Sailing/Windsurfing/Kayaking/Boat hire
If you want to get out on the water, you can hire sailing dinghys, windsurfers and kayaks here in the village from the little association/club called La Bateautheuqe. Go down to the quai onto the road going along the lagoon and opposite number 64 you will find the La Maison sur L’Etang called
La Bateautheque:
Contact: 06 80 02 39 84/ 07 81 10 62 92
Email: contact@bateautheque.net
For more information: https://bateautheque.xyz
For a larger selection of boats and for individual and group lessons and events, the Club Nautique de Narbonne is just a 10?minute drive or a 25 minute bike ride around the lagoon.
For further information:
12 rue des Nauticards
Port La Nautique
11100 Narbonne
Tél. : +33 4 68 65 17 53
ou +33 6 61 56 98 56
Email: efv.lanautique@wanadoo.fr
Website: https://snnarbonne.com/ecole-de-voile/vacances-scolaires/
Restaurants in the village:
Le Portanel : https://www.restaurant-portanel-bages.fr/
A former fisherman’s house, the restaurant has a stunning setting with a view of the Bages lagoon. Products come directly from the lagoon and fish market (Mediterranean green crab, sea bass, blonde ray, sea bream and the famous eel). Open all year and every day (lunchtime and evening) apart from Sundays and Mondays.
Le Beaux Arts : restobeauxartsbages@yahoo.fr
Excellent and very friendly restaurant in lovely and peaceful setting in the village square. Open Easter ? November
Les Jardins de Bages : Tél : 04 68 70 13 76
Café/Resto and Epicerie + bakery in the main square. Open all year. Closed Mondays. Concerts July & August every Thursday evening.
GOUPIZZA
Mobile takeaway pizza van every Wednesday and Friday evening from 18h30 – 21h30 in the car park de la Bascule (at the bottom of La Rue de L’Ancien Puits)
More details: 06 38 02 72 57
Fresh fish from the lagoon is also available to buy on the quai most afternoons (depending on weather conditions)
Beaches
Plage de Doul/Etang de Doul
This is the closest little beach, hidden away just across from Peyriac de Mer on the islot across the causeway or via the boardwalk and walking tracks. It is a good beach for a picnic plus swimming here, in the little Etang de Doul, is an interesting experience as the water is 43% salt, similar to the Dead Sea.
Plage La Franqui
Very popular with wind surfers, La Franqui’s beach is large and wide, with fine sand. There are two beaches, one just in front of a sweet village, and one further up the coast that is bordered by the sea on one side, and the etang (inland lake) on the other. The result is a long strip of 2?sided beach. It’s windy here (thus the wind surfers) with pretty surroundings and relaxed, friendly restaurants.
Gruissan Plage
Gruissan is a popular seaside resort village with a ruin on top of a hill above the village itself. Its beach is really a continuation of the massive, wide stretches of sand that start at Narbonne and, like Narbonne and Mateille, it is extremely flat and wide, and feels very open. It does benefit from being further from the ugly buildings of Narbonne Plage, and is right next to a popular sailing port, where you can rent wind surfers.
Leucate
Sandwiched between the ugly ports of Nouvelle and Barcarès, Leucate plage comes as a very pleasant surprise. It feels more like an Australian beach town with relatively attractive houses climbing up pretty fir?covered hills. There are two beaches here, a main, large beach just in front of the town, and, further along (accessible only by climbing round the rocks), a much slimmer beach bordered by rocks that is popular with nude bathers and, at the very end, gay men. Leucate is also popular with wind surfers, and boards can be hired in the town.
Narbonne Plage South
Walk down Narbonne beach, and the buildings die out giving way to nothing but a flat, enormous stretch of sand. It’s not particularly charming ? but it has a certain atmosphere, and especially in winter, is a great place to walk with dogs. In summer, it’s large enough that you can escape the crowds and have your own space.
Art Galleries
L’Etang d’Art
8 rue de l’ancien puits 11100 bages
Tel 04.68.42.81.11
Open Wednesday ? Sunday 14h30 à 19h.
July 15th – 30th August, open every day 15h00 – 20h00
La Maison des Arts
8, rue des Remparts
11100 Bages
04.68.42.81.76 / 04.34.27.03.41
maisondesarts@sfr.fr
Five exhibition rooms in this ancient former Presbytery, converted into an art gallery in 1988.
Open Wednesday-Sunday from 14h00 – 19h00.
In July and August, open every day between 15h00-20h00
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maison-des-Arts-Bages-dAude/183071471796270
Vineyards and wine tasting
CHATEAU CAPITOUL
Route de Gruissan, 11100 NARBONNE lat. 43° 7′ 42″ ? long. 3° 3′ 21″
Tel. +33 4 68 49 23 30
contact@chateau-capitoul.com
https://www.chateau-capitoul.com
In the beautiful landscape between Narbonne and the Mediterranean Sea, there lies renowned wine making region of La Clape.
