Soon after I arrived in Arles I realised I knew very little about it! I chose to go there because it has good connections with other towns in the region and because of the Roman sites. But it was even better than I expected!

Visiting the monuments:

The best way of seeing most of the monuments of Arles is by buying a pass at the Tourist Office (16€ for the Pass Avantage which gives you entrance to all the monuments and museums owned by the city – it’s valid for six months). Then you just need to follow the map and check everything out.

Amphitheatre: Arles’ most famous monument was just a few steps from where I was staying, so I took advantage of this and visited early in the morning. The theatre is beautiful and really well-preserved, and aside from seeing the building itself, you can climb one of the towers and get great views over Arles and nearby countryside.

The theatre is still is use today – they stage fake gladiator battles and it’s also a popular site for bull runs (different from bullfighting in that the bull doesn’t die, but not cool if you ask me).

Theatre Antique: This is a Roman theatre which is still impressive but has suffered a bit over the centuries. The great thing about it is that it’s still in use today, so you can visit during the day to see the grounds but also when there’s something on.

I was lucky that when I visited Arles the Peplum festival was on. This is an annual event in the ancient theatre in which you can see sword-and-sandal films (tickets for 7€). I watched Asterix with the local crowd, and it was a great way of experiencing the theatre in use.

Cryptoportiques: This is an amazing site – the old Roman forums required massive underground tunnels to be built, and here you can visit an example of this. The most impressive thing is how massive it is, it is a huge maze of large tunnels and it’s very well-preserved.

Alyscamps: This old necropolis is another impressive site. There’s a big avenue of tombs, and there’s also a big church on the site. Van Gogh and Cezanne both came here for inspiration.

Saint-Trophime Church and cloister: On the main town square, this church and its cloister are both really nice. The church is ample and has some interesting stained glass windows. The cloister is a beautiful building and there is a good film explaining how it was built.

Les Thermes de Constantin: Here you can see the old thermal baths, and there are good notes explaining how the building worked. I visited early when it was just me and the local cats.

Musee Departamental: This museum is about 20min from the centre following the Rhone, so you get nice views on the way there. It has an impressive collection of ancient artefacts and tells the story of Arles from its foundation with a focus on the Roman times.

The most interesting exhibit is a 2,000 year-old boat which was rescued from the bottom of the sea and painstakingly rebuilt for display – and there’s a great film explaining how they’ve managed to recreate it.

Reattu museum: This is a great local museum with lots of different modern art exhibits. It’s set in an ancient building, so the contrast between the old architecture and the new pieces makes it more interesting. It’s right by the Rhone, so you also get great views of the river from within the museum.

Van Gogh in Arles:

Van Gogh lived in Arles, so there are some interesting places around to see his work and where he used to paint.

Vincent Van Gogh Foundation: The Van Gogh Foundation (tickets for 9€) hosts exhibitions featuring some of Van Gogh’s paintings as well as works by other artists (when I visited there was a big Alice Neel retrospective). It’s all presented in the context of Van Gogh’s art, so the exhibits are made relevant to the site.

L’Espace Van Gogh: Back when it was a hospital, Van Gogh used to come to this place to paint. Nowadays it’s a cultural centre, and the artistic appeal definitely remains – it really is an ideal place to be artsy (even though my attempt wasn’t up to scratch). It’s a small space but it’s nice to walk around the garden and spend a few minutes lounging about.

Van Gogh Walk: Van Gogh painted a few of his pieces in Arles, and you can see these scattered around town. They are all marked with plaques, and you can download a map of where everything is here.

Farmers’ Market:

Arles hosts two markets, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Saturday one is the most famous, as it covers the whole of Boulevard Lices and beyond stretching over 2,5km. It’s a great market, offering not only lots of choice in local produce and handicraft, but also North African delicacies and spices. I found the prices here were a bit better than what I was paying in Aix.

The Rhone:

The Rhone goes right through Arles, and you can get amazing views over the river by following a promenade. It is also the best place to watch the sunset.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Stay: I stayed in this nice Airbnb which was ridiculously close to the Amphitheatre, and the host provided me with lots of useful tips on exploring the town. Arles is pretty small so as long as you’re in the city centre you can walk anywhere.
• Go: Arles is very well-connected by train to other towns in Provence. It’s also only about 30min from Marseille, so you can easily fly there from London and get the train from the airport.
• How long to stay: I stayed in Arles for 9 days, and I used a lot of my time to travel around. There are quite a few highlights in Arles, so you need a few whole days to see everything, and it’s also a great base from where to explore Provence by train.

I hopped on the train from Arles to explore nearby Nimes, home to another impressive arena and other Roman monuments.

The amphitheatre is huge, and its claim to fame is that it’s the most well-preserved of its kind.

Another highlight is the Maison Carree, which has one of the best-preserved Roman temple facades still standing. The inside of it is used to show a film reenacting how Nimes was founded, which was interesting.

