Tourism at the Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard in brief

The Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct bridge with three tiers of arches, built in the 1^st century to carry water from a spring near Uzès to the Roman city of Nîmes, over more than 50 kilometres. This water supplied the city’s baths, fountains and homes. Today, it is one of the best-preserved ancient structures inherited from Rome: a feat of engineering set in the middle of the garrigue and unspoilt nature, between Uzès and Remoulins, in the Gard department, in the Occitanie region. The site spreads over both banks of the Gardon, between the municipalities of Vers-Pont-du-Gard and Saint-Bonnet-du-Gard.

A masterpiece of Roman engineering

The bridge was built between 40 and 50 AD, when Rome ruled all of Gaul, in just five years, by a team estimated at around a thousand workers. Its structure rests on three tiers of arches: 6 arches on the lower level, 11 on the middle level and 35 on the upper row, which carries the aqueduct channel. Few ancient bridges reach such a height: the structure rises 48.77 metres above the Gardon, with a current length of 275 metres, compared with 360 metres originally.

This feat of construction used eleven million stone blocks, cut from the local rock and assembled without mortar for most of the structure. The Roman engineers calculated an extremely gentle gradient along the whole route, barely a few centimetres per kilometre, a precision that still commands respect. The aqueduct stopped working at the beginning of the 6^th century, a victim of limescale building up in the channels and a lack of maintenance after the fall of the Roman Empire.

A UNESCO World Heritage site

The Pont du Gard has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since December 1985, as an outstanding example of Roman hydraulic engineering. It had already been protected as a historic monument since 1840, one of the very first heritage protections in France, and is now listed as a Grand Site de France. This double recognition explains the scale of the restoration work carried out on the site since the 1990s, with the creation of a museum area and the rehabilitation of 165 hectares of garrigue around the monument.

What to see and do on site

The visit is not just about admiring the bridge from the riverbanks. The site includes a museum tracing two thousand years of history of the aqueduct and its water, a cinema and a fun trail designed for children aged 5 to 12. Several waymarked trails cross the restored garrigue and run along the Gardon, with viewpoints over the different tiers of arches.

In summer, the site hosts night-time shows with the monument lit up, a particularly memorable moment for families on holiday in the region. A restaurant and a shop complete the offer, along with a picnic area for visitors who prefer to bring their own food.

Canoeing and swimming in the Gardon gorges

The Gardon gorges are one of the finest water playgrounds in the Gard. Canoeing under the arches of the bridge is a very popular family activity, with routes of different lengths depending on your level and the time available, usually offered by rental companies based upstream or downstream of the site.

You can also swim directly in the Gardon, from several pebble beaches around the bridge. The water stays cool even in midsummer, making it a welcome break after visiting the museum. More experienced hikers can also reach the Gardon gorges on foot, on a route stretching several kilometres through the nature reserve, between limestone cliffs and the white stones typical of the Gard.

From Camping Crin Blanc: how to plan your day

From the campsite, across from the hamlet of Saliers, allow about a 50-minute drive to reach the Pont du Gard, heading up towards Arles and then towards Remoulins. Check our practical information to plan your journey.

A full day lets you combine a visit to the monument in the morning, before the heat and the crowds, with a swim or a canoe trip on the Gardon in the afternoon. This is the plan most families recommend when making the round trip from accommodation in the Camargue: leave early, enjoy the museum in the shade in the late morning, then head for the water when the sun is strongest. Fancy something different the next day? Our article on horse riding in the Camargue will give you more ideas for outings.

The Pont du Gard rounds off a stay built around the great sites of the Camargue and the Arles area: rice fields, horses, bulls, and now a two-thousand-year-old Roman construction site. A must-see in the Gard, less than an hour’s drive from our mobile homes, and just as suited to a cultural morning as to an afternoon paddling in the water.