It's incredible to find oneself in the middle of where VVG did much of his paintings--it really…read morebrings the mental images to life. For that reason alone, Fondation Vincent Van Gogh is a striking place. But what is even more striking is to find that, when I went in the winter, the collection had gone on holiday. On my visit, only on VVG piece was left at the foundation. In fact, there was more to view in the gift shop than in the museum. That said, it wasn't a complete bust. The walk from where I had parked through the winding alleys was charming and the foundation itself has beautiful facilities. Nevertheless, probably best to not plan a trip there in the winter.

We came here after visiting Espace Van Gogh, which is beyond beautiful, but doesn't provide much in…read moreterms of historical information. While this museum only houses five Van Gogh paintings, we thoroughly enjoyed all of its exhibits. The Fondation is a new, modern building (with modern amenities) situated amid the picturesque streets of Arles. There's a nice courtyard and spacious galleries. When we visited, there was an exhibit on a Georgian artist--Niko Pirosmani--and it was fascinating to see the art of near contemporary of Van Gogh's (with a parallel life story) in the same space. There were a few other artists as well, but we liked the Pirosmani stuff best. Bottom line: if you want to see a bunch of Van Gogh paintings, go to Amsterdam. If you're interested in art in general, and want to celebrate its many iterations, then this museum is worth a visit.

This excellent museum highlights the Roman and pre-Roman history of Arles…read more The museum sits on the outskirts of the old town, on the edge of the ancient Hippodrome. A very nice collection of Roman funerary items and some impressive floors. The highlight of the museum is the restored commercial barge that sank around 50 AD while still loaded with a cargo of building stone. It really is amazing! The majority of signs are in French only, but there is an audio guide available that has a nice sampling of items in other languages.

We walked from the old city of Arles. It's about a 20 minute walk. We had purchased city passes…read morefrom the tourist info center in Arles. This had gotten us into the amphitheater and some of the other sites in town for only $9 per person. We went through the little security check point at the entrance to the museum, then wandered through the exhibits for a little less than an hour. It's a rather small museum and none of the signage is in English. We found a little theater where they were showing how the long boat on exhibition was excavated. It had subtitles in English and was very informative and interesting. Other than that, it was a lot of pottery and Roman ruins. I did like the mosaics towards the end of the exhibit. I mean, it's a cool museum, but not that worth it in my opinion.

From the owner: Ôde à la Provence Le Muséon est situé au coeur de la ville, dans l'hôtel Laval-Castellane, témoin…read morede l'architecture arlésienne des XVème et XVIème siècles construit sur les vestiges du Forum Romain. C'est un Palais rectangulaire monumental au centre duquel on retrouve une vaste cour intérieure. Ce musée ethnographique provençal, créé en 1896 par Frédéric Mistral, regroupe une collection d'objets et documents rendant compte du mode de vie de la région. Reconstitutions des us et coutumes de l'époque, il met en exergue la forte personnalité de la région au travers notamment de scènes de vie reconstituées, entre vie rurale et vie des mas. 30 000 Objets, écrits, sculptures, mobiliers, peintures... on y retrouve toute la culture provençale. Des expositions temporaires y sont également organisées.

From the owner: Une programmation des plus éclectiques Le Cargo de Nuit, salle de concerts de 300 places, a été…read morecréé en 1995, et a fait partie des premières salles labellisées " Café-musique ", puis " Scène de Musiques ACtuelles ". C'est un lieu ouvert à toutes les formes d'expression musicale de notre temps et à tous les publics, dans lequel l'association Andromède a organisé des milliers de concerts en tous genres, dont certains resteront gravés dans les mémoires : André Ceccarelli, Thomas Fersen, Louis Bertignac, Didier Lockwood, Aston Villa, Gnawa Diffusion, The Gladiators, The Commitmens, Julien Loureau, Richard Bona, Saïan Supa Crew, Ekova, Zebda, Sinclair, les Rita Mitsouko... pour ne citer qu'eux. Outre le fait d'afficher une programmation des plus éclectiques, avec des groupes d'envergure nationale et internationale, Cargo de Nuit est un lieu qui travaille aussi en collaboration avec des artistes et des associations de la région, et qui ouvre son lieu aux pratiques amateur.

We did not enjoy this restaurant. First of all, the museum is not stroller friendly so if you have…read moresmall kids, you either have to make them walk or carry them. The museum in itself is like a maze. The doors to some of the exhibits are locked so you have to meander around to find the correct entrance. The format of the museum was kind of confusing. The art exhibits also didn't make much sense. I didn't understand the theme of the art and couldn't grasp the connection between the pieces. Perhaps it is because of a language barrier that I didn't get the concept of this museum. They had photography in one room and then some Picasso pieces in another. It was all kind of disconnected and confusing.

From the owner: Du nom du peintre arlésien Jacques Réattu Installé au bord du Rhône dans l'Ancien Grand Prieuré de…read morel'Ordre de Malte, le musée Réattu présente des œuvres anciennes (17ème/19ème siècles), des dessins et peintures de Picasso et de l'art contemporain. A travers ses expositions temporaires (environ 3 par an), ses acquisitions ou ses propositions aux publics, le musée est principalement tourné vers la création artistique d'aujourd'hui. Au croisement du Rhône et du cardo (l'axe nord/sud de la cité romaine), le lieu doit sa vocation artistique, à Jacques Réattu, peintre arlésien, Grand Prix de Rome en 1790, qui acheta l'édifice pour y vivre et y travailler. Son rêve était d'y accueillir des artistes en résidence pour leur offrir l'intensité de son paysage, 60 ans avant l'idée de "l'Atelier du Midi" de Vincent Van Gogh. C'est de ce rêve jamais concrétisé que le musée a hérité, avec toute l'œuvre du peintre. Le musée Réattu est un véritable "laboratoire" au service de la création. Aujourd'hui,

It's a Roman theater built in the first century A.D. and with a ticket you are free to walk around…read moreand experience a part of history. If you just want to look from outside the gate, you can still see most of the theater. It's something marvelous to see, it's really quite remarkable. It was designed to seat 8,000 -10,000 people.

You can't compare this to the colosseum in Rome.... it's a cool place to visit if you're in Arles,…read moreand will only take you 15-30 minutes. I only say this because Arles is mostly a pedestrian city, so if you're going to Arles, be prepared to walk a few miles seeing all the sites. I highly recommend getting the tourist city pass at the tourist center before coming to the Amphitheater. Its $9 per person for the pass and it will get you into like 5 attractions in Arles. There are about a dozen stairs from the ticket office/entrance to the main floor of the theater, which looks down on the arena. They've put in metal bleachers so that the amphitheater is utilized every year. You can climb around a dozen more stairs to get to the top of one of the towers. It has pretty nice views of the river and city.

This Roman amphitheater was built in 90AD and is a UNESCO world heritage site. During Roman times…read moreseating capacity was 20,000. After the fall of Rome it was converted into a fortress and 4 towers were added, 3 still survive. In addition about 200 homes were built in the structure and some people still lived there until the early 19th century. It has been cleaned and restored and there are several events during the year including bull fights. There is a small fee to view and tour the interior.