Top Que Faire à Nîmes — Complete Guide 2026

1. Arena of Nîmes (Les Arènes)

The Arena of Nîmes is the city's defining landmark and one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world. Built around 70 AD during the reign of Emperor Vespasian — the same era as the Colosseum in Rome — it originally seated up to 24,000 spectators across 34 rows of stone seating. Unlike many Roman amphitheatres, the exterior arcade survives almost intact, rising to 21 metres in two tiers of 60 arches each.

Today the Arena serves as a living venue: during the Féria de Pentecôte (May or June) and the Féria des Vendanges (September), it hosts corridas. In summer, the Festival de Nîmes stages international concerts here — past acts have included Elton John, Metallica and Stromae. Outside event periods, you can explore the interior with an audio guide that explains the ingenious engineering of the vomitoria (exit tunnels), the system of canvas awnings (velarium) that once shaded spectators, and the underground galleries where gladiators and animals waited before combat.

2. Maison Carrée

Quite simply the best-preserved Roman temple on Earth. Completed around 2 AD and dedicated to Gaius and Lucius Caesar (grandsons of Emperor Augustus), the Maison Carrée was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023 specifically for its exceptional state of preservation. The building survives virtually complete — including its Corinthian columns, its carved acanthus-leaf capitals, its entablature and its pitched roof — because it has been in continuous use for two millennia, serving variously as a Christian church, a town hall, a stable and a museum.

Inside, a 25-minute immersive film traces the story of Nemausus (Roman Nîmes) from its founding as a colony for veterans of Augustus' Egyptian campaign to its golden age in the 2nd century. The temple faces the Place de la Maison Carrée, one of the most elegant squares in France, where you can sit at a café terrace and admire the building's proportions — which Thomas Jefferson famously copied for the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond.

3. Musée de la Romanité

Opened in June 2018 directly opposite the Arena, the Musée de la Romanité is one of the finest museums of Roman civilisation in Europe. Designed by architect Elizabeth de Portzamparc, the building's undulating glass-and-stone facade evokes the folds of a Roman toga and creates a striking dialogue with the ancient amphitheatre across the plaza.

The collection spans from the Iron Age (the Volcae Arecomici tribe who originally settled Nemausus) through the Roman period to the early Middle Ages, with over 5,000 objects on display across 3,500 square metres. Highlights include an outstanding gallery of Roman mosaics discovered during excavations across the Gard department, a collection of inscribed altars and stelae, and a model of the city at its Roman peak. The rooftop terrace — free to access even without a museum ticket — offers the best elevated view of the Arena and makes a superb spot for sunset photography.

4. Castellum Divisorium

One of only two surviving Roman water distribution points in the entire former empire (the other is in Pompeii). This circular stone basin, carved into the rock at the end of the aqueduct that runs from the Pont du Gard, was the terminus where water arriving from the Eure spring near Uzès was divided into 10 lead pipes to serve different quarters of the city. It is a small, unassuming site — easily missed if you are not looking for it — but profoundly significant for understanding Roman hydraulic engineering. Free to view behind a low fence at any time.

5. Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Castor

Nîmes' cathedral dates originally to the 11th century, though it has been rebuilt and modified many times — most significantly after the Wars of Religion damaged it severely in the 16th century. The Romanesque frieze on the west facade depicts Old Testament scenes (look for Cain slaying Abel, Noah's Ark and the sacrifice of Abraham). Inside, the barrel-vaulted nave is cool and dim, a welcome refuge from the midday heat. The highlight is the Chapelle Saint-Baudilius, with its carved 4th-century sarcophagus.

6. Jardins de la Fontaine

The Jardins de la Fontaine are among the oldest public gardens in Europe, created in 1745 by the military engineer Jacques Philippe Mareschal around the ancient spring sanctuary that gave Nemausus its name. The lower gardens are a formal masterpiece: stone balustrades, reflecting canals, fountains and monumental staircases frame the ruins of the Temple of Diana. Ancient plane trees cast deep shade over gravel walks where locals play pétanque on summer evenings.

