La Petite Amazonie

Follow the blue line

Nine bridges, no chance of losing your bearings

On the way out, you paddle upstream. After bridge 1, take the left-hand branch. At bridge 9, turn around beneath the bridge: the current will carry you home.

1
Pont Maurice Barrès
Rue F.-G. Raiffeisen. Immediately afterwards, head left. The branch straight ahead is not part of the route.
2
Pont Schützenberger
The river becomes more deeply channelled here, and the city is already beginning to fade from view.
3
Passerelle Ungemach
You will find it on the straight stretch after the bend.
Photo point
4
Pont Lauth
A useful landmark before the broad curve towards the south.
Photo point
5
Pont de la Protestation
Boulevard Ohmacht. Its colonnade gives it something of an ancient temple air.
6
Passerelle des Arquebusiers
Rue Werinhar. The stopping place then appears on your left on the outward leg.
H
Stop — picnic & draining
A natural, unequipped riverbank. Disembark calmly and leave the spot as clean as you found it.
48.589281, 7.759572
7
Pont Abraham Deutsch
Rue Turenne. Parc du Contades borders the river here.
Photo point
8
Pont des Vosges
Stay on the main branch: the diversion to the right is off limits.
9
Pont d’Auvergne
Turn around beneath the bridge, then follow the current back to the wash house.

Four ways in

One river, four ways to become an expert

Dip into whatever catches your interest before setting off. On the water, the button at the top right keeps only the useful waypoints on screen.

01

Stay on course

The route, nine bridges, stop and turn-around point laid out like a ship’s log.

Route 02

Spot the stars

Swan, kingfisher, coypu or demoiselle: the clues that reveal them.

Wildlife 03

Read the river

Current, confluences, riverbanks and the Aar’s ecological role, without the lecture.

River 04

Travel back in time

From the Bains Weisz to Saint-Paul, the cityscape gives up its secrets.

History

The stars of La Petite Amazonie

Ten encounters to watch for—without playing paparazzi

Get closer with your eyes and your zoom. A respectful distance often reveals more natural behaviour… and produces better photographs.

Elegant heavyweight

Mute swan

Orange bill, black knob. It grazes on aquatic plants and guards its personal space fiercely.

Acrobatic duck

Mallard

The male has an iridescent green head. To feed, it tips up: tail in the air, bill underwater.

White bill, paddle-like toes

Eurasian coot

To take off, it sprints noisily across the surface—you cannot miss its departure.

Shy among the leaves

Common moorhen

A red bill with a yellow tip, long toes and a little flick of the tail before it disappears.

Electric-blue rocket

Common kingfisher

It watches from a branch, then dives into the water to snatch a small fish.

Spectacular diver

Great cormorant

After a dive, it spreads its wings wide in its famous signature pose.

Dagger bill

Grey heron

Motionless by the water, it strikes in a flash. In flight, it keeps its neck folded back.

XXL whiskers

Coypu

Orange incisors, partly webbed hind feet and a cylindrical tail—never flat.

A family of Egyptian geese beside the Aar

Vocal family

Egyptian goose

A brown eye patch, chocolate chest marking and a fiercely defended territory.

Flying jewel

Banded demoiselle

The male gleams metallic blue-green, with a dark band across each wing.

Open the full identification guide

Read the Aar

The river is at work while you paddle

The current, roots, tree shade and secondary channels create a living corridor in the heart of Strasbourg.

2 directions

Against the current, then with it

The outward leg takes about 1 hr 10 mins. On the way back, the current helps: allow about 50 minutes.

1 boundary

Between water and land

The banks shelter insects, birds, roots and refuges. Much of the river’s life is concentrated here.

0 scenery

Everything has a purpose

A fallen tree slows the water, a branch becomes a perch, and a bend redistributes the current and sediment.

Your snacks are for you; the animals keep to their own menu.

Keep a respectful distance, feed no one, take every piece of rubbish home and leave fragile banks undisturbed. The magic of the place depends on it too.

Understand the Aar, its banks and its flora

Flashbacks along the water

The river has quite a memory

Architecture, bathing, public art and university history: these banks have seen far more than kayaks.

1871

Bridge 5—its real name: Protestation

Boulevard Ohmacht is the source of the confusion. The official name recalls the representatives of Alsace-Lorraine who protested in Bordeaux against annexation. Its Neoclassical colonnade lends it the air of an ancient temple.

1860

Bains Weisz

People swam here long before our kayaks arrived. A competition pool opened in 1947, and the baths closed in the 1960s.

1897

Saint-Paul stands to attention

A garrison church with two 76-metre spires and sixteen doors designed to organise soldiers’ entry by rank.

2000

Le Chat des Rives de l’Aar

Alain Séchas created this giant cat with a swan-shaped rubber ring for the arrival of the tram. It watches over the carriages… and perhaps the kayakers too.

1764

Contades goes green

Once a firing range outside the ramparts, the site became a public promenade. The Neustadt later reduced its size, but the Aar preserves its wild edge.

1939

Onwards to Auvergne

The present name of the former pont de l’Université echoes Clermont-Ferrand, where Université de Strasbourg relocated during the war.

Read the full stories

Your explorer’s logbook

How many stars did you spot?

Tick off your sightings. They stay saved on this phone, even when the network takes a break.

Pont Maurice Barrès

Pont Schützenberger

Passerelle Ungemach

Pont Lauth

Pont de la Protestation

Passerelle des Arquebusiers

Stop — picnic & draining

Pont Abraham Deutsch

Pont des Vosges

Pont d’Auvergne