Arles

Wife and I stayed 3 nights, and one more would have been better. We spent one day in the Camargue (with a rental car) and one day exploring Arles itself. It would have been nice to have one more day, to visit the Port du Gard and hang out more in the town, which we loved.

Ok. I stayed in Nimes and Avignon the last time I was down there and went to Pont du Gard

I skipped the arena (I'm of the "If you've seen one..." school of thought) but liked the archaeological museum and l'Espace Van Gogh. I also enjoyed just walking around Arles. I treated it as a day-trip from Avignon and think for just the sights of Arles itself--including the arena--most folks could manage with one full day and a few hours. Side-trips would need more time, as I assume would visiting on market day. Skipping the museum would probably cut the time required to less than one full day.

Depending on your arrival and departure time, two or three nights should be about right. Some will say that's too much, but then I'm a Van Gogh fan so I was happy with about two and a half days.

We were in Arles 6 years ago. We took the RS Loire to the South of France Tour. We spent 2 nights there. It was a great base to visit other sites in the region. We love everything Van Gogh. We were at the Van Gogh Museum this past week in Amsterdam. It brought back fond memories of Arles. We visited Arles in the month of September. The Mosquitos were fierce!

Edit*** I bought a tablecloth in a shop that I still treasure. I since have referred friends to the shop.

I also did Arles as a day trip. However, it is totally up to you as to how much you want to dig into the city. I would think 1.5 days would be enough. Depending on your arrival time, 1-2 nights would be plenty.

Arles makes a pretty good base to see many of the Rhone Valley sights.

I feel as though the answers given here are about how much there is to see in Arles, and just in Arles. But you could live there for a week and not run out of wonderful things to see and do in the region.

What specific Rhone Valley sites? I may have been to some that I do not want to repeat. Thanks

I found Arles a little dead at night. Not crazy about places where you have to hunt around to find a restaurant that's open. Maybe it was just my bad luck to be there on a Sunday and a Monday night...

Tourist oriented towns usually pretty much shut down on Mondays. We had a different kind of luck -- a planned stop on the road that turned out to be the night of their biggest annual festival -- once we beat through the nightmare of moving through town, finding the hotel and then finding parking it was a pretty spectacular evening and morning before we were on our way.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/quick-stop-in-arles/
It is a town that two nights would do nicely -- one evening and then one full day and on your way.

Thanks Janet from my sweet home Chicago I enjoy your blog
I think I am going to skip Arles this time save it for when I go to Marseille in the future (I was looking to stop off on the way to Barcelona from Paris 3 months from now).
Maybe you can give me ideas on new thread. Appreciate it thanks
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/what-is-a-good-itinerary-from-paris-to-toulouse-to-albi-to-carcassone-to-barcelona

I'm a little late to the posting.

We were just in Arles and loved it! Three nights. Some wonderful restaurants, sights, just a great city for meandering around. It was also central to St Remy, Les Baux, Nimes, Pont du Gard.

I do not think it is over-rated. A gem of a city.

yeah but I been to all those places you mentioned St Remy, Les Baux, Nimes, Pont du Gard. via Avignon already.

Hi
We were there this year four nights, stayed centrally.
Loved the Arena with the "french" bull fights.
A previous post on no restaurants, "we must have gone to the wrong town",
followed the RS recommended , There were enough choices, but booking can help.
Markets on Saturday were also very enjoyable.
Arranged a 1/2 day tour from Arles that included the Pont en Garde (perhaps wrong spelling)
from Ti.

regards

I used Arles as a base to explore the region and devoted one full Day to Arles and Parts of the other Days.We spent 7 nights in Arles and our hotel recommended excellent restaurants.With a car getting around was easy and necessary.
Mike

I agree with Adam and rizell. I was just there 2 days ago and loved it. I was surprised that i loved it as i didn’t have a favorable impression of it from reading posts on this forum for many years.

We stayed in St Rémy, nearby, this Mon-Fri. St Rémy is my favorite town to stay in, but Arles is now my 2nd favorite. A week is not too long, as Adam said, if you’re planning to visit other towns as well - which most people do.