard
  • 14River beachesFort, La Muse, Corbières and 11 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Gardon in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 12mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Mountains at the source (12)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Signal de Ventalon9.9 km away1,350m
  2. Mont Gargo15 km away1,247m
  3. Pic de Borgne14 km away946m
  4. Montagne de Ramponenche12 km away
  5. Montagne du Bouges7.9 km away
  6. Mont Mars2.7 km away
  7. Le Maplas9.4 km away
  8. Montagne de la Vieille Morte14 km away

4 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Gardon: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Gardon: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth42 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Gardon in pictures

Gardon at Colias
athenchen · CC BY-SA 3.0
Gardon near Pont du Gard 05
Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gardon near Pont du Gard 09
Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.0
Le Pont du Gard enjambe le gardon. 01
Gérald Martinez · CC BY-SA 3.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q497327) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesPeakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit