Sites and monuments of the Camargue
The 28 places in the guide, by type. Numbers refer to the map.
Monuments
1Abbatiale de Saint-Gilles
The church of the former Benedictine monastery founded in the 7th century and dedicated to Saint Giles in the 9th.
2Alyscamps
A pagan then Christian necropolis at the south-eastern entrance of the ancient town, on the Via Aurelia.
3Arènes d’Arles
A Roman amphitheatre built around AD 80-90 under Domitian, 136 metres long, with two levels of arcades.
4Cathédrale Saint-Trophime
A Romanesque church built from 1100 on the Place de la République.
5Château d’Avignon
A late 19th-century residence owned by the Bouches-du-Rhône department.
6Remparts d’Aigues-Mortes
A masonry wall that encircles the whole town.
7Thermes de Constantin
Roman baths from the early 4th century on the bank of the Rhône, among the best preserved in France.
8Théâtre antique d’Arles
Begun around 40-30 BC and completed around 12 BC, it is one of the first stone theatres of the Roman world.
9Tour Carbonnière
A 14th-century fortified tower in the middle of the marshes, the compulsory gateway to Aigues-Mortes.
10Tour Saint-Louis
A tower built in 1737 by the engineer Mareschal, then at the main mouth of the Rhône, paid for by a tax on salt transport.
11Tour de Constance
Built from 1242 by Saint Louis to house the royal garrison, the tower defends the walled town.
12Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer
A fortified Romanesque church, listed as a historic monument in 1840, dedicated to Our Lady and the Holy Marys.
Nature sites
13Domaine de la Palissade
A protected natural site of the Conservatoire du littoral, at the mouth of the Grand Rhône, near Salin-de-Giraud.
14La Capelière, maison de la Réserve
Visitor centre of the Camargue national nature reserve, managed by the Société nationale de protection de la nature (SNPN), on the edge of the Vaccarès.
15Parc ornithologique de Pont de Gau
Founded in 1949 by ornithologist André Lamouroux and turned into a bird park in 1974, it offers trails through the marshes to get close to Camargue wildlife, including flamingos.
16Réserve naturelle des marais du Vigueirat
A national nature reserve of wetlands near Mas-Thibert.
17Réserve naturelle régionale du Scamandre
A regional nature reserve near Gallician on the Scamandre lagoon, with a discovery centre run by the Camargue Gardoise joint authority.
18Salins d’Aigues-Mortes
The historic site of Salins du Midi, on the Peccais marshes south-east of the town.
19Salins de Giraud (point de vue)
A viewpoint over the Salin-de-Giraud salt marshes, worked by Salins du Midi, which produce about one million tonnes of salt a year.
20Étang de Vaccarès
The largest lagoon in the Camargue (6,500 hectares, 12 km long, under 2 m deep), nicknamed the ’Grand Mar’.
Museums
21Maison du Riz
Visit to a rice farm run by a family of rice growers in Albaron, on the Petit Rhône, open to the public from April to November.
22Musée Réattu
The former grand priory of the Knights Hospitaller on the Rhône quays, bought by the Arles painter Jacques Réattu (Prix de Rome 1791).
23Musée de la Camargue
Housed in the former sheepfold of the Mas du Pont-de-Rousty, 8 km from Arles on the D570.
24Musée départemental Arles antique
Nicknamed the ’Blue Museum’, it was built in 1995 by architect Henri Ciriani on the site of the Roman circus.
Beaches
25Plage de Beauduc
A natural site in the Grande Camargue overlooked by the Beauduc lighthouse, with one of the largest sandy beaches in the Mediterranean, lagoons and a village of huts.
26Plage de Piémanson
A large sandy beach south of Salin-de-Giraud, near the mouth of the Grand Rhône, with a naturist area.
27Plage de l’Espiguette
A vast protected dune system east of Le Grau-du-Roi, stretching nearly 18 km between the sea and wetlands.