Phare de la Gacholle, Lighthouse at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France.

Phare de la Gacholle is a lighthouse on the Camargue coastline featuring a square masonry tower with a white upper lantern section rising about 18 meters above the terrain. The structure stands as a navigational marker clearly visible from considerable distances across the water.

Built in 1882 to ease access to the Beauduc anchorage, the only shelter from the east wind, and to avoid the dangerous Pointe du Sablon, the lighthouse entered service in 1884. Partly destroyed during the Second World War, it was returned to service on 13 November 1948 and automated in 1996.

The lighthouse is not open to visitors; it is used by the SNPN, the association that manages the Camargue national nature reserve. Its name comes from the Gacholle area on the sea dike between Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and Salin-de-Giraud, where it stands between the ponds of la Dame, Tampan and Galabert.

The lighthouse cannot be visited; it is used by the SNPN, the association that manages the Camargue national nature reserve. It stands on the digue à la mer between Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and Salin-de-Giraud, between the étangs de la Dame, du Tampan and de Galabert. Access is on foot or by bicycle along the dike, so plan for wind and sun exposure.

The lighthouse was automated in 1996 and its 40-watt halogen lamp runs on energy from a solar panel. Until then, rotation came from a weight-driven rotating machine with a fin-blade regulator, and an Aladin incandescent-mantle lamp provided the original light.