48 hours in Uzès
Uzès repays focus. This is the version we would plan for ourselves: specific times, specific places, and opinions about what matters and what can be skipped. Base: La Valette Boutique, 5 minutes south.
Jan-Willem & Fleur
La Valette Boutique
Sanilhac-Sagriès, 30700 Gard, France
Uzès repays focus. This is the version we would plan for ourselves: specific times, specific places, and opinions about what matters and what can be skipped. Base: La Valette Boutique, 5 minutes south.
Two days around Uzès comfortably cover the Saturday market on the Place aux Herbes, a visit to the Pont du Gard fifteen minutes away, a swim in the Gardon river, and a meal in the old town. A second day allows a nearby village such as Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie, or the Gorges du Gardon. Uzès sits in the Gard, in Occitanie, five minutes from La Valette Boutique.
Saturday · 8h30
Arrive before 9h30. The Saturday market on the Place aux Herbes has been running since 1241. It fills the main square and several of the streets behind it. The producers arrive early; the best things, the Cévennes cheese, the seasonal fruit, the Gard olive oil, go before 10h30. Buy first, then take a table under the arcades with a coffee and whatever you have just bought. This is the correct order of operations. Our full market guide covers what to expect and when to go.
Saturday · 10h–13h
Uzès is compact. The old town, built from pale golden limestone that looks best in morning light, takes three to four hours to walk properly. The ducal complex, the Tour Fenestrelle (the only cylindrical Romanesque tower in France), the medieval garden behind the cathedral, the Eure valley below the town where the Roman aqueduct source was. Most of what matters is within 10 minutes on foot.
Saturday evening
La Table d'Uzès, on the Place de l'Évêché, is the town's one-Michelin-star table: precise, seasonal cooking that needs booking well ahead in season, and it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. For something less formal: La Parenthèse, at the Hostellerie Provençale in the old town, serves classic French cooking and has a rooftop terrace in summer. Uzès eats well and without pretension.
Sunday · 8h
Leave the house at 8h. The Pont du Gard is 15 minutes away, and the site and its car parks are open every day from 8h. Arriving early means a quieter bridge and the soft morning light on the limestone, before the day's coaches and crowds build up. Walk the lower tier, find the path that follows the Gardon upstream and look at the engineering from below. Parking is €9 per car per day.
Sunday afternoon
Two options depending on the season and what you want. Option one: Collias, 12 minutes from La Valette, has clear river water and rocky banks, and is usually quieter than the Pont du Gard beach. Bring shoes for the rocks; there is no lifeguard. Option two: Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie, 10 to 15 minutes from La Valette, is a village whose ceramics tradition dates to the medieval period, with working ateliers rather than souvenir shops.
Where to stay
La Valette Boutique is in Sanilhac-Sagriès, a village 5 minutes south of Uzès. Three stays: La Petite Valette (1 bedroom, 2 guests), La Grande Valette (2 bedrooms, 4 guests) and La Maison, the whole house (3 bedrooms, 6 guests). Book online with the booking widget on the homepage, no platform fees; questions to bonjour@lavaletteboutique.com.
The Cévennes cheese (from the smaller producers on the south side of the square), olive oil from the valley below Uzès, fresh pasta from the corner of the square. Buy early, since the best things disappear before 10h30.
A thorough walk of the old town takes three to four hours. A Saturday morning combining the market and the town is a full and satisfying day.
Saturday: arrive before the market closes at 13h, spend the afternoon in the old town, dine in Uzès. Sunday: drive to the Pont du Gard before 9h30, spend the morning at the aqueduct, swim in the Gardon at Collias in the afternoon. Stay at La Valette Boutique, 5 minutes from Uzès.
Yes, particularly in summer and for La Table d'Uzès, which is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and needs booking well ahead in season. Most mid-range restaurants accept bookings by phone on the day; walking in without a reservation in high season is possible but unreliable.
Tell us how many days you have and what you enjoy. The planner builds a plan around opening days, markets and the weather.
5 minutes from the market. 15 from the Pont du Gard. Direct booking.
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