How to get to the Arènes d’Arles by train, car and on foot

From the station on foot

Arles station is on the north edge of the old town, by the river. Come out, cross the square, and take rue Voltaire straight ahead; it climbs gently past the Hopla shuttle stop and delivers you to the rond-point des Arènes in ten minutes, with the arches in front of you for the last three. The ticket desk is under the arches on the side facing the town. There is no need for a taxi or a bus; if you have wheeled luggage, the pavement is fine as far as the rond-point and the Roman paving starts only inside the monument.

By train

Arles is on the line between Nîmes and Marseille, which is why it is easy from those two and from Avignon, and awkward from Aix. Approximate times:

• Avignon-Centre: 17 to 20 minutes. Note that this is Avignon-Centre, the station in town, not the TGV station outside it.
• Nîmes: 18 to 30 minutes, depending on the service.
• Marseille Saint-Charles: 45 to 55 minutes.
• Montpellier: about 50 minutes.
• Aix-en-Provence: no direct train. Change at Marseille Saint-Charles, or drive.

If you are coming for a feria, the train is the sensible choice: the town centre is closed to traffic in places, the hotels are full and the car parks are not. The dates are on the feria page.

By car

Avignon is 37 km and about 35 minutes; Nîmes 32 km; Marseille 94 km and about an hour on the motorway; Aix about 75 km and an hour. The old town is a knot of one-way streets built for carts, and the rond-point itself is not somewhere to stop, so aim for a car park on the ring boulevards and walk the last ten minutes.

Airports

Marseille-Provence is the big one, about 50 minutes by car; Nîmes airport is closer, about 20 minutes, with fewer flights. From either, a hire car is the simplest way to reach Arles; from Marseille you can also go into the city and take the train.

Parking

Street parking is paid Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 19:00, from October to April, and every day 9:00 to 19:00 from May to September. On a Saturday morning the boulevard des Lices is closed for the market, which takes most of the centre’s kerbside space with it; the market hours are on market days.

The Hopla shuttle

A free shuttle called Hopla loops the centre Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 19:00, linking the car parks, the station and the boulevards. It is useful if you have parked at the Cirque Romain and do not fancy the walk, and useful in August when the heat makes ten minutes feel like twenty. It does not run on Sundays.

Once you arrive

The ticket desk is under the arches; the monument ticket, the combined theatre ticket and the two passes are all sold there, at the tourist office on boulevard des Lices, or online, and the tickets page explains which to buy. Check the opening hours for your season before you set out, because the winter gate shuts at 16:30. Inside, the ground is uneven Roman paving and the tiers and tower are stairs only; the accessibility page covers what that means for wheelchairs and pushchairs.

If you would rather be driven

Three day trips do the driving for you and pair Arles with Les Baux and Saint-Rémy: from Aix (8.5 hours, meeting outside the tourist office), from Marseille (10.5 hours, meeting by the Vieux-Port) and from Avignon (hotel pickup, with an olive-mill picnic and the Carrières de Lumières). The Marseille departure is the one for anyone landing at the airport and staying in the city; the operator sometimes passes through Aix to collect passengers on the way. None of the three includes the monument ticket. They are compared on the day tours page.

Frequently asked questions