One of the best-known wineries in this region is the Château Capitoul which offers wine tastings in their beautiful wine cellar overlooking the lagoons
ABBAYE SAINTE EUGENIE
11440 PEYRIAC-DE-MER
Tel. +33 4 68 42 48 93/ +33 6 10 11 11 64
abbaye.sainte.eugenie@wanadoo.fr
https://www.abbaye-sainte-eugenie.fr
CHATEAU MONTFIN
10 rue du rec de l’aire, 11440 PEYRIAC?DE?MER lat. 43° 5′ 16″ – long. 2° 57′ 35″
Tel. +33 4 68 41 93 30
Fax +33 4 68 45 36 26
info@chateaumontfin.com
https://www.chateaumontfin.com
LES CLOS PERDUS
17 rue du Marche
Peyriac de Mer
11440 France
info@lesclosperdus.com
+ 33 468 483 005
+ 33 688 450 277
https://www.lesclosperdus.com
Visits and tastings are by appointment.
Australian born Paul Old and his business partner, Ben Adams, a Brit, run a winery called Les Clos Perdus that has a culty far-flung fan base. Not much more than a decade ago, most of the grapes in the Languedoc— carignan, grenache, grenache blanc—were grown to feed a huge table-wine cooperative. The space to innovate and the intersection of mountain and sea are what drew Old. In the years since, Les Clos Perdus began re?cultivating 100-year-old varietals, other winemakers, many with a biodynamic bent, have set up here. “It’s become quite hip, Languedoc wine,” Old says. “If you’re a young kid and you want to make wine, there’s potential here.”
Chateau de L’Ille
11440 Peyriac-de-Mer.
Téléphone : 04 68 41 05 96
E-mail : contact@chateaudelille.net
www.chateaudelille.net
On the site of on old Roman Villa, le Château de l’Ille sits on its own almost island across from Peyriac de Mer in a wild and protected spot with vines reaching right down to the water. Beautifully rich Corbieres wines.
Other excursions
African Safari Sigean
For something entirely different, just 15km to the south of Bages is the Sigean African Safari park with over 3,800 different animals on 300 hectares; a great day out:
Réserve Africaine de Sigean
RD 6009 – 19 chemin Hameau de lac
11130 SIGEAN
Téléphone : 04 68 48 20 20
Email : ra.sigean@wanadoo.fr
Opening Times
du 05/03/2017 au 31/03/2017 : de 9h00 à 17h00
du 01/04/2017 au 31/08/2017 : de 9h00 à 18h00
Website : https://www.reserveafricainesigean.fr
Gruissan Salt Flats
Salin de l’Ile Saint-Martin
Covering 400 hectares on the edge of the village of Gruissan, these salt flats have been harvested by man since ancient times. Here you can take a guided walk across the marshes, including a commentary on the birds and salt?loving flora, to see production techniques on the salt pans and understand the natural process of how the salt is harvested.
The tour takes 1h20 and the hours are :
- du 04/04 au 11/06 : Départ 11h, 15h & 16h30 (7/7j)
- du 12/06 au 24/09: Départ 11h, 15h, 16h30 & 18h (7/7j)
Telephone: 04 82 53 10 61
Email: contact@lesalindegruissan.fr
Little Yellow Train
The Little Yellow Train of the Pyrenees is one of the great railway journeys of the world – a historic metre? gauge electric railway in the French Pyrenees, opened in 1909, and still going strong. The line rises through dramatic scenery from an altitude of 427 metres at its lower terminus at Villefranche de Conflent, to a summit at Bolquère Eyne, France’s highest railway station, lying at an altitude of 1592 metres (5226 ft) above sea level. It then drops down to a high Pyrenean valley, to its terminus at Latour de Carol.
Tickets and booking:
Though a historic scenic railway, The Little Yellow Train,is part of the French state rail network, run by the French train operator SNCF. Consequently, tickets come at standard French train rates, and can be booked online through the SNCF’s international ticketing websites. The most popular trips are to start from Villefranche?Vernet les Bains, and travel to one of the highest stations at Mont Louis or Odeillo?Font Romeu, a bit further to Bourg Madame, or through to the end of the line at Latour de Carol.
https://about-france.com/tourism/yellow-train-pyrenees
Further Afield
Bages has so much on its doorstep; natural park, historic towns, glorious vineyards and immense stretches of sandy beaches. The south’s most attractive cities are all within easy reach: Narbonne is just 10 minutes/10km, Carcassone 35 minutes, Perpignan 50 minutes, Montpellier under an hour, Beziers 25 minutes and Barcelona two and a half hours. In addition, Bages is 20-25 km from all the famous golden beaches of the Languedoc and just an hour south is Collioure for an easy day trip (take the train from Narbonne to avoid the summer traffic and parking problems) with the Spanish border just beyond.