It’s always nice when you have high expectations for a city you’ve always wanted to visit and those expectations are met – or in the case of Arles – exceeded. As Van Gogh nerds and lovers of quaint little history-soaked French towns, Arles was always on our radar. We finally made it there in July, seven months into our French adventure, and can report that Arles is everything we hoped it might be and more.
Arles is located on the Rhône River in the Provence region of southern France. It takes an hour and a bit to get there from Montpellier on a train that can only be described as “packed” and “perpetually late”. The nice high speed trains with assigned seating on the Oui and TGV lines don’t run between Montpellier and Arles, so we settled for standing in the aisle of a significantly oversold and cramped TER train. It brought me back to my teenage days when we tried to pack eleven people into a Volkswagen bug, the biggest difference being the Volkswagen experience was more comfortable and we had a greater sense of accomplishment when it was all over.
Despite the tight quarters, we got off the train in Arles reasonably unscathed. It was mid-morning on a Saturday, and we were excited to explore this city we had heard so much about. It was a gorgeous summer morning, perfect for us to walk along the Rhône and into the old city. Like so many old French towns and villages, there are walls surrounding the heart of the old city, so it feels something like a transformation once you make your way through the gap in the rock wall that separates new from old.
The streets were lined with cafes and pubs. Despite it being before noon there was a festive atmosphere in the air, people enjoying their Saturday in the heart of the city.
Arles, like so many places in Europe, smacks you in the face with old world charm at every corner, and it doesn’t take long until you come across a view of the Roman collisseum which dominates the middle of the old city. This was our first collisseum in Europe, and it definitely made an impression. Due to the size of it you can’t really get a good photo of the whole thing, but even just viewing sections of it at a time inspires visions of gladiators and raucous crowds.
Known officially as the Arles Amphitheatre, it was built in 90 AD and was capable of holding up to 20,000 people. They held chariot races and hand-to-hand combat there. These days it holds special events, concerts, and the Easter Feria, where bullfighting is the central activity.
You can see slivers of the amphitheatre from different spots in the city, which helps to create some different looks unique to Arles.
We made our way around the amphitheatre to our hotel, located across the street from the amphitheatre itself. Our accomodations for the weekend would be the Hôtel Spa Le Calendal, a hotel with insanely good Trip Advisor reviews and one of the best locations in Arles.
We checked in early – around noon – but they were happy to check us in and bring us to our room. This was a nice treat – we were happy to drop our packs off and relax for a few minutes, happily taking in the stellar view from the room.
Suitably impressed, we headed out to get our Arles on. The very polite desk agent at the hotel told us where to find the local market, just a short walk from the hotel. Every Saturday a huge market full of sellers hawking produce, all kinds of food, clothes, leather, and because it’s Provence…lavender. Sweet fancy Moses, the lavender. If lavender is your thing, Arles is your place. Tiny bags of lavender as far as the eye could see. It smelled amazing, and it was nice to see so many people excited about something I hadn’t spent more than twelve seconds in my life thinking about. Then again, I’m not from Provence. If you’re from Provence you probably think about lavender.
One seller told us he sells hundreds of bags a day, meaning that lavender sellers obviously are crowd favourites in Arles.
The market was packed. Being the height of tourist season, the aisles were teeming with people. It was nice to see local artisans and craftspeople doing well.
We were hungry so we found a small restaurant nearby to eat. The resto was called La Dent de l’Ours, a very nice little spot where a friendly waiter and the restaurant owner herself served us and chatted about life in Arles. They both love it there and were thrilled to share with us some of their favourite spots to visit. She was proud of her town and her restaurant, and it’s experiences like these that both Angela and I love about travel.
After lunch we decided to hit the first Van Gogh spot on our list, the hospital where he stayed for a few months. He moved to Arles for a year in 1888, looking for a city with vibrant, soft colours to paint. He found what he was looking for in Arles and fell in love with it, but unfortunately he was also struglling with depression and mental illness. His stay in the hospital in Arles followed the famous “ear incident”; the hospital is in the centre of town, and the courtyard has been restored back to a state similar to when he enjoyed painting there.
There are a few restaurants around the perimeter of the courtyard, as well as a few tourist shops, but for the most part it’s just a quiet little park and it’s easy to see why he enjoyed painting there.
