Arles is two thousand years of looking. The Romans built an arena and a theatre; Van Gogh painted the café and the night; the Rencontres made it a city of photography; and LUMA gave it a tower of mirrored steel. A weekend holds all of it, if you walk and let the Rhône set the pace.
I. Day one — the antique city
Begin at the Arènes and the Théâtre antique, then follow the Van Gogh trail to the Café la Nuit on Place du Forum and the courtyard of the old hospital. End among the cypresses and stone tombs of the Alyscamps, the Roman road of the dead.
“In Arles the past is not behind a rope — it is the wall you lean on for shade.”
II. Day two — the market and the new art
Saturday belongs to the great market along the Boulevard des Lices, then the galleries of the Rencontres in summer and the parc des ateliers of LUMA all year. Lunch on a square, an hour by the river, and the Camargue an easy drive south when you are ready to leave the stone behind.
