Lakes and ponds for sale in Vaucluse are rare, because water here is first and foremost a matter of canals. For centuries the Durance, the Sorgues rising from the Fontaine de Vaucluse spring and the irrigation canals of the Comtat have watered orchards and market gardens, while the limestone heights of Mont Ventoux, the Monts de Vaucluse and the Luberon soak up the rain. Existing water bodies are therefore often man-made: irrigation basins at farmhouses and bastides, ponds dug in a former wet meadow, and historic reservoirs such as the Étang de la Bonde or the Lac du Paty. Those on the market appear among our ponds for sale all over France, listed by private sellers, estate agents and notaires.
The price block that follows shows pond values for Vaucluse, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and France; the department records almost no sales of ponds without buildings, and most water bodies change hands with a house. The rest of the page explains where Vaucluse ponds are found, who buys them and which checks are needed in a land of mistral, drought and sudden floods. Our guide to acquiring a pond walks you through the purchase.
According to the ma-propriete.fr pond price observatory, which keeps only ponds, lakes and pools sold without buildings in the French DVF land registry data, a single pond sale meeting these criteria was recorded in Vaucluse between July 2020 and December 2025, so no departmental price can be published. In Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, 10 ponds sold over the same period at a median of €22,942/ha†; the national median was €25,235/ha in 2025.
| Indicator | Vaucluse (84) | Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur | France |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price 2020-2025 | not published | €22,942/ha† | €25,694/ha |
| Average price 2020-2025 | not published | €34,798/ha† | €32,291/ha |
| Number of sales 2020-2025 | 1 | 10 | 2,053 |
| Median price 2025 | not published (0 sales) | not published | €25,235/ha |
| Number of sales 2025 | 0 | 0 | 300 |
Measured against the total area, banks included, a pond’s value depends heavily on its size: small, well-equipped ponds cost more per hectare. The figures concern ponds sold on their own, without a house or a large wood.
On the listings side, 26 properties with a pond are offered on ma-propriete.fr across France as of 2 October 2026, none in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur at that date. Their median asking price is €94,000 for a median size of about 2.6 ha. These are asking prices for complete properties: they describe the supply on offer more than the average price of a wooded hectare. Finally, remember the purchase costs, which you can estimate with our notary fee calculator.
Source: DVF (French tax authority), processed by ma-propriete.fr; ponds, lakes and pools without buildings of at least 2,000 m², with water covering at least half of the property; July 2020 to December 2025. Listings recorded on 2 October 2026.
On the Comtat plain, between Carpentras, Cavaillon and L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, still water is nearly always diverted water. The Fontaine de Vaucluse, France’s largest karst spring, gives rise to the Sorgues, which split into many branches around L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and once drove mills and factories. The Carpentras canal, created in the mid-19th century from an intake on the Durance at Mallemort, in Bouches-du-Rhône, serves a large irrigation network run by a landowners’ association. A pond fed by a branch of the Sorgues or by a canal therefore depends on a water right, an annual fee and rules of use that you need to have explained.
Old mills and water intakes on the Sorgues may hold a “fondé en titre” right, which predates the French Revolution, provided it can be proven; check that the right has not lapsed through the ruin of the structure. The cool, steady water of the Sorgues attracts anglers, and a lake or pond fed by it normally falls under open-water fishing rules.
South of the Luberon, the Étang de la Bonde, between Cabrières-d’Aigues and La Motte-d’Aigues, was created in the 15th century by a lord of the Agoult family to supply his château. Fed by springs at the foot of the range, topped up with water from the Durance, it is now used for irrigation, swimming and fishing, and remains privately owned but open to the public. At the foot of Mont Ventoux, the Lac du Paty at Caromb has held back, since the 18th century, water for irrigation and the village mills; a fishing club manages it. Other leisure lakes, at Apt, Monieux and Rustrel, complete the picture.
On the limestone plateaux, rainwater soaks away at once. Local people therefore dug “aiguiers”, cisterns cut into the rock and roofed with stone vaults, common around Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, Gordes and Sault, to water flocks, irrigate kitchen gardens or cool lavender stills. A farmhouse or sheepfold on the plateaux may have one, but not a pond as such. The Luberon and Mont-Ventoux regional nature parks, whose charters guide local planning, also frame some works. For other Provençal water bodies, compare with our lakes and ponds for sale in Bouches-du-Rhône, where the Camargue offers a different kind of property.
The market is mainly residential. A Luberon bastide or a Comtat farmhouse with a basin, an ornamental pool or a small pond attracts buyers from Avignon, Marseille, Lyon or Paris, along with many from elsewhere in Europe, who see water as a pleasure as much as a defence against the heat. For them, the house with a pond matters more than the area of water. Anglers look for a fishing pond without buildings, but such properties are very rare in the department. Farmers, finally, are interested in water reserves that secure irrigation for Ventoux orchards and vineyards.
Vaucluse lies in the Rhône-Méditerranée basin. In summer, the mistral and the heat speed up evaporation, and drought orders can restrict abstraction from rivers and aquifers: check that a pond holds its level without top-ups, or that its supply rests on a secure water right. Ask for the documents proving that the pond has been declared or authorised under French water law, and locate it in relation to wetlands and Natura 2000 sites, such as those of the Durance and the Sorgues.
Floods are the other risk: the Ouvèze at Vaison-la-Romaine, the Calavon and the Durance have left lasting memories, and a poorly maintained pond dam can fail in an autumn storm. Consult the flood risk prevention plan, have the dam and spillway inspected, and check the depth of silt. Finally, a property in a wooded area is subject to the legal brush-clearing obligations. Our article on pond upkeep and dredging helps you plan the costs.
Pond listings for Vaucluse on ma-propriete.fr are posted by private sellers, agents and notaires; sort them by price and size, save an alert to be the first to see new offers, or let us advertise your own lake. If you would like wooded hills around the water, see our woods and forests for sale in Vaucluse; at regional level, browse our lakes and ponds for sale in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
