Garonne River

The Garonne is 357 miles (575 km) long and rises in the Spanish Pyrenees from glacial waters high up in Aragon. The fourth longest river in France, it flows north then east around Saint-Gaudens and across one of France?s largest alluvial plains. It passes through Toulouse, famous for its great artist Toulouse-Lautrec, just after the Ari?ge river joins it.


The Garonne is connected to the Mediterranean by the Canal du Midi which starts from Toulouse. Then it goes northwest towards _Bordeaux. It?s joined by the Lot River below Aiguillon. 16 miles north of Bordeaux, it joins the Dordogne river to form the huge Gironde Estuary, the largest in Europe, at the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic coast which has some of France's best beaches.


The river is not navigable with high springtime levels and low levels in August and September. It has 50 locks regulating its flow but can still flood.