Corrida or course camarguaise: what is the difference in Arles?
What you see at a corrida
The Spanish format: the bull is fought on foot in stages and killed in the ring. A novillada is the same with younger bulls and apprentice matadors; a corrida de rejón is fought from horseback; the corrida goyesque at the Feria du Riz dresses the matadors in 18th-century costume after Goya. I am not going to argue you into a seat or out of one. Plenty of Arlésiens go, plenty refuse, and both camps drink at the same bodegas afterwards.
What you see at a course camarguaise
A single cocardier bull comes out with a red cocarde, two white tassels and strings tied to its horns. The raseteurs, dressed in white, run at it and use a small hook called a crochet to snatch them, then vault the barrier with the bull behind them. Nobody bleeds, and the good bulls become better known than the men. I watched my first Cocarde d’Or from the upper tiers as a child and it is still the afternoon I send visitors to if they want to understand the town.
When each one happens in 2026
The Feria de Pâques opens on Friday 3 April with a course at 16:30, then novilladas at 11:00 and corridas at 16:30 on Saturday and Sunday, and a corrida de rejón on Monday morning. The Cocarde d’Or is on Monday 6 July at 17:30, after the abrivado through the streets. The Feria du Riz, 11 to 13 September, has a course on the Friday, the corrida goyesque on the Saturday and a novillada and corrida on the Sunday. The course season runs roughly Easter to October. The full programme is on the feria page; tickets are sold by the arena’s own box office at arenes-arles.com, not here.
If you want the amphitheatre as a monument during a feria, you cannot have it. Come the day before or after, or read how entry works and plan around the closure.
Walk it with someone from here
An hour with a local host takes in the amphitheatre from outside, Saint-Trophime and the Roquette, and you can ask about the bulls instead of reading panels.
Frequently asked questions
Is the bull killed in a course camarguaise?
No. The raseteurs take ribbons from its horns and the bull leaves alive after fifteen minutes at most. Only the corrida ends with the bull’s death. Dates for both are on the 2026 feria calendar.
When is the corrida in Arles in 2026?
Feria de Pâques, 3 to 6 April, corridas at 16:30 on Saturday, Sunday and Monday; Feria du Riz, 11 to 13 September, corrida goyesque on the Saturday at 17:00. The monument is closed to visitors on those days.
Can I visit the amphitheatre on a feria day?
Not as a sightseer. It closes from Good Friday to Easter Monday and on every spectacle day. Come another day with a monument ticket or an Arles pass; see tickets and passes.