France Canyon
Gorges du Gardon
137 m of rock, cut by the Ruisseau de la Signore.
Ravenclaw · CC BY-SA 3.0
The cut
137 metres, to scale.
A slice through Gorges du Gardon where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Big Ben · 96 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is.
137m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
1.1km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
23°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
26m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
Afternoons, up top and down below.
In July the afternoon reaches 33 °C. The best months to hike are from April to May and in October. The wettest months are from October to November.
- 10°8°Jan
- 11°10°Feb
- 15°14°Mar
- 19°18°Apr
- 24°22°May
- 30°28°Jun
- 33°32°Jul
- 32°31°Aug
- 27°26°Sep
- 21°20°Oct
- 14°13°Nov
- 10°9°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Biosphere reserve in France | designated in 2015
Gorges du Gardon is a canyon in France, cut by the Ruisseau de la Signore river. The relief model measures 137 m from the floor to the lower rim. Rim to rim it is 1.1 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Poulxnearest town · 3.5 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,360 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.3 km from the floor
- Nîmes-Arles-Camargue Airport (FNI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 20 km in a straight lineCar hire at FNI airport (Nîmes/Garons)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From April to May and in Octoberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, 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 river
The Ruisseau de la Signore runs highest from November to December.
The Ruisseau de la Signore carries about 33 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to December. It is lowest from July to August.
- 31 m³/sJan
- 27 m³/sFeb
- 28 m³/sMar
- 30 m³/sApr
- 25 m³/sMay
- 16 m³/sJun
- 8.9 m³/sJul
- 7.7 m³/sAug
- 16 m³/sSep
- 37 m³/sOct
- 51 m³/sNov
- 40 m³/sDec
From about 7.7 m³/s in the lowest month to 51 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,599 km².
Follow the Gardon from source to mouth on Riveryas
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
1.2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 5.0 × 5.0 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 8viewpoints within 5 km
- 9marked hiking routes within 4 kmDe Garrigues en Costières, Autour de Cabrières, Le Moulin de Cabrières and 6 more
- 4via ferrata routes within 4 kmVia Ferrata Les Gorges du Gardon and 3 more
- 1climbing crags within 3 kmPlagette
- 12caves within 3 km
- 16car parks within 3 km
- 7information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 2bus stops within 2 km
- 8campsites within 8 kmMas de Rey, Le Barralet, Domaine des Gorges du Gardon and 5 more
- 17hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmLogis Hôtel Uzès Pont du Gard, L'Auberge d'Uzes, Gite Maison de l'Olivier and 14 more
- 10restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Poulx3.5 km in a straight line
- Cabrières4.9 km in a straight line
- Blauzac5.9 km in a straight line
- Lédenon6.7 km in a straight line
- Saint-Gervasy7.3 km in a straight line
- Bezouce7.8 km in a straight line
- Uzès8.3 km in a straight line
- Vers-Pont-du-Gard8.7 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Gorges du Gardon.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 10 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 24 | 30 | 33 | 32 | 27 | 21 | 14 | 10 |
| Afternoon · rim | 8 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 28 | 32 | 31 | 26 | 20 | 13 | 9 |
| Night · rim | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 1 |
| Rain (mm) | 61 | 48 | 54 | 69 | 65 | 42 | 30 | 36 | 65 | 106 | 104 | 61 |
| Rainy days | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 10 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.5 | 4.9 | 6.3 | 7.2 | 8.3 | 10.3 | 10.8 | 9.5 | 7.7 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 3.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 10 | 8 | 0 | 61 | 3.5 |
| Feb | 11 | 10 | 0 | 48 | 4.9 |
| Mar | 15 | 14 | 3 | 54 | 6.3 |
| Apr | 19 | 18 | 7 | 69 | 7.2 |
| May | 24 | 22 | 11 | 65 | 8.3 |
| Jun | 30 | 28 | 15 | 42 | 10.3 |
| Jul | 33 | 32 | 18 | 30 | 10.8 |
| Aug | 32 | 31 | 17 | 36 | 9.5 |
| Sep | 27 | 26 | 13 | 65 | 7.7 |
| Oct | 21 | 20 | 9 | 106 | 5.0 |
| Nov | 14 | 13 | 4 | 104 | 3.7 |
| Dec | 10 | 9 | 1 | 61 | 3.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (26 m) and the rim (179 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 61% | 30% | 49% | 79% | 89% | 149% | 19% | 90% | 117% | 52% | 41% | 129% |
| 2021 | 48% | 73% | 14% | 95% | 106% | 73% | 130% | 74% | 128% | 98% | 56% | 86% |
| 2022 | 24% | 37% | 61% | 46% | 13% | 73% | 58% | 124% | 144% | 25% | 98% | 150% |
| 2023 | 21% | 32% | 37% | 21% | 90% | 153% | 40% | 42% | 61% | 78% | 38% | 54% |
| 2024 | 44% | 132% | 293% | 49% | 128% | 88% | 84% | 51% | 166% | 82% | 30% | 28% |
| 2025 | 53% | 60% | 69% | 32% | 27% | 22% | 42% | 41% | 33% | 19% | 27% | 91% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Gorges du Gardon
France
- 137 mDepth
- 1.1 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 23°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q1338868) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.You are here