Canyoning is an outdoor sport related to caving, hiking,climbing andmountaineering on the one hand, and white-water sports on the other. It consists of progressing along riverbeds with flows ranging from low (sometimes zero for "dry canyons") to high, in stretches where the river flows through narrow gorges or ravines, with waterfalls of varying heights (max 350 m in mainland France).

Progress usually follows the stream bed and the direction of water flow. It is mainly done on foot, but also by swimming or using rope techniques commonly used in caving, in particular abseiling.