Sights in Arles, France; length of time visiting this city -n helpful hints...

It is a good place to use to go to see on day trips to Pont du Gard as wells some of the other hill top villages like Gordes, Rousillion, and Les Baux, You can either rent a car or buy a tour from Arles to see those

Arles itself is an interesting place to explore. The roman amphitheater, the weekly market, enjoy the cafes, museum.

Also good entry point for the fabulous Camargue and the walled city of Aigues-Mortes.

Also Avignon and (via Avignon) L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

A week in Arles will give you enough time to explore the highlights along as you have a car.
1 Arles has market Day on Wednesday and visit the Roman Arena and Museum of ancient Arles. A Close ride would be the Camargue to Finish the day.
2 Gordes,Roussillon and Loumarin would fill a day.
3 Nimes and Uzes,Nimes has a Coliseum tour worth Doing.
4 Pont du Gard tour beautiful vier.
5 Le Baux,hill town and nice ride from Arles.
6 Avignon day trip all day.
These would be the highlights of the area we didn't get to Orange or Aix.
Mike

If you're going to be in the area, especially if you drive up to the hill town of Les Baux, see if you can work in lunch at Le Bistrot du Paradou in the nearby town of Paradou. My wife is re-reading A Year in Provence in the wake of its author's recent death, and we were in the area a few days ago so we decided to stop by for lunch, as he describes his meal there in glowing terms.

It's a fixed-price set menu arrangement, with a different menu each day. Ours was 53 € per place, which bought us, all included:

• A 75 cL bottle of good Côtes-du-Rhône wine to share between us
• A huge salad of tomatoes, anchovies, bell pepper and lettuce, dressed with local olive oil from the olive press down the road
• Aioli with cod, snails (not the usual garlic-parsley-butter infused snails such as one sees in Bourgogne, but surprisingly tasty, almost sweet, snails perfect for dipping in garlicky aioli) potato, cauliflower, and carrot
• Bread
• A large cheese platter left at the table, from which we could cut our choice of probably 20 different cheeses of various strengths, textures, and provenance -- as much as we wanted
• Dessert
• Coffee

All in all, when one considers the atmosphere and the good service, it was one of the better meals we've had lately. Simple, uncomplicated, but surprisingly delicious. And the atmosphere was warm and convivial.

Will you have a car? As you can see from the above posts, with a car a week will fill quickly. Without a car, however, many of the places listed above will not be easy to get to. If you weren't planning on having a car, investigate transit links now to avoid disappointment.

In addition to all the other options above, you can also take a day trip to Marseille from Arles (no car for this, or you'll be sorry - take the train).

Saint-Remy-de-Provence is another possibility. It has good bus service from both Arles and Avignon but, despite being a fair-sized place, is not on the rail line. It feels less bustling that the other two spots and is very popular on this forum.

If you're going to be in the area, especially if you drive up to the hill town of Les Baux, see if you can work in lunch at Le Bistrot du Paradou

From your description, it sounds like the restaurant is still very good, although the price has gone up substantially since we were there 20-25 years ago. But then again, what hasn't?
And yes, I think Arles would be a good place to stay, at least if you have a car.

THANK YOU, One and ALL . WE appreciate your help and guidance !!!!