Is Arles worth visiting? An honest answer from someone who never left
Why Arles is famous, in four parts
Rome. Caesar refounded the town for his veterans in 46 BC and it called itself the little Rome of the Gauls. The amphitheatre of about 90 AD is the most visited thing in town; the theatre of about 12 BC is 200 m from it; the cryptoportiques run under the forum, Constantine’s baths sit by the river and the Alyscamps necropolis lies just outside the old walls. UNESCO listed the six together, with Saint-Trophime, in 1981. The history page tells the arena’s story, including the thousand years it spent as a walled town.
Van Gogh. He arrived on 20 February 1888 and left for Saint-Rémy on 8 May 1889, and in those fourteen months made more than 300 paintings and drawings: the café on place du Forum, the hospital garden that is now the Espace Van Gogh, the Alyscamps, the bedroom in the Yellow House, which a bomb destroyed in 1944. None of the paintings are here; the Fondation Vincent van Gogh, open since 2014, shows the places instead, and the places are the point.
Photography. The Rencontres d’Arles has run every summer since 1970 and takes over churches, warehouses and the old railway workshops; the 2026 edition runs from 6 July to 4 October. Since 2021 the Parc des Ateliers also has LUMA Arles, Frank Gehry’s 56 m tower, which you can see from the arena’s own tower.
The Camargue. The commune of Arles is the largest in metropolitan France by area, seven times the size of Paris, because it holds most of the delta: the white horses, the black bulls on their manades, the flamingos, the rice and the salt. The bulls come into town for the ferias, which is the arena’s second life.
A one-day plan
Nine o’clock at the Théâtre antique, empty at that hour. Ten at the amphitheatre, an hour inside, tower included. Eleven-thirty down to place de la République for the Saint-Trophime portal and cloister, and the obelisk in the square. Lunch: gardiane de taureau with Camargue rice if it is on the menu, or saucisson d’Arles and a fougasse from the market if it is Saturday. Afternoon: the Espace Van Gogh, the café on the Forum, the Alyscamps, and, if there is time and interest, the Musée départemental with the Roman barge. The walking order and distances are on what to see in Arles, and the timings inside the arena on how long to visit.
The honest downsides
Heat. From late June to the end of August the middle of the day is punishing, and the arena’s tiers are bare stone with no shade. Do the monuments before eleven and after five.
Feria days. The amphitheatre closes to sightseers for the whole Feria de Pâques (3 to 6 April 2026), for the Cocarde d’Or on 6 July, for the Feria du Riz (11 to 13 September) and for summer concerts. The town on those days is a party with full hotels; the monument is off limits. The feria page has the full programme.
Sundays. There is no market, most shops keep their shutters down and the streets are quiet in a way that some visitors find restful and others find dead. Saturday is the day, for the market alone, which runs 8:00 to 12:45 along boulevard des Lices with around 450 stalls over 2.5 km.
And one more: Arles is small. About 51,000 people, a centre you cross in twenty minutes, and after two days a visitor without a car will have seen it. That is a feature if you like towns you can hold in your head, and a limit if you do not.
Stay the night. The day-trippers leave by five, the arena stays open until seven in summer, and place du Forum after dark, with the café lit as Van Gogh painted it, is a different town from the one the coaches see.
Based in Aix, Marseille or Avignon?
The day trips pair Arles with Les Baux and Saint-Rémy in a minibus of eight. The Aix departure is the most booked, with 111 reviews and a 4.8 rating.
Do you need a tour?
Not to see the arena; you walk in with a monument ticket or a pass, bought at the door, and no tour includes it. A tour earns its place in two cases. If you have an hour in Arles and want a local to tell you what you are looking at, the 60-minute express walk does that and ends in the Roquette quarter. If you are based in Aix, Marseille or Avignon and want Arles, Les Baux and Saint-Rémy in one day without driving, the day trips do that, with about 90 minutes of free time in Arles. If Van Gogh is the reason you are coming, the half-day from Avignon includes the asylum at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole where he spent his last year in Provence. All six are compared on the all tours page, and the reviews are summarised at reviews.
Frequently asked questions
Is Arles worth a day trip?
Yes. The arena, the theatre and Saint-Trophime are within ten minutes of each other, and Avignon is 17 to 20 minutes away by train. Arrive by nine and you have the theatre to yourself; the getting there page has the train and parking details.
How many days do you need in Arles?
One full day for the Roman monuments and the Van Gogh sites, two if you add the Camargue or the Rencontres exhibitions. Timings for the arena itself are on how long to visit.
What is Arles best known for?
The Roman amphitheatre, Van Gogh’s fourteen months in the town, the Rencontres photography festival and the Camargue. It is also France’s oldest working bullring; see the feria page for what that means for your dates.
Is Arles better than Avignon?
Different. Avignon is the bigger town and the transport hub; Arles has the Roman monuments, Van Gogh and a smaller, quieter centre. They are 20 minutes apart by train, so most people do both. The Van Gogh half-day from Avignon links them.