Family holiday wanted with Roman ruins in France

[Jadorelabrador]

Asking for a friend as I haven’t got a clue - Preferably in France, don’t really want night life, nice cafes, a pool - family of 5 with 2 adult children. Happy to visit ruins in the day, and sit by the pool the rest of the time. Family is Roman ruins mad. Any advice for area to look in.

They ideally want France but my friend was like Pompeii which is Italy and wouldn’t shift gears!

Vaison-la-Romaine

Lovely little market town. Roman remains aplenty.

Is it easy to get to - she’s in Bath?

I’ve had a look but it doesn’t look easy! I might be missing something

This might help: https://www.french-waterways.com/the-definitive-list-of-must-visit-roman-sites-in-france/

How does she want to travel? Lyon has ruins and a good roman museum and an airport and is easy by train, with Vienne & Nîmes within day trip distance.

Nimes. Lots of Roman remains in the area.

Do they plan to drive or hire a car? If so I quite like the Vaucluse area. Lots of lovely towns and villages and with a car it's easy to get to the pont-du-gard, Nimes, Orange, etc.

They want to fly from Bristol / Bath area and then hire a car. Ideally air b and b - with a pool so the kids and just lounge about and then they can pop out for a nice lunch, cafe and exploring ruins!

Thanks I have sent this to her

Nimes area would be good. You must visit the Pont du Gard and swim underneath it. Amazing experience.

Coming on here to say near Orange and Nimes but have been beaten to it! We had a fab holiday down there a couple of years ago.

They could do Arles as well.

Arles is amazing.. the old town is pretty much all Roman ruins. If you fly into Marseille then it’s really easy to get to via the train.

I’d stay somewhere near Avignon, then you’re central for travelling to the arenas at Arles and Nimes, plus the Pont du Gard and the theatre at Orange. It’s a gorgeous area even without the Roman aspect, with fabulous weather. You can easily fly to Marseille or get the TGV from Paris.

The right answer is indeed Nimes

I stayed in the centre of Arles at the Hotel du Forum as it had a pool . They have the biggest photo festival in Europe every summer too!

How could I forget Arles! But yes somewhere near Avignon/Orange and a car and you could basically spend at least a week just visiting Roman ruins.

Somewhere like Avignon or St Remy de Provence. It’s superb for Roman ruins as noted above. Nîmes, Arles, the pont du Gard and Orange are the best IMO. It’s also fabulous for other reasons, hilltop villages, lovely countryside, good food, great weather and easy to move round and spend some time on the Côte d’Azur too. You can do a kayak trip under the pont du Gard which is an interesting and different way to see it.