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Best