La Valette Boutique
Sanilhac-Sagriès, 30700 Gard, France
The best-preserved Roman arena in the world, a two-thousand-year-old temple still standing almost intact, and a Roman tower older than both. About twenty-five minutes from Uzès, and small enough to see on foot.
Nîmes is a Roman city in the Gard, about twenty-five minutes from La Valette Boutique, built around a spring the Romans considered sacred. Its arena, temple and gardens survive in a condition few Roman cities can match, and unlike many ancient sites, the arena is still in everyday use rather than roped off behind glass. The old centre is compact and walkable, with the Arena, the Maison Carrée and the covered market all within a few minutes of each other on foot.
| Location | Gard, Occitanie |
|---|---|
| Region | Occitanie |
| UNESCO status | The Maison Carrée alone, listed in 2023; the arena is not UNESCO-listed |
| Distance from Uzès | 25 km · about 25 min by car |
| Nearest airport | Nîmes (FNI), about 20 min |
| Typical visit | Half a day to a full day |
| Known for | The best-preserved Roman arena and temple in the world |
| Local market | Les Halles, covered, open every day |
| Local specialty | Brandade de Nîmes, and the fabric that became denim |
From twenty-five minutes away
We expected the arena to feel like a ruin. It doesn't. It still hosts real events, the same way it has for close to two thousand years, first gladiatorial games, now bullfights and concerts, and that continuity is more striking in person than any photograph of the stonework.
The other thing that stays with you is the crocodile. It's on manhole covers, shopfronts, the city's own coat of arms, a Roman symbol of a conquered Egypt that Nîmes adopted as its emblem centuries ago and never let go of. Once you notice the first one, you start seeing them everywhere.
For current opening hours, ticket prices and event listings, the official site, nimes-tourisme.com, is the one to check before you go.
What it is
The Arena of Nîmes was built around AD 70 to seat up to twenty-four thousand people across thirty-four tiers; today's safe capacity is closer to sixteen thousand. It is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres anywhere, and the only one still regularly used for the kind of large public event it was built for.
A short walk away, the Maison Carrée is the best-preserved Roman temple in the world, completed around 2 AD and dedicated to Augustus's two grandsons. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right in 2023, decades after the Pont du Gard, a reminder that Nîmes's Roman heritage is still being formally recognised.
The arena hosting a concert on a summer evening, the same stone terraces filled for two thousand years running, is not something you get used to.La Valette Boutique, about 25 min away
Beyond the basics
When to go
Nîmes is warmer and drier than the coast for more of the year, which makes it comfortable to visit outside the peak summer months.
Mild enough to walk between the arena, the temple and the gardens without rushing, and without the heat that builds up in the stone by midsummer.
July and August get hot fast in a city with little shade around its monuments. Visit the arena and Maison Carrée early, then retreat to the shaded Jardins de la Fontaine for the rest of the morning.
The Féria de Nîmes fills the city around its two annual bullfighting dates. It's a genuine local event worth seeing if it interests you, but the centre is at its most crowded and hardest to park in during it.
Practical information
Full day combinations
Morning at the arena and the Maison Carrée, then twenty-five minutes to the Pont du Gard for the afternoon, with time to swim in the Gardon if the season allows.
A short, easy pairing: the Roman monuments of Nîmes in the morning, then twenty-five minutes back to a quieter afternoon in Uzès.
Head south instead of north: about fifty minutes from Nîmes brings you into the Camargue, for flamingos, salt flats and a completely different landscape.
If your dates line up with one of the two annual Féria de Nîmes weekends, the whole city turns out for it. Check the dates in advance and book accommodation early if you want to be there for it.
Yes. It's about twenty-five minutes by car and puts you in front of the best-preserved Roman arena and the best-preserved Roman temple in the world, both still in everyday use rather than sealed off as museum pieces. Half a day covers the essentials.
About 25 km, roughly 25 minutes by car.
No, they are two separate Roman amphitheatres about fifty minutes apart by car. The Nîmes arena is somewhat larger and better preserved; both still host events today.
Yes, since 2023, on its own merits, separately from the Pont du Gard's 1985 listing. The rest of Nîmes's Roman heritage, including the arena, is not UNESCO-listed.
Yes. The arena, the Maison Carrée, the covered market and the Jardins de la Fontaine are all within about ten minutes' walk of each other in a largely pedestrian old centre.
Easily. They are about twenty-five minutes apart, and a morning in Nîmes followed by an afternoon at the Pont du Gard, with a swim if the season allows, is a comfortable full day.
La Valette Boutique is in the Gard, about twenty-five minutes from Nîmes and five minutes from Uzès. Two boutique apartments in an 18th-century stone house.
Enquire about your dates