Can you Visit Nîmes on a day trip?

Nîmes is one of those places you HAVE to visit when in Southern France. In our case, we came here on a day trip from Avignon. Although you’re rushing things a bit on a day trip (I’ll explain that further below), it’s enough to see Nîmes. Just try to arrive early and be ready to do some walking.

Why visit Nîmes? The reasons are the best-preserved Roman monuments in Southern France*.

* Nîmes is often referred to as “French Rome” or “the most Roman city outside of Italy”. While Arles has an incredibly Amphitheatre (“Arena” where Gladiators fought) as well as Theatre (for plays and music), and Orange has a very impressive Theatre and Triumphal Arch, Nîmes just has more and better preserved Roman monuments than either.

In this post I tell you what to see in Nîmes and how to go about organizing your trip.

Can you Visit Nîmes on a day trip?

What to see in Nîmes

The Amphitheatre of Nîmes

It is one of the best-preserved Roman monuments in the world. The Amphitheatre in Nîmes was built around 72 AD, about 30 years after the Coliseum in Rome (72 AD). It is 133 metres (436 ft) long and 101 metres (331 ft) wide, with an arena measuring 68 by 38 metres (223 by 125 ft). The outer facade is 21 metres (69 ft) high with two storeys of 60 arcades. It is among the 20 largest Roman amphitheatres of the 400 still in existence. In Roman times, the building could hold 24,000 spectators, who were spread over 34 tiers of terraces divided into four self-contained zones.

Like most Amphitheatres, Gladiator games in the Amphitheatre of Nîmes thrived in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. It was the height of the Roman Empire. Gladiators would fight each other as well as wild animals.

When the empire started declining in the 3rd century (due to civil wars and barbarians), so did the function of Amphitheatres. By the 4^th century, the authorities in Nîmes blocked the arcades of the Amphitheatre, using the space for shelter from invaders. People built homes within the arena.

These days, the Amphitheatre is back in use. They have concerts, bullfights (where they don’t kill the bulls) as well as Gladiator reenactments (which you can attend). The Guardian had an interesting article on some of the Gladiator reenactments at Nîmes Arena.

Note 1: If you’re coming from the train station, a 10-minute walk will get you to the Amphitheatre. It’ll be one of the first things you see entering the downtown area. It’s also the most popular attraction in Nîmes so it makes sense to visit it first. Cost at time of writing (June 2026) is 11 Euros.

Note 2: The Museum de la Romanité is right next to the Arena and it’s all about Roman life and the legacy of the Roman Empire. It gets great reviews and was on our list, unfortunately we just ran out of time. Website.

Musée de la Romanité in Nimes — Musée de la Romanité

Note 3: The Nîmes Tourism Office is also right next to the Amphitheatre and it’s a good idea to pick up a map. I’m attaching a copy of the Nîmes Tourist Map here (click on it for a full-sized copy which you can print out).

Maison Carrée

Built around the same time as the Amphitheatre (ie. towards to end of the 1st century AD), it was a Temple dedicated to the grandsons of Augustus (named Lucius Caesar and Caius Julius Caesar. Both would die early, Lucius at 18, Caius at 24).

The temple was renamed “la Maison Carrée” (“the square house”) in the 16th century. The convention at the time was that any building with 4 right angles would be designated as a “Carrée” even if, as is the case with La Maison Carrée, the building is more rectangular-shaped than square-shaped.

The building is today the best-preserved Roman temple in the world as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Note: You don’t need to buy a ticket to visit the Temple, in fact you can even walk right up the steps. You DO need a ticket (6 Euros) to go inside where there’s information panels about the temple. We didn’t do that and based on what I’ve read it is not worth paying for.

Jardins de la Fontaine

Just outside the Old town are the Jardins de la Fontaine (see the map I’ve included up top). They are one of the oldest public gardens in Europe and are ranked among the most beautiful gardens in France. They also hold 2 Roman monuments: The Temple of Diana and the Magne Tower.

The lower Part of the Jardins de la Fontaine are flat with ornate fountains (the water is from natural springs), gardens and the Temple of Diana. The building remains a mystery: it was discovered in 1745 when creating the gardens and was thought to be a temple built in the 1^st century (ie. at the same time as both the Amphitheatre and Maison Carrée). But its floor plan is unlike any Roman floor plan for any temple. Some think it may have been a library. It was named the Temple of Diana but that’s just a random name for a building that experts still don’t understand.

