Nîmes

The arena, the Maison Carrée and the Tour Magne in a day

One day covers Roman Nîmes on foot. Be at Les Arènes at opening, cross to the Musée de la Romanité and its roof garden, then walk to the Maison Carrée, which the combined ticket covers. Spend the afternoon in the Jardins de la Fontaine and climb the Tour Magne for the view to the Cévennes.

Walk from the station up Avenue Feuchères and be at Les Arènes when it opens. The audio guide is good, but the real pleasure is climbing to the top tier and walking the rim of an amphitheatre built in the first century and still used for concerts and ferias. Cross the square to the Musée de la Romanité, whose rippling glass facade hides floor mosaics found in the city, and go up to its roof garden for the view straight down into the arena.

Walk north through the Écusson to the Maison Carrée, the temple so intact that Thomas Jefferson borrowed it for the Virginia State Capitol; the combined ticket covers it. Norman Foster's Carré d'Art faces it across the square, and its top-floor café is a cool spot for a drink. Have a brandade lunch in one of the lanes nearby.

In the afternoon follow the canal along the Quai de la Fontaine to the Jardins de la Fontaine. Look at the ruined Temple of Diana, then take the shaded paths uphill to the Tour Magne and climb its stair for the view to the Cévennes. Come down for an evening drink on Boulevard Victor Hugo, where the bars stay open late.

Brandade, gardiane and Villaret croquants in Nîmes

Brandade de morue, salt cod beaten with olive oil and milk, is the dish Nîmes calls its own. Gardiane de taureau, a stew of Camargue bull, comes with local rice, and petits pâtés nîmois are sold warm in the old town. Les Halles has brandade counters, and croquants Villaret biscuits make the classic present.

Nîmes cooks with one eye on Provence and the other on the Camargue marshes to the south. Brandade de morue is the city's own dish: salt cod poached and beaten with olive oil and milk, sometimes with potato and garlic, into a warm, creamy purée eaten with toast. Gardiane de taureau is a slow stew of black Camargue bull meat in red wine, served with rice from the same wetlands, and it comes into its own on feria weekends. Start any meal with tapenade, the olive and caper paste, on toasted bread.

Petits pâtés nîmois, small round pies of seasoned veal and pork, are sold warm by bakers in the old town. For something to take home, croquants Villaret, very hard almond biscuits, have been made by the same bakery since the 18th century, and the tins are a classic present.

Les Halles, the covered market in the Écusson, has olive sellers, butchers and brandade counters, plus small bars for a glass at lunch. Drink a red or rosé from the Costières de Nîmes, the vineyards south of the city, and remember that Perrier is bottled at a spring just down the road at Vergèze.

Nîmes ferias, its weather and a trip to the Pont du Gard

Nîmes is most comfortable from April to June, when highs run from 20 to 28C. July averages 32C, and September to November bring the heaviest rain. The Feria de Pentecôte and the Feria des Vendanges in mid-September fill the town. The Pont du Gard is about 25 km away on liO bus C21.

The climate is Mediterranean with a hard edge. July averages 32C by day, and heatwaves push well past it, while September to November bring the year's heaviest rain, around 95 to 100 mm a month, often in sudden storms. Spring is the best season: April to June run from 20 to 28C with bright light for the monuments.

Two ferias fill the arena and the streets. The Feria de Pentecôte, over the Whitsun weekend in May or June, brings bullfights, bodegas in the lanes and huge crowds; the Feria des Vendanges in mid-September is smaller and celebrates the grape harvest. Book far ahead for either, or avoid them if you want quiet streets.

The Pont du Gard, the three-tier Roman aqueduct bridge over the Gardon, carried water to the Castellum in town and lies about 25 km north-east. Take liO bus C21 and allow half a day: cross the bridge, follow the riverbank for the view from below, and in summer swim in the Gardon. Arrive in the morning, ahead of the heat and the coaches. Uzès, with its ducal castle and a Saturday market under the arcades of Place aux Herbes, makes a calmer half-day by car.