Fréjus Site de Malpasset a Broken Dam and a Shocking Story

Contributor blog post by Laura:

Have you ever heard of the broken dam of Malpasset near Fréjus?

I hadn’t before I went there, but it is quite an impressive site.

The area of the ‘Site de Malpasset’ is a beautiful, natural site, but which unfortunately has a sad history. On one evening, in December 1959 the Malpasset dam, which was built to supply water in the Var area, broke due to the heavy rainfall in the days before.

…Continue reading here to learn about this disaster that resulted in an unexpected and shocking loss of life on December 2nd, 1959. Today, you can visit the park and see the ruins of the dam, but wear good, solid walking shoes for this terrain. There are also several hiking trails that span out from the car park, so you should expect to see hikers and dog walkers.

There is a guided walking tour of the Site de Barrage Malpasset offered by the tourist office in Fréjus. This tour is offered at limited periods of the year, during school holidays including July and August. Tours start at 9:30am and last approximately 2 hours. You can read the details and book online on the tourism website here.

Tourist Office Information:

Office de tourisme de Fréjus
Le Florus 2 249 Rue Jean Jaurès
83600 Fréjus
Tel: +33 (0)4 94 51 83 83