Experience the best of Arles

Arles stands on the Rhône where the river splits into two arms to cross the Camargue, in Provence. Under the Romans it was a major city, and a first-century amphitheatre, the Arènes, still seats thousands for bullfights and concerts. The Roman theatre, the baths of Constantine and the stone tombs of the Alyscamps are listed by UNESCO. Vincent van Gogh lived here in 1888 and 1889 and painted the Café Terrace at Night on the Place du Forum.

The Church of Saint-Trophime has a carved Romanesque doorway and a cloister, and a Roman barge raised from the Rhône is displayed in the Musée départemental Arles antique. Each summer the Rencontres d'Arles photography festival fills old buildings with exhibitions. To the south is the Camargue, a flat delta of lagoons and rice fields where white horses, black bulls and pink flamingos live, and Les Baux-de-Provence, with its cliff-top castle, lies north-east.

A Saturday market runs along the Boulevard des Lices, and local menus feature a stew of Camargue bull, Arles sausage, Camargue rice and olive oil from the Alpilles. The mistral can blow hard in winter and spring, while summers are hot and bright and the light is soft in early autumn.