Things to do in Arles
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Arles
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall, warm without worst heat, everything open and light at its Provencal best.
Spring bloom and migration, Easter Feria in April, cooler with some rain and mistral possible.
Hottest, busiest and most expensive, culturally maximal with Rencontres, Suds and Fete du Costume.
Quiet connoisseur month after harvest, prices fall, days shorten and mistral returns.
Coldest, quietest and cheapest, winter festivals in December, many closures in January and February.
What's on
- Feria de Pâques Easter weekend, Good Friday to Easter Monday
Opens the bullfighting season with corridas, bodegas, street music and costume.
- Fête des Gardians 1 May
Traditional gardians festival in Arles.
- Pèlerinage des Gitans around 24-25 May
Major Roma and Traveller pilgrimage at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
- Les Rencontres d'Arles Opening week in early July, exhibitions to late September or early October
World photography festival with around 40 exhibitions and night screenings at the Theatre Antique.
- Fête du Costume early July
Women of Arles in traditional dress, a serious cultural event.
- Les Suds à Arles mid-July
World music festival in the Theatre Antique and across town.
- Arelate late August
Roman living history festival with gladiators and legions, family friendly.
- Feria du Riz second weekend of September
Rice harvest Feria, many locals prefer it to Easter, with arena and street energy.
- Octobre Numérique Oct-Nov
Digital arts festival extending the cultural calendar.
- Dans les bras du Rhône early-mid October
River festival on the Rhone.
Best things to do in Arles
Arles Amphitheatre
Roman amphitheatre still in use, with the best payoff in the upper tiers and tower views over the old town.
Théâtre Antique d'Arles
Augustan theatre beside the amphitheatre, best for atmosphere and for an evening performance on warm stone.
Cloître Saint-Trophime
Finest Romanesque portal in Provence plus a carved cloister, free church entry and a paid cloister on the pass.
Musée Départemental Arles Antique
The museum that makes the Roman sites make sense, with mosaics, sarcophagi and a Roman barge from the Rhone.
LUMA Arles
Gehry tower, exhibitions and a free landscaped park on a former rail yard, best in late afternoon light.
Fondation Vincent Van Gogh Arles
Loaned Van Gogh works in conversation with contemporary artists in temporary shows, not a permanent collection.
Van Gogh Trail
Free self guided trail marking where Van Gogh painted his most famous Arles works in 1888 and 1889.
Espace Van Gogh
Former hospital where Van Gogh was treated, now a cultural centre around a garden courtyard evoking his painting.
Where to stay in Arles
Historic Centre
first trip, all-round base
Amphitheatre, theatre, markets and restaurants all within a 15 minute stroll, no car needed in town.
La Roquette
repeat visitors, food-focused stays
Old fishermen's quarter of narrow lanes and neighbourhood bars, quieter and more local, still walkable.
Trinquetaille
longer self-catering stays, lower cost
Residential right bank quarter across the Rhone, peaceful and cheaper, 10 to 15 minutes walk to the centre.
Station / LUMA fringe
one-night road-trip base
Larger modern hotels with easier car access and parking, 10 minutes walk to the Arenes, less charm.
Countryside mas outside the walls
drivers touring Alpilles and Camargue
Converted farmhouses with pools, gardens and parking, superb by car and frustrating without one.
Think twice about
- Fourchon / Palais des Congrès commercial zone
Cheapest chain hotels surrounded by big box retail and roundabouts, a drive from everything with no evening life.
- Isolated Camargue-road properties without a car
Beautiful mas far down dark unlit roads becomes isolation after dark with no taxi rank and heavy mosquitoes.
- Arènes / Feria circuit streets
Not unsafe but very loud during Feria weeks with street music and crowds until very late, hard for light sleepers.
Best restaurants in Arles
La Chassagnette
Starred garden restaurant cooking almost entirely from its own organic kitchen garden in the Camargue.
L'Atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel
Arles' avant garde fine-dining name, built on organic farm vegetables in tasting menu formats.
Le Criquet
Traditional Provencal bistro Arlesians recommend, with classic cooking and bargain weekday lunch formulas.
La Gueule du Loup
Stone walled vaulted favourite for French Mediterranean cooking, a reliable second night dinner choice.