Close to the city centre are the beautiful Jardins de la Fontaine, a massive park and garden with lots of sculptures. This is where you can see the temple of Diana, another Roman ruin.

Within the park you can reach the Tour Magne, the largest tower from the old city walls, which nowadays is a viewing point where you can see the whole of Nimes.

Nimes is a great place for a day trip, the city centre is really nice and the highlights are definitely worth a visit!

HOW TO DO IT:

• Getting there: From Arles the train to Nimes takes just 25min (tickets for 15.30€). It’s not very frequent, so a more flexible alternative is to take the bus. The bus and train stations are next to each other, so it’s easy to choose.
• Monuments: The best way to visit the Amphitheatre, the Maison Carree and Tour Magne is to buy a pass covering all of them for 13€. It can be purchased in any of the three monuments.

I started my Provence trip with a week in Aix-en-Provence. The town is famous for its farmer markets and for being the birthplace of Cezanne.

OLD TOWN

The old city centre of Aix is considered one of the most beautiful in France. The little streets, many of them pedestrianised, are cute and packed with little shops and cafes.

You can wander around for a few hours, stopping for ice cream and taking photos of the terracota facades.

Nearby is the famous Cours Mirabeau, an ample boulevard where you can watch people go by while sipping a glass of wine at Cafe des Deux Garcons (which Cezanne went to).

MARKETS AND SHOPPING

In the mornings of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in the streets near the Rotonde and in the main city squares, many markets take over Aix. Selling local produce, handicraft, clothes and more, these are not only a good place to shop but also an attraction in themselves.

The produce is good and fresh and you can buy the best peaches ever, but I found that the stalls selling things like lavender were a bit too touristy.

There’s also a good market in the evenings during the summer in Cours Mirabeau.

Around Aix Old Town there’s tons of little shops, selling all sorts of stuff. Many sell traditional products like lavender and calissons, but it’s good to have a look around first and see what’s on offer in different places – I found only a few shops were selling their own production.

WINE TOUR

I booked this half day wine tour to see some of the countryside and sample nice local wine. Provence is famous for rosé, so the tour focussed on that.

We visited two wineries. The first, Mistral, gave us a tour of the estate and a detailed explanation of how their wine is produced. We then tasted two types of white wine and three types of rose, as well as two types of olive oil also produced on site. Our second stop was Gassier, another winery where we tried three types of rosé.

Both places were set in the beautiful landscape of Provence, with great views over the mountains and the colourful countryside. This tour was a good opportunity to do something different for the day.

FONDATION VASARELY

A couple of kilometres outside Aix’s city centre is the Vasarely Foundation (tickets for 9€). The unusual building with towering rooms shaped as hexagons is a nice setting for Vasarely’s artwork, basically a collection of huge optical illusion pieces. It’s an interesting museum which also holds temporary exhibitions (when we visited there were nice displays by Vera Rohm).

The place is currently going through a big renovation, so a few rooms were closed, but it’s still definitely worth the trip – and as with anything with Aix, because it’s outside the city centre most tourists don’t venture that far.

DAY TRIP TO CASSIS

About half an hour by train from Marseille is Cassis, a little resort town by beautiful Mediterranean beaches. The town itself is very pretty, with a little port and plenty of bars and cafes with great views.

But the main attraction are the Calanques, narrow inlets with steep walls that create the most amazing scenery and beaches. You can follow different trails in the national park to reach different beaches and ports – the routes take from 30min to 2h and are not particularly difficult, although it can get quite hot and it’s good to wear comfortable shoes.

Along the way you get amazing views, and there are lots of cool spots for taking pictures.

To get to Cassis you can take a train from Marseille (takes about 30min). The gare is quite far from the city centre, but in the summer there are tourist busses available.

FOOD AND DRINK

Food in Provence may not be particularly veggie, but the are lots of yummy vegetables in the region, so it’s a great place for self-catering. In Aix there are lots of restaurants around, and plenty of options to choose from.

Provence is famous for their rosé wine, but beer is also very popular in the bars of Aix. We found a bunch of cool pubs in Rue de la Verrerie – they’re not particularly French, but many served Belgian beers at good prices (our favourite was the Kerry with their happy hour deals). And of course there are plenty of cafes and brasseries all over the Old Town, where you can have a drink al fresco.

HOW TO DO IT:

• Go: Fly to Marseille from London (takes 1h30). From the airport, busses leave every 30min to Aix and take about 35min. Tickets can be bought on the bus for 8.20€.
• Stay: I stayed in this excellent flat, which was well located and very well equipped. As long as you’re close to the Old Town then everything is within walking distance.
• Weather: I went in August, narrowly missing the big heatwave, so when I visited the weather was very good, usually just under 30 degrees and sunny. Summers in France can get unbearably hot though, and it’s also high season, so there are more tourists around. On the other hand, days are long and there’s a lot going on. Lavender fields were already gone by the time I arrived, so going earlier is also a good option.

I will do a follow up post on following Cezanne’s steps in Aix.