Ardèche

The Ardèche is the name of a department (province) and a river. The region is of the most popular holiday destinations and is easily accessible from the motorway Autoroute du Soleil. The 120 km long river is fascinating with its rapids, which makes canoeing a real challenge. Canoeing is difficult and therefore only to be advised for youngsters (no kids) and adults with a good condition. Along the river there are the most beautiful gorges of France, a lot of beaches and many naturist campsites. The starting point of the gorges is the well-known Pont d'Arc near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc (an "arc bridge", created by nature over the river). The river discharges into the Rhône near Pont-Saint-Esprit. Pont-Saint-Esprit is a nice village to visit for an hour.

Camargue

The Camargue is of the largest nature parks of Europe. It is in fact the river delta of the Rhône, which ends in the Mediterranean sea. There are 400 different species. There are a number of big lakes with brackish water. The Camargue is famous for its flamingos, wild horses and bulls. It is a fantastic view; a lake with thousands of pink flamingos. There are a number of observation-points, where you can observe birds in the wild. The Camargue has a surface of approximately 1000 km2. The largest lake is called the Lake of Vaccarès. Activities: salt-making, wine-growing and rice growing. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is a small seaside village in the middle of the Camargue where all gypsies from Europe meet periodically to celebrate and to honour the virgin Mary. In the west the Camargue is bounded by the medieval bastide Aigues-Mortes; centainly worthwile visiting. This borough was situated long ago at the seashore, but because of silting up it is now situated a few kilometers from the coast.

Nîmes & Arles

Nîmes and Arles are two cities, very near to each other. Both cities were built during the Roman era and both have a very beautiful and well kept arena. There are still bullfights, in spite of the opposition of animal wellfare organisations. In Nîmes you find further a well preserved Roman temple, also called the "square house". Arles is also known as the residence of the painter Vincent van Gogh. He painted his most beautiful paintings in the Arles area.

Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard is an aqueduct, which has been built by the Romen. The aqueduct is situated not far from the motorway A9, slightly above Nîmes. Recently this monument has been added to the world heritage list of UNESCO. It is an impressive construction and certainly worthwile visiting. Nowadays visitors are allowed to walk in aqueduct. For children a exciting event. The original aqueduct was 50 km long and was built in 50 AC. It had to provide the city Nîmes with water; an enormous challenge because the decline is only 24 cm per km. The Pont du Gard is 49 meters high and consists of three levels. There is an exposition space.

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a fortification and borough with approximately 45,000 inhabitants. It is the largest fortification of Europe. If you drive over the A61 from Toulouse to Narbonne you see halfway this impressive construction loom up. The city stands on the world heritage list of UNESCO and attracts annually 3 millions tourists. The most famous curiosity is the entirely restored citadel, called La Cité, the most beautiful example of a medieval preserved city in Europe. Within the citadel there are many historical buildings and the Château Comtal. A double wall protects the city. The outside wall has 16 towers and the inside wall 24 towers. Furthermore there are several nice shops; so do not miss Carcassonne!

Narbonne & Port Barcarès - Port Leucate

Narbonne was the first Roman settlement outside Italy. The colony was founded in 118 BC. Nowadays Narbonne a modern bathing resort with a long beach. The city with 50,000 inhabitants has a beautiful cathedral, the St Just and a palace of the former archbishop, in which now a number of museums are located.
Port Barcarès and Port Leucate consist mainly of holiday houses. Both villages are situated on a narrow spit of land, which separates the Mediterranean sea from two large lakes. For this reason its both villages are very popular amongst water-sport lovers, because one can go windsurfing, sailing, waterskiing at the sea or the lakes.

Sète

Sète is situated near Montpellier at the Bassin de Thau, a lagoon lake of the Mediterranean sea. It is a characteristic port. The Canal du Midi flows here into the Mediterranean sea. You can climb the Mont Saint-Clair (183m), from where you have a beautiful view over the city, the port, the Bassin de Thau, the Cevennes and the Pyrenees. The Bassin de Thau is the largest inland lake at the French coast. There are many species of birds.

Pyrenees

The Pyrenees dominate the landscape in the south. They form the border between France and Spain. At the foot there are some nice seaside resorts like Argelès-sur-Mer and St Cyprien-Plage. You can drive to Spain along the foot of the Pyrenees at Cap Cerbère by means of sinuous road. If you want to go into the mountains from the
coast, visit then the Pic des 3 Termes, a beautiful ride, which brings you to an altitude of 1100 meters.

Millau

This viaduct has been opened in December 2004 and is the highest bridge in the world. This piece of art is part of A75 and links mid and south France. The toll bridge (5 up to 7 euro) crosses the Tarn valley and is with its 343 meters even higher than the Eiffel tower. In the past all traffic had to cross Millau. The new bridge saves thus an hour of mounting and descending. The construction lasted three years and cost 400 millions euro.
Millau is a small village and is very popular amongst tourists. One can canoe and fish in the Tarn river. There are many camp-sites. Nature is overwhelming and beautiful.

Romanesque abbeys: St Martin de Canigou e.o.

If you move into the Pyrenees you should certainly visit a number of the beautiful abbeys and villages. They have frequently been built against the flank of a mountain and offer a spectacular view. At a short distance of each other you can visit the abbeys of Prieuré de Serrabone, St Michel-de-Cuxa and St Martin de Canigou and the villages Castelnou and Vernet-les-Bains. Somewhat north of Montpellier there is the beautiful medieval village St Guilhem-le-Désert with its beautiful Romanesque abbey.

Montpellier

Montpellier is a large city with 300,000 inhabitants. The town centre is very old and beautiful. There are many small streets with nice shops. Curiosities: Place de la Comédie in the centre with musicians and artists, the Arceaux (an aqueduct in Roman style) and the Arc de triomphe Le Peyrou.

Agde - Cap d'Agde

Agde is one of the oldest places of France. It was already a Greek colony around 500 BC. You can find only a few vestiges from that time. There is further a beautiful cathedral. More fascinating to see is Cap d'Agde, the seaside resort of Agde with a beach of 14 km long. The village is modern, car-free, has a beautiful pleasure port, there are nice shops. Cap d'Agde has the largest centre for naturists in the world. It had one of the first nudist beaches in Europe. The park has a scope of a small village with a 2 km long sandy beach. In Cap d'Agde itself there are beautiful sand beaches like la Plage du Mole and spectacular rocky beaches like la Plage de la Grand Conque.

Uzès

The historic City of Uzès ( the first Duchy of France) has many monuments, such as the Ducal Castle and the Frenestelle Tower. Apart from the typically medieval magic you may enjoy the wonderful little shops, the picturesque market and the numerous cosy outdoor cafés. Pont du Gard, the 2000-year-old example of Roman architecture. Part of a 50 kms long, partly underground waterway, it transported water from the source of Uzès to the City of Nîmes.

Tourist sites