Le Plaza - La Paillotte
Pretty garden terrace restaurant for French Mediterranean plates, the warm evening eat outside pick.
Drum Café
Seasonal inventive cooking inside Gehry's LUMA tower, best as a long lunch within a LUMA day.
Colosseo - Pinsa Romana
Roman style pinsa and Italian plates, the break from Provencal pick with explicit vegetarian options.
Saveurs et Terroirs
Budget champion with careful market fresh French Mediterranean plates and remarkable value at lunch.
Outdoor things to do in Arles
Camargue Alpilles Safaris
Four hour 4x4 safari into rice fields and lagoons for white horses, black bulls and large flocks of birds.
Parc Ornithologique du Pont de Gau
Boardwalks and hides through marsh where flamingos feed and fly over at close range, flat and accessible.
Domaine de Méjanes
Camargue estate with trails, a lake and activities that explains manade and gardian culture in context.
Bergerie d'Alivon
Highly rated equestrian operator for rides on calm white Camargue horses suitable for beginners.
Carrières de Lumières
Immersive art projections inside a vast former quarry, still the best version because the quarry is the spectacle.
Château des Baux-de-Provence
Ruined hilltop citadel and fortified village with huge views over Alpilles olive country, best early or late.
Saint-Paul-de-Mausole
Monastery asylum where Van Gogh painted The Starry Night, with his reconstructed room, cloister and garden.
Glanum
Superb excavated Gallo Roman town in a pine valley under the Alpilles, beside Saint Paul de Mausole.
Best hotels in Arles
Jules César Arles - MGallery
Grande dame five star in a former convent with Lacroix interiors, garden, pool and spa on the Lices.
L'Arlatan
Medieval mansion reinvented by Jorge Pardo as a total artwork, with garden and pool behind street walls.
L'Hôtel Particulier
Discreet mansion with garden, small pool and hammam, the quiet luxury and honeymoon pick in Arles.
Grand Hôtel Nord-Pinus
Legendary Forum hotel with Picasso and bullfighting history, an institutional bar and Forum facing rooms.
Hôtel Spa Le Calendal
Consensus mid range champion between amphitheatre and theatre, with garden courtyard and a vaulted spa.
Hôtel de l'Amphithéâtre
Stone townhouse a minute from the Arenes with individually decorated rooms and honest mid range prices.
Hôtel du Cloître
Design forward boutique near Saint Trophime with bold colour, custom furniture and a roof terrace.
Hôtel du Forum
Classic Forum hotel with a pool in the Van Gogh cafe square, a real asset in July heat.
Is Arles expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €95 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €195 a person |
| Splurge | €450 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Camargue Alpilles Safaris: a few days ahead
- Bergerie d'Alivon: a few days ahead
- Carrières de Lumières: a few days ahead
- Golf de Servanes: a few days ahead
- Golf du Domaine de Manville: a few days ahead
- Jules César Arles - MGallery: months ahead
- L'Arlatan: weeks ahead
- L'Hôtel Particulier: weeks ahead
- Book weeks or months ahead for Rencontres opening week, Feria weekends and July to September weekends.
- Book La Chassagnette, Le Criquet, top hotels, Carrieres timed tickets and Camargue safaris ahead in season.
- Buy the monuments pass if doing three or more Roman sites, it bundles the main sights at a clear saving.
Is Arles safe?
- Watch bags in the Saturday market crush, around the Arenes on Feria nights and at the station.
- Respect barriers during encierros and abrivados, gardian horses and bulls in streets are working events.
- Pack a windproof layer for the mistral and plan siesta logistics in summer heat, do not swim in the Rhone in town.
Arles travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Cafe Van Gogh for food, photograph the square at dusk and eat anywhere else.
- Les Baux at 1pm in August is a queue, go early or late and keep Carrieres as the focus.
- Driving the main Camargue roads is not seeing the Camargue, do Pont de Gau, a safari or a manade.
Getting around Arles: public transport and more
- Walk the compact centre and park a car once on the perimeter, a car inside is a liability.
- Train is the default, Arles station is a 10 minute walk from the centre with links to Avignon, Nimes and Marseille.
- For Camargue and Alpilles use a car, a safari or tour, or summer buses, as rural bus service is thin.
Who Arles suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Arles your trip
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