It had already been a long day, so we zipped back to the hotel for a little R&R. One of the benefits of the Hôtel Spa Le Calendal is – as the name suggests – they have a spa. The best part is that the spa is included with your room (no additional charge), so we were able to book an hour in the spa late in the afternoon to rejuvenate after a busy day. The spa has a large warm pool to wade to relax in (they call it a ‘caldarium’), a hammam, and a shower area. They book a maximum of six people (or three couples) in the spa at any one time, so it’s never busy. There was one other woman there during our time slot, so the place was basically empty.
The views from the caldarium can’t be beat – an unobstructed look at the Roman amphitheatre right across the street. Surreal.
Fully rejuvenated, we got back out there. Arles is a city that is extremely walkable, and it seems like a lively place with an energy that makes it a fantastic getaway destination. As we walked we wandered in and out of venues featuring photographers – a major photography festival hits Arles each summer, bringing hundreds of photographers and their work to the forefront of the Arles arts scene. As we walked out of one we heard drums and people clapping, so we followed the music and found a free concert on in one of the parks.
We were hitting it just in time to catch a couple of songs before they wrapped it up. We kept wandering and found another spot on the Van Gogh trail – the cafe that Van Gogh captured in Café Terrace at Night. It was hard to see it in the way that we would have liked as umbrellas and awnings basically obscure the view, but you can see that elements from when he painted there remain. Here’s the painting…
…and the cafe as it stands today.
It’s a pretty spot, obviously touristy these days but you can still get a sense of what Van Gogh was seeing back in 1888-89 when he painted there. We had a quick dinner and then wandered along the Rhône, taking our time as we waited for the light to drop. There’s a spot along the Rhône where you can take in the sunset and place yourself where Van Gogh painted our all-time favourite work by him – Starry Night, also commonly known as Starry Night Over the Rhône.
The painting now hangs in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, so we have the opportunity to visit with it every time we’re in the City of Light. Here it is from one of our visits…
In Arles you can set up along the bank of the river and basically plunk yourself down where Van Gogh painted this. The stars are invisible these days thanks to light pollution, but it’s still pretty special to sit there and imagine the stars swirling around up in the sky. If you do go, you likely won’t be imagining the swirling stars on your own – there were a couple of hundred people there on the night we visited, suggesting that most nights you will have company taking it in. Even so, there’s plenty of space for everyone.
We tried to recreate the image as closely as we could, recognizing that my Canon was not a paintbrush, there were no stars in the sky, and 140 years separated us from Van Gogh and the day he completed his brilliant work. We gave it a shot, sat and enjoyed the view, soaked up the history, and called it a night. A perfect summer night ended and we made our way back to the Hôtel Spa Le Calendal.
The next morning the fine staff at the hotel offered us another opportunity to use the spa, so we took them up on it. After soaking and warming up in the hammam we got ready and walked across town to the tower at Luma Arles. Luma is a new arts centre and complex that Angela had been reading about for the past few years. Designed by Frank Gehry (Canadian!), Luma creates a dichotomy between the gorgeous ancient buildings in the city’s centre and a gleaming tower of modernity on the outside of the city.
The inside of the tower speaks to the creativity and artistic vision you expect from a Gehry creation. Made of stainless steel bricks, concrete, and glass, the facade was meant to create an effect that was always changing with the sky, sun, and stars – this was done as an homage to Van Gogh’s Starry Night. The building has 12 floors with 15000 square metres of floor space. 11000 stainless steel bricks were used to construct it, as well as 53 glass boxes. It’s a brilliant centre for the arts – a space that has large exhibition spaces, event halls, workshops, an auditorium, a cafe – even a two-storey slide for the little kids (and big kids alike).
There’s an observation deck on one of the top floors, where you can enjoy nice views of the city.
It’s a very cool building, one that champions both the arts and innovation. Luma is well worth a visit if you’re in the area.
We wrapped up our time at Luma and hustled back to the hotel, where it was time to check out. We said our goodbyes to the fine folks at Hôtel Spa Le Calendal and made our way back to the train station. We were sad to leave Arles, a small city bursting with charm and history (not to mention a spa with a view of the Roman amphitheatre!). It’s a perfect destination for a getaway and I have no doubt we will return.
Have you been to Arles? What were your impressions? If not, is Arles a place you would like to check out? Comment below, and thanks for reading!