The Upper part of the Jardins de la Fontaine are hilly and have paths through the forest. They lead to the highest point in Nîmes: La Tour Magne (the Magne Tower). The tower actually pre-dates the Romans to the Gauls (who built it around the 3rd Century BC). During Roman times the original tower was encased in new construction, heightening the tower from 18 meters to 36 meters. It was part of the ramparts built around the city – one of 80 towers on those ramparts (today only the Magne tower survives). Visible from afar, it signalled the power and wealth of Nîmes to travelers on the Via Domitia, the Roman road leading from the Alps to Spain.

Today you can go up to the top of the tower, enjoying the best views of the city (cost 4 Euros).

Porte d’Auguste (Augustus Gate)

It’s not as famous as the other Roman ruins in Nîmes and most people miss it. But for those interested: this gate was a part of the city walls that ran for nearly 7km (4.3 miles) with a height of about 9 meters (30 feet). It was one of about 10 gates where you could enter the city and was the entry point to the Via Domitia (as mentioned, the Roman road leading from the Alps to Spain).

The above are the main Roman ruins in Nîmes. But there is one Roman monument which I’ll cover at the bottom of this post which is one of the most important Roman monuments still in existence and which is linked to Nîmes. More on that soon…

Other highlights in Nîmes

Nîmes has other highlights. It has a Cathedral and several churches, the most beautiful one being Église Saint-Paul.

What to see in Nîmes — Église Saint-Paul

There’s also a contemporary art museum which is right next to the Maison Carrée. But as I mentioned up top, if you have time for a museum it should be the Museum de la Romanité near the Amphitheatre.

Note: you might see the symbol below in the streets of Nîmes. It is a crocodile chained to a palm tree, symbolizing the submission of Egypt to Rome in the naval victory of 31 BC when Octavian beat the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. In 1535 the French king adopted the palm tree and the crocodile as Nîmes’s coat of arms.

The other Roman highlight: the Pont du Gard

It’s not in Nîmes, it’s about 30 km away, about half way between Nîmes and Avignon. It’s the Pont du Gard, one of the most famous Roman ruins anywhere.

The link to Nîmes? The aqueduct (because that’s what the Pont du Gard is) was to supply water to Nîmes. So in about 50 AD the Romans built a 50 km (30 mile) aqueduct, bringing water from the springs of the Eure river to Nîmes.

Most of the aqueduct is underground. But because the route from Uzès (near the spring of the Eure) to Nîmes was interrupted by the Gardon river, a bridge had to be built to cover the gap. So the Pont du Gard was constructed using cut stones (no mortar) with a slope of about 2.5 cm every one hundred meters so that the water would flow that 50 km route to Nîmes. It’s one of the world’s great engineering marvels.

How to visit the Pont du Gard? We took this full day tour. It took us to some of Provence’s most beautiful towns (Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Gordes, Roussillion, Les Baux de Provence, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence) as well as the Pont du Gard.

Practical Information on visiting Nîmes

I mentioned that Nîmes can be visiting on a day trip, but that you have to start early. The reason is principally because the Jardins de la Fontaine are a bit of a walk, especially if you’re going to make it to the Tour Magne at the far end, and summit, of the park. If it wasn’t for that then Nîmes would actually be quite easy, the center of the city is quite compact.

We spent about 5 hours in Nîmes and saw all that I’ve covered above. We had hoped to finish with the Museum de la Romanité but by then were running out of time (and honestly quite tired from all that walking around).

Solo by train. Nîmes is easy to get to by train and the train station is about a 10 minute walk from the Amphitheatre. See schedules on the SNCF website. Nîmes is about 45 minutes from Avignon and about the same from Montpellier.
Tour 1. This tour (from Avignon) covers the Roman sites of Nîmes, Orange and the Pont du Gard. A good idea if you’re limited on time and want to knock off some of the key Roman sites in one shot.
Tour 2: You can see Nîmes by yourself taking the train (as we did and as I cover above). But that doesn’t cover the Pont du Gard. As mentioned in the Pont du Gard section, we really recommend this tour that covers the Pont du Gard as well as some of the most beautiful towns in Provence (Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, Gordes, Roussillion, Les Baux de Provence and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence).

Can you Visit Nîmes on a day trip?