France – Balaruc-les-Bains (En)

Located on the banks of Lake Thau, the largest pond of Languedoc, Balaruc-les-Bains is situated on a peninsula that enters the waters of this lake 20 km, considered a “small sea“.

Where to stay

We stayed at the Camping Municipal Chemin des Bains (43.444884, 3.680728 lat, long). 21 euros a day with electricity. The campsite is quite full, but you can empty and fill the water well. There is a washing area with hot water that is very good, paperless toilets and two showers with hot water. The only fault I can see is that there are too many people for just two showers. It is very well located since within a walk you are in the town centre and there is a supermarket in front of the campsite, but be warned, it is expensive and does not have much.

What to see

We walked with Asha and arrived at the town’s central square, where there is a park and the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption: The first stone was laid in 1855, and the church building was completed in 1858. At the entrance of the church, we note a beautiful pink marble font, the altar, a mosaic pavement from a Roman villa; the transept, and beautiful 18th-century Christ, in the choir, you admire beautiful paintings whose remarkable Annunciation Guido Reni offered by Napoleon the third in 1860 in recognition of the benefits of water Balaruc, for his father Louis Bonaparte. After a fire that destroyed, a few years ago, the door and the entrance to the church, it has benefited from substantial rehabilitation.

Then we saw the archaeological excavations of the Gallo-Roman basilica Balaruc-les-Bains, located in the square near the Bordes Pavillon Sevigne (current headquarters of the Tourist Office). The currently visible part is dated to the 3rd century AD. The set consists of a large building of approximately 150m ² evoking a basilica (monument widespread in the Roman world), and two adjacent rooms of a long corridor of 3 m wide approximately, which served the various parts of the system. The Pavillon Sevigne built in 1753, is the centre of the city. It now houses the Tourist Office. Its beautiful arcades surrounding a thermal water pool and the Sevigne Park were created in 1833.

Then we went through the town until we reached Lake Thau, the largest pond in Languedoc, where the Balaruc-les-Bains spa is located, which occupies first place among the spas in France. The promenade in front of the lake is full of shops, restaurants and bars, with beautiful views.

Our next stop is Aigues-Mortes, a fortified city located in the middle of swamps and lagoons full of flamingos in one of the most beautiful places in Provence, which you can see in the next blog!