Visiting Les Baux de Provence and Pont du Gard - advice?

It has been a few years since we visited Les Baux with our (then) two teenagers. If not already on your itinerary, you might want to consider these additional sites: on the same day we visited (by car) Les Baux we also visited the (very) nearby Carrières de Lumières, and then (near St. Remy) the Gallo-Roman Glanum archaelogical site and St. Paul Monastery. All four of us enjoyed them all.

We brought a picnic into Les Baux for dinner and yes you have the site almost to yourselves. Note that the demonstrations and such will not be offered.

We did the same at Pont du Gard, picnic. Does either of these sites sell out now?

It was 2019 but I showed up to both Pont du Gard and the Les Baux without tickets in mid-June and just bought them at the site. I bought the combo ticket for Carrières de Lumières and the castle site at the mine. It was late in the day so I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked in the van Gogh (amazing) display but I had also seen it in Paris. I then hustled up to the castle site to get in before closing. If it fits into your plan I second taking food with you and staying after closing and enjoying the park with virtually no one else around. I believe the de Lumières is Monet / Rousseau which has gotten mixed reviews but the experience is still neat and mine is cool even in summer.

Both are remote, very large outdoor sites so I doubt ticket sell outs are an issue but it might worth saving a few minutes waiting in line but that's probably it. Parking was a bigger issue in Les Baux late in the day versus getting tickets. I parked at the hill near Las Baux and walked to the mine and back for the light show. There's a sidewalk separate from the road since many people do this.

June is early season for Provence as it doesn't really get going until July, August but mid/late June was hot enough for me.

Movie Trivia - in Ronin their car chase runs down the road that passes Les Baux and cuts through the parking lot and after being there I immediately knew where they driving.

Enjoy,
=Tod

I love the idea of bringing in a picnic to the chateau late in the day and enjoying it up there after everyone leaves. We will definitely plan to do that and will check out the nearby light show as well.
Thank you everyone for the great advice!
Linnea

If your teenagers have a scientific interest make sure to point out the boulder of bauxite in Les Baux with the commemorative plaque and explain the importance of bauxite -- the mineral named after Les Baux -- which is an ore from which alumina and subsequently aluminum (or aluminium, if you're British or French) is made.

We did both LB and PDG in August 2022.

We actually went to LB twice. Both times very early and had no problems with crowds. I can also recommend in LB the Yves Brayer museum and the beautiful St Vincent church. No crowds there. One parking tip if you go early drive up as far as you can go, turn around and drive back down and park facing down the hill for easier exit.

We went to PDG late in the afternoon after seeing the Nimes museum earlier. The museum is excellent and their were very few people that time of day.

Enjoy the planning!

Hello,

There’s a big parking lot at Pont du Gard. just go and buy a ticket. Don’t need to do it in advance. You can bring your swim suits! It s beautiful. Bring a picnic and have it there. While at this place, think of visiting Nimes (the museum and arenas are fantastic ) and Uzes is a wonderful and quaint historical town.

Thanks for the great ideas, everyone! It is so helpful hearing everyone's perspectives/experience.

There are concerts at the Roman arena in Nimes, from time to time. I would check the website for the arena or the tourist bureau, just in case something fun meshes with your time there.