The cycling and hiking travel agency.

Safrantours is a French travel agency based in Mirabel-et-Blacons (Drôme), specializing in self-guided itinerant trips: turnkey journeys where you travel at your own pace while benefiting from full organization (accommodation, logistics, route notes and practical information).

The agency offers cycling trips, hiking holidays and donkey-supported treks, as well as themed options such as wellness & hiking, wagon travel, self-drive tours, group trips and family holidays.

Safrantours offers itinerant trips mainly in France (and also in Europe, notably Spain, Italy and Switzerland), with a strong focus on major cycling routes (such as the Loire à Vélo, Canal du Midi, Vélodyssée, ViaRhôna, etc.). The agency highlights its long-standing experience (30 years) and relies on an organization designed specifically for itinerant travel, with dedicated support tools, including an offline mobile app to follow your journey and access essential information along the way.

Do you love the Open Canoe Festival? You’ll love Safrantours too — we share many values, especially the spirit of traveling freely!

www.safrantours.com

In 2021, over the course of eight months, a Québec-based team completed the first-ever north–south crossing of Canada, an unprecedented journey carried out using human power alone.

In 2024, the adventurers of the AKOR expeditions take on a new large-scale challenge: crossing the Canadian Far North, from the Yukon to the easternmost edge of the country on Baffin Island. A 7,000 km journey by bicycle, canoe, sailboat, and on foot. Nico, a key member of the team, chooses to take part in the entire adventure despite a new disability caused by a serious leg injury sustained a few years earlier. At the same time, twelve people living with chronic pain embark on a collective adventure and attempt, as a team, to cover the equivalent of the expedition’s 7,000 km, despite their own physical limitations.

Beyond Parallels honestly portrays the triumphs and hardships of a crew that set out on an ambitious expedition, often flirting with the absurd. The film also highlights the inner strength of two groups with very different realities, brought together by a shared goal: daring to measure themselves against something greater than themselves, for better or for worse.

The film will be screened on opening night of the Open Canoe Festival 2026, on Thursday, April 30, at 9:30 pm.

Preparations for the 2026 Open Canoe Festival are well underway. Of the six months required, the first two have already been particularly intense.

Partners already on board

Many thanks to Canoë Diffusion and Esquif, who are renewing their commitment as main partners. Palm Equipment is also continuing the adventure alongside us as a major partner.

This year, we are launching a new support format: Web Partners. It allows organisations to support the festival while benefiting from targeted digital visibility within the OCF community. We are delighted to already count on Safran Tours, Eau Vive Embrun, the National Union of Professional Canoe-Kayak Guides and Associated Disciplines, as well as Selvatico Tours.

An outstanding instructor lineup

The instructor team is almost finalised and, once again, the lineup is of a very high standard.
Experienced and well-known coaches, complementary profiles and a wealth of expertise will be at the service of participants.
The Staff section of the website will be updated progressively.

Film for the opening night

The opening night film has now been selected. Horizons parallèles tells the story of a remarkable West-to-East crossing of Canada, led by a Québec-based team already behind a previous North–South expedition. A film that promises a great opening evening.

Exhibitors already confirmed

Five exhibitors have already confirmed their presence for 2026: La Maison du Canoë, Passion Nature, Mekong Packrafts, Aubrac Rando, as well as our partners Canoë Diffusion and Palm.
Additional exhibitors and partners will be announced in the coming weeks.

Registration

Registration will open on January 15.

In the meantime, we wish you all a wonderful holiday season and very happy end-of-year celebrations.

The Open Canoe Festival is an ambitious event, and anyone who has experienced it will tell you: we pay attention to every detail — flawless welcome, high-quality meals, complimentary T-shirt and poster, and the very best European instructors…
After fifteen years of experience, our expertise is well established, and the OCF has become an unmissable event in the world of outdoor sports.

To organise an event of this scale, we need partners… and you could be one of them!

Our new 2026 partnership offer is designed to suit all budgets and all objectives: from the main partner associated with the event to exhibitors present on site for four days.

Among our partnership options, a new offer may be especially interesting for brands looking to increase their visibility: the Web Partner.

This partnership is designed for companies and organizations that wish to support the largest European festival dedicated to open-canoe touring without being physically present at the event.

It includes:

Dedicated digital visibility:
– A social media post highlighting your organisation,
– A presentation article on our blog,
– Your logo featured on the “Partners” page of our website.

And also:
– The opportunity to offer a prize of your choice for our major festival lottery.

This one-year partnership, with a low financial commitment, gives you the opportunity to promote your activity to an audience that is particularly aligned with your values, your services, and your products.

We can give you visibility starting today.
Contact us to receive our partnership brochure.

Mail : contact@opencanoefestival.com

The song of the birds, evenings by the water, bivouacs under the stars, and the freedom to explore the last wild rivers by paddle…
Do these images make you dream? Then this message is for you.

The Open Canoe Festival will take place from Thursday, April 30 to Sunday, May 3, 2026, once again in the beautiful Drôme Valley, in Mirabel-et-Blacons (France).

Since 2010, the OCF has established itself as the largest European (and probably worldwide—yes, really!) gathering dedicated to open canoe touring and river travel.
Every spring, hundreds of paddling enthusiasts from all over Europe come together for three days of workshops, river trips, encounters, and conviviality, all united by the same passion: traveling by paddle.

For this 2026 edition — in department 26! — expect surprises, new workshops on lake, river, and land, passionate experts from across Europe, the same warm and friendly atmosphere, and of course, the legendary Drôme River ""Grande Descente", the highlight of the weekend.

