Briare France
Frequently Asked Questions
At the marina, a few minutes' walk from the town centre. That is where you set out for the canal bridge.
A 662-metre steel structure carrying the canal above the Loire. Completed in 1896, it remained the longest of its kind in the world until 2003. The boat glides between two rows of lamp posts and ornate pilasters, ten metres above the river.
Yes, the walkways along the trough are freely open on foot, ten minutes from the mooring. It is the high point of the stop, facing the shifting waters of the Loire.
On masonry piers built by the Eiffel company, carrying a 13,000-tonne steel trough. It solved an old problem: barges previously had to cross the Loire at river level, at the mercy of floods and silting.
Very. Opened in 1642 under Louis XIII, it is among the oldest junction canals in Europe. It links the Loire to the Seine and made the town a bargemen's crossroads for three centuries.
The town's double life: the Loire river trade with its flat-bottomed gabares, and canal barge life, families who lived aboard to the rhythm of the locks. Models, tools and personal accounts make up an hour-long visit, near the port.
Because its factories exported billions of beads and buttons worldwide in the nineteenth century. The Mosaic and Enamel Museum shows the craft, still alive in nearby workshops.
Its floor of gilded mosaics, inspired by the meanders of the Loire, glinting under the stained glass. It is the best demonstration of the local craft, in the middle of town.
The port terraces, the covered market on Friday morning, and the paths down to the sandbanks. You can also rent a bicycle at the harbour office to follow the towpath: the Loire by Bike route passes through here.
A seventeenth-century water staircase climbing the hillside in seven basins, listed as a historic monument, about twelve kilometres from Briare. It is the excursion for anyone who enjoys engineering works.