The upper gardens climb a wooded hillside through a wilder, more romantic landscape of Mediterranean pines, oaks and garrigue scrub, connected by winding paths and stone steps. At the summit stands the Tour Magne. The full circuit — lower gardens, Temple of Diana, upper gardens and Tour Magne — is one of the finest walks in the city and entirely free (except for the small Tour Magne entrance fee).

7. Tour Magne

The tallest surviving tower of the Augustan city walls, the Tour Magne rises 36 metres above the hilltop at the summit of the Jardins de la Fontaine. Originally a pre-Roman watchtower — probably built by the Volcae Arecomici — it was enlarged and incorporated into the fortifications by Augustus around 15 BC. Climb the internal spiral staircase (140 steps) for a panoramic view that stretches from the terracotta rooftops and Arena of the old town to the distant Cévennes mountains on the northern horizon and the flat Camargue plain to the south.

8. Temple of Diana

Nestled within the lower Jardins de la Fontaine, this atmospheric ruin dates to the 2nd century AD. Despite its romantic name — a 16th-century invention — its original purpose remains debated among archaeologists: it may have been a library, a nymphaeum (monumental fountain house), or part of an imperial cult sanctuary associated with the sacred spring. What survives is a soaring barrel-vaulted nave flanked by side niches, partially open to the sky after centuries of damage and quarrying. The dappled light filtering through the vegetation makes it one of the most photogenic spots in Nîmes.

9. Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard is the crown jewel of Roman engineering in France — a three-tiered aqueduct bridge spanning the Gardon river gorge at a height of 49 metres. Built in the 1st century AD entirely without mortar, using massive limestone blocks quarried from the surrounding hills, it carried water 50 kilometres from the springs at Uzès to the Castellum in Nîmes. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, it attracts over 1.5 million visitors per year.

The site includes an excellent museum explaining Roman aqueduct technology, the 1.4-kilometre Mémoires de Garrigue interpretive trail through Mediterranean scrubland, a children's activity area called Ludo, and kayak and canoe rental on the Gardon below the bridge. In summer, the riverbanks below the aqueduct become informal swimming beaches — a magical setting to cool off while gazing up at 2,000-year-old arches. Allow at least half a day, or a full day if you want to combine the visit with a paddle or a walk.

10. The Camargue

The Camargue is one of Europe's great natural wilderness areas — a vast triangle of salt marshes, lagoons, rice paddies and sand dunes at the mouth of the Rhône. It is famous for three iconic animals: pink flamingos that wade through the shallow étangs (lagoons) by the thousand, white Camargue horses that gallop across the salt flats, and the semi-wild black bulls that are raised for both meat (gardiane de taureau) and the Camargue-style bull games (courses camarguaises).

From Nîmes, the most popular approach is to drive south to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, the Camargue's main town, via Aigues-Mortes (a walled medieval fortress town worth a stop). Activities include 4x4 safari tours, horseback riding through the marshes, birdwatching from hides along the Étang de Vaccarès, cycling the flat dyke trails, and simply sitting on the wide sandy beach with a plate of tellines (tiny clams) and a glass of rosé. The Parc Ornithologique de Pont de Gau, just north of Saintes-Maries, offers easy and reliable flamingo viewing.

11. Uzès

A picture-perfect medieval and Renaissance ducal town perched on a limestone escarpment above the garrigue. The highlight is the Duché d'Uzès, a palatial complex featuring a 12th-century Romanesque round tower (the Tour Bermonde), a Gothic chapel and a Renaissance facade. The Place aux Herbes, the central arcaded square, hosts one of the best markets in the region every Saturday morning — overflowing with olives, goat cheeses, lavender honey, Uzège truffles (in season) and local pottery. The source of the Eure spring, which once fed the Roman aqueduct all the way to Nîmes via the Pont du Gard, is a short walk from the town centre.

12. Carré d'Art — Musée d'Art Contemporain

Directly facing the Maison Carrée across the Place de la Maison Carrée, the Carré d'Art is Nîmes' museum of contemporary art, housed in a striking glass-and-steel building designed by Norman Foster and opened in 1993. The collection focuses on European art from the 1960s onward, with works by German, French and Italian artists. Temporary exhibitions rotate frequently and are often excellent. The top-floor cafe has a terrace with a head-on view of the Maison Carrée — arguably the best framing of the temple.