Arles

Roman Arles and Van Gogh's Arles in a day by the Rhône

Arles needs a full day if you want both its Roman monuments and Van Gogh's places. Use the combined monuments pass for the Arènes, the Théâtre Antique, the Saint-Trophime cloister and the cryptoportiques. Spend the afternoon at the Alyscamps, then choose the Musée de l'Arles Antique or LUMA Arles, and walk the Rhône quays after dinner.

Morning. Pick up the combined monuments pass and go straight to the Arènes, the amphitheatre built for some 20,000 spectators that still hosts ferias. Climb a tower for the view over the tiled roofs to the Rhône, then walk round to the Théâtre Antique, where two marble columns stand above the seating. Continue to Place de la République for the carved Last Judgement portal of Saint-Trophime and its cloister, whose capitals are some of the best Romanesque carving in Provence.

Midday. Step into the town hall and down into the cryptoportiques, the cool horseshoe of vaulted galleries under the old forum. Lunch on Place du Forum, beside the yellow café that Van Gogh painted at night.

Afternoon. Walk south-east to the Alyscamps, an avenue of stone sarcophagi under poplars that Van Gogh and Gauguin both painted. Then choose between two very different museums: the Musée de l'Arles Antique, out by the river, which displays a complete Roman barge recovered from the Rhône, or LUMA Arles, Frank Gehry's twisting steel tower in the Parc des Ateliers, with contemporary shows in former railway workshops.

Evening. After dinner, walk the Rhône quays near Place Lamartine, where Van Gogh set up his easel for Starry Night over the Rhône. The next day, head south into the Camargue for flamingos at the Pont de Gau bird park and the sea at Saintes-Maries.

Gardiane, tellines and the Saturday market in Arles

Arles cooks with Camargue produce. Order gardiane de taureau, bull stewed in red wine and served with red Camargue rice, and tellines, small clams from the beaches near Saintes-Maries. The Saturday market on the Boulevard des Lices runs for over a kilometre. Eat on Rue du Président Wilson, Rue des Arènes and in La Roquette.

Arles cooks with what the Camargue gives it. The defining dish is gardiane de taureau, black Camargue bull slowly stewed with red wine, olives and herbs, served with the region's own rice, often the nutty red variety grown in the delta's paddies. In season, look for tellines, tiny clams raked from the beaches near Saintes-Maries and sautéed with garlic and parsley. Saucisson d'Arles, a dry sausage that traditionally includes a little donkey meat, and fougasse d'Arles, sometimes filled with duck confit, are the take-home specialities.

The Saturday morning market along the Boulevard des Lices is one of the largest in Provence, stretching for well over a kilometre with olives, cheese, spices, fish, Camargue salt from Salin-de-Giraud, and racks of cheap Provençal fabric. A smaller Wednesday market sets up on Boulevard Émile Combes.

For dinner, skip the tourist menus on the busiest side of Place du Forum and look along Rue du Président Wilson, Rue des Arènes and the lanes of La Roquette. Pastis is the aperitif of choice, and the cellars of the Costières de Nîmes, just across the Rhône, supply most of the wine lists. In feria week, bodegas in the streets around the arena serve tapas and sangria late into the night.

Ferias, the Rencontres photography festival and Arles weather

Spring highs of 19 to 27C make April to June the easiest months in Arles, and early autumn comes close. The Easter feria opens the year, the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival runs from early July through the summer, and the rice feria closes the season in September. July and August average 30C.

Arles keeps a busy calendar, and timing a visit around it changes the town completely. The year opens with the Easter feria, when corridas fill the Arènes and bands play in the streets until dawn. On 1 May the Fête des Gardians brings Camargue cowboys on white horses and women in Arlésienne costume through the centre. Late May sees the gypsy pilgrimage at nearby Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

From early July the Rencontres d'Arles, the photography festival held since 1970, opens exhibitions in chapels, cloisters and railway sheds; its opening week is the busiest of the year, but the shows run on through the summer. Courses camarguaises, where raseteurs snatch ribbons from a bull's horns without harming it, take place in the arena on summer evenings. The season ends with the rice feria in September.

The climate rewards spring and early autumn. April to June brings highs from 19 to 27°C with little rain, and the marshes are green and full of nesting birds. July and August average 30°C, with July seeing only about 13 mm of rain. September and October turn wetter, at over 80 mm each, often in short storms. Winter is mild, around 11 to 12°C by day, but the mistral can blow hard and cold down the Rhône for days.