Buzet-sur-Baïse

Your base for exploring the Baïse River, navigable for 62 km through some genuinely wild and unhurried southwest French countryside between April and November. Buzet-sur-Baïse sits in the Lot-et-Garonne, and the river itself — a left-bank tributary of the Garonne — has a lazy, drifting quality that's hard to find elsewhere in France. The Nicols charter base here (chemin de Bacalan) is well-equipped and can point you toward local wines from the Buzet cooperative, one of the region's best-kept secrets.