Is the river calling you?
Are you passionate about paddling expeditions?
Do you want to discover this world or refine your technique?
Then the OCF is the place to be!

Registrations open in early January – places are limited.

Here's the program for the 2025 workshops. Please note that you will have the choice of 10 additional workshops (themed descents) offered during Sunday's grand descent. These “Grande descente” workshops will also appear in the “river workshop registration” e-mail sent out on Monday April 7.

Remember that registration for the “ground workshops” takes place at the Festival (and not online as for the river workshops).

Click HERE to download the PDF.

Workshops: how it works.

The workshops can be in French, English or both at the same time! There are more than 100 workshops in 3 days proposed in 3 main families:

• Technical canoeing for Beginners (level 1), Intermediate (level 2) or Advanced (level 3).
• Safety (rope techniques, unpinning, first aid…)
• Canoe Culture: including many of the topics described above.

By taking part in the OCF, the idea is to do a practical workshop on the water adapted to your level. Each participant is entitled to two on-water workshops during the weekend.

Registration for the workshops is in two steps : one part online (email sent on April 7) for the river workshops and one part on site (at the Festival) for the workshops on the ground.

Click HERE to download the PDF.

When you register at the OCF, you will have to indicate your level of practice: beginner, intermediate or advanced. It is not that simple. Read this article carefully before registering.

The OCF's team of instructors counts 30 coaches, including some of the best specialists in Europe. They all know that OCF participants have difficulty qualifying their technical level. Very few participants consider themselves to be beginners, when in fact they are! This can result in groups with very different technical levels, which we want to avoid.

Therefore, to determine your level, we invite you to ask yourself the following questions which are valid for all types of boats (tandem or solo canoes, inflatables, kayaks, packrafts…):

Level 3/ Advanced:

• My partner and I master boat edging when eddying in and out, regardless of the strength of the current.
• We master the techniques of back steering and bow rudders.
• We know how to stop precisely in a chosen eddy line.
• We can read the river and its dangers.
• We are autonomous in our recovery technique in case of capsizing.

Level 2/ Intermediate:

• My crew does not always master the canoe edging while eddying in or out in all current strengths.
• We do not always master the techniques of back steering and bow rudders.
• We do not always know how to stop precisely in a chosen eddy line.
• We do not know how to read the river and its dangers completely.
• We are not always autonomous in our recovery technique in case of capsizing.

Level 1/ Beginner:

• Beware, just because you have done the Ardèche (or other tourist classic) does not mean you are no longer a beginner!
• My partner and I do not know how to make a ferry, an eddy in or out, or a stop, or we do not know what it is.
• We do not know how to read the river from a canoeist's point of view, even if we have done some kayaking.

You were expecting a canoe that is both very light and very durable... Esquif has done it!

Esquif made a big splash back in 2015 with the development of T-Formex, the successor to its cousin, the now-defunct Royalex.

Since not all paddlers necessarily need the extreme durability that traditional T-Formex offers, Esquif now presents, for part of its range, canoes in the T-Formex Lite version.

The weight reduction is primarily achieved by optimizing the various layers that make up the T-Formex. The arrangement and shape of the reinforcing layers (stern, bow, bottom, etc.) have been reworked. At the same time, the hardware components have been redesigned to further optimize the weight savings. The result: canoes that are 15 to 20% lighter! A real revolution!

Learn more:

The Esquif canoes in Lite version offer nearly identical durability to those in T-Formex Expé (the name of the other range) and a weight as light as Kevlar/carbon canoes.

For flatwater models, only the Lite version was justified: the Adirondack, Huron 15′, 16′, and 17′ will only be offered in Lite. The Prospectors 15′, 16′, and 17′ and the Miramichi 18′ and 20′ will only be offered in Expé version in 2025.

Finally, the Canyon, Pocket Canyon, and Prospecteur Sport are available in both versions.
Which version should you choose for these?

It all depends on your use:

If you plan on whitewater runs or expeditions where you can’t afford damage? The extreme durability of the T-Formex Expé will meet your needs and give you the confidence to face extreme conditions.

If you plan on solo portages or flatwater use with your children? The lightness of the T-Formex Lite will meet your weight expectations while offering a level of durability superior to anything available on the market.

Refer to the table to make your choice:

Come discover the new Esquif models in T-Formex Lite at the Canoë Diffusion booth at the 2025 Open Canoe Festival!

Canoë Diffusion and Esquif : first sponsors of the Open Canoe Festival.

Here's the Open Canoe Festival 2024 video.

This year, we wanted to show the OCF's DNA, what we want to share with this event. Only the international side doesn't stand out, but we haven't forgotten our many foreign coaches and the 13 European countries taking part.

Thanks to all of you!

The Drôme is one of the last wild rivers in Europe, with a natural, torrential flow. It meanders for 106 km from its source to its confluence with the Rhône.

As a result, it is home to some exceptional flora and fauna, and in particular to two experts in camouflage:

On the banks
The ringed plover: this small bird lays 4 eggs on the ground among the pebbles. Their camouflage colour means they can be mistaken for the river's pebbles. Be careful where you step!

In the water
The zingel asper: this small fish endemic to the Rhône basin is in danger of extinction. It only survives in rivers with a natural profile and was reintroduced to the Drôme a few years ago. Here's a hint on how to spot it: lying on the bottom of the water, its eyes glow in the night like a cat's!
Take advantage of your stay to admire the biodiversity that surrounds you and treat it with respect.

Enjoy the descent!
To find out more, go to:
https://www.lagaredesramieres.com/fr/
https://aprondurhone.fr/