Roman Ruins in Provence

Pont du Gard.

the Colosseum in Nimes.

the one in Orange

For me, the Arena in Nimes is in first place, but the Theatre in Orange is a close second. Nimes has the benefit of being a generally very pleasant town with other Roman sights, while Orange, except for the Theatre, was a bit grungy.

I second Pont du Gard. Spectacular.

Pont du Gard and the theatre in Orange. That's two. Sorry. (don't need to choose, I've seen them both)

Pile on for Pont du Gard. It's big. It's beautiful. It's amazing. Besides the aqueduct itself, we loved the graffiti carved into the stones. The oldest I found appeared to be dated 1181.

Pont du Gard.....spectacular!

Pont du Gard OR Go to Arles which has a lot of Roman ruins and you could a whole day of them. Roman Arena which is still in use Underground vaults (not catacombs, but still a bit creepy) Museum with some well preserved mosaic floors from Roman Villas and other artifacts
Cemetary - les Alyscamps

Thanks to all for their helpful suggestions.

The antique theater in Orange.

Vaison la Romaine was real cool and they had a great museum at the ruins.

I just got back from Provence last week. My husband and I went to both Nimes and Pont du Gard on this trip. We loved both. If you go in very warm weather as we did, it was wonderful to swim in the refreshingly cold river which runs under the aqueduct and just stare up at it! We really enjoyed the audioguide that came free with admission to Nimes Arena. My husband, and yes even I, found the pictures and descriptions of the various Gladiator armor and weapons very interesting. We have been to the Colosseum in Rome; and the arena in Arles, and we were still very intrigued by Nimes Arena. You can't go wrong with either; which one interests you more?

You can visit Pont du Gard as a daytrip from Nimes and still have time in Nimes, one of my favorite places in France. You can float down the river at the Pont du Gard, swim, picnic, climb to the upper level of the acqueduct. Nimes is a lovely little city with a beautiful medieval cathedral in addition to the Roman ruins.

We enjoyed the Roman town site of Glanum near Saint-Remy-de-Provence.
The setting was splendid. http://glanum.monuments-nationaux.fr/en/ Saw the amazing Pont du Gard the same day, about one hour's drive between the two.

Pont du Gard was simply spectacular. It was free to enter the area from the parking lot and tour the ruins. However, the charge for parking your car was about 15Euro as I recall. Quite a stunner for about 90 minutes but I guess that was the admission price. As for the coliseum in Orange, it has a big ugly fence around it and nothing but pigeons live in the open areas facing the street. Pigeon crap everywhere. We didn't need to pay to go in.

As for the coliseum in Orange, ... We didn't need to pay to go in. Which building? I don't remember a coliseum in Orange. There is the Theatre. We went in there and had a great time visualising 2000 years ago. I have several photos we enjoy looking at. The scale is impressive, as is seeing the statuary. You may have missed one.

Indeed, the theater in Orange is breathtaking, and still in use today!