Arles is the largest village of France with its 758 square meter; and stretches on the major part of the Camargue.
A canal links its port to the Mediterranean Sea.
Its main activities are rice and market garden production, as well as paper, cardboard and materials.
The city of Arles was one of the most important settlements of Gaul, providing grain for most of the western empire, as well as being a crucial port and shipbuilding center – indeed, in the 4th century it became the capital of Gaul, Britain and Spain.
Today, Arles is a picturesque town with a laid-back Mediterranean atmosphere and well-preserved vestiges of its illustrious past – not least a marvelous Roman amphitheater.

Immediately east of the cathedral, the Théâtre Antique is worth a look, but just beyond it is the town’s most impressive imperial structure, the Arènes. Built in the first century AD, it originally seated twenty thousand and is still used for bullfights.

For a better insight into Roman Arles, head for the Archaelogical Museum of Arles, west of the town center on the spit of land between the Rhône and the Canal de Rhône, where fabulous mosaics, sarcophagi und sculpture illuminate Arles’ early history.

If you feel that life in Arles stopped with the Romans, you will be reassured by the Reattu Museum opposite the Roman Baths, which returns you to the twentieth century with a decent collection of modern paintings, not Keats a good array of work by Picasso, including sculpture and ink and crayon sketches he donated to the museum.

The most famous artist connected with Arles, however is Vincent van Gogh. He spent time here in 1888 and 1889 and some of his finest works were produced here. You can still see the Café l’Alcazar where he stayed and painted the manager, Madame Ginoux for his painting l’Arlesienne. The Espace Van Gogh is a former hospital where the artist was treated in 1889 – it is now a cultural center devoted to his life and work.

Places to discover:

The Antique Theater (1st century B.C.) - Today, the Antique Theater is used only for the Arles Festival (June and July), the International Meeting of Photography and the Peplum Movie festival (August).

The Alycamps (3rd to 12th centuries A.C.) – They are considered as being one of the most beautiful Christian necropolis and have inspired a lot of poets. The Alycamps are a romantic lane of sarcophagi which were placed around the village. In 1888, Van Gogh and Gauguin painted this place.

The Roman Arena (1st century A.C.) – The Amphitheater is composed of a huge oval with thirty-four rows of seats and can have twelve thousands spectators. Now, it is used for corridas and concerts.

The Saint-Trophine Convent (12th and 14th centuries) – It is one of the most somptuous of the West.

The Antique Arles Museum – All the antique collections of Arles are in this museum. It houses also the Institute of Archaelogical Research.

The Constantine Thermae (4th century) – The large room of warm baths can be seen as well as the underground stoves and remnants of tepid rooms.

The Reattu Museum – Built between the 15th and the 17th centuries, this ancient Saint-Gilles Priory houses Provençal paintings and drawings of the 17th and 18th centuries. It is also possible to see the special rooms of Contemporary Art: Pablo Picasso donation and a section of Photographical Art.