Les Chalets du Lac

Les Chalets du Lac is a hamlet of eight chalets set on the bank of the Tarn, in Rivières, a municipality in the Gaillacois area of the Tarn département. The place describes itself as a quiet, family-run residential leisure park with no bare pitches: you come here to rent a chalet, not to pitch a tent. The Aiguelèze leisure area is a few minutes’ walk away, in the heart of the Gaillac vineyards.

The chalets date from 1999 and measure 26 m² each, sleeping up to four people. One of them is adapted for guests with reduced mobility. The grounds are shaded, each unit has its own terrace with garden furniture, parking is free, and a fishing jetty leads directly onto the water. Access to the river for fishing and relaxing is open.

As for opening, several consistent sources indicate that guests are welcomed from 1 January to 31 December. The chalets can be rented by the weekend, the week or the month, with monthly rates from 430 euros for two people, which suits long stays, temporary work assignments and autumn or winter weekends. The units have heating and a kitchen with an induction hob. As the official website could not be consulted, the exact dates of the high season should be confirmed by phone.

Walks along the Tarn, fishing from the jetty, visits to wine estates in Gaillac and to the episcopal city of Albi.

The park deliberately keeps things simple, with no restaurant or shop on site. Reception advises guests, provides tourist information and handles the end-of-stay cleaning, which is charged as an extra. Wi-Fi is free, private parking is included and pets are accepted in the chalets.

Each chalet is furnished and equipped: kitchen with induction hob, heating, beds for one to four people, terrace and garden furniture. Baby equipment can be lent. The wooded grounds shade the terraces in summer, while the heating in the units makes it possible to stay in winter too.

For swimming, guests rely on the neighbouring Aiguelèze leisure area rather than a pool in the park. In summer, a supervised floating pool is set up there in the river, with three pools of different depths (70 cm, 1.10 m and 2.50 m), supervised from 2:30pm to 7pm. A water park with inflatable structures completes the offer. A tennis court is 300 metres away, a mini-golf and a restaurant 500 metres away, as well as a river bathing spot and a marina with boat hire. Payment is by cheque, cash or bank transfer.

The main activity is on the water. The Tarn flows at the foot of the chalets and fishing is possible from the park’s jetty. At the Aiguelèze leisure area, you can hire motorboats that need no licence, canoes, paddleboards or pedalos, and trips on a gabare, a traditional flat-bottomed boat, head up the river towards Albi. Inflatable water games entertain children in summer, and a nine-hole golf course is nearby.

The surrounding area also offers tennis, mini-golf and walks around the river and through the vineyards. Gaillac and its vineyards, with estates open for tastings, are very close, and Albi, with its Unesco-listed episcopal city and the Toulouse-Lautrec museum, is within reach for a day trip. A regional bus line serves Rivières, about a twenty-minute walk from the park.

In autumn and winter, the mood is quieter: walks along the Tarn, fishing, and visits to wine cellars and towns in the Tarn take over from the water activities, which are reserved for summer. The park itself does not organise any entertainment.