This shorter stage gradually descends from the Seuil de Naurouze, following the canal through a landscape of vineyards and small Aude villages. Bram, one of the oldest circular villages in France still visible in its original layout, is worth a stop for its unusual town plan.
The canal then crosses Alzonne, a small wine village, before the final kilometres toward Carcassonne, punctuated by regularly spaced locks that naturally set the pace of the descent.
Arriving in Carcassonne, whose fortified medieval city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is visible from the canal well before reaching it, marks one of the great highlights of the route (this stretch overlaps with the Carcassonne-Trèbes-Marseillette family loop covered separately on the site).
Indicative distance for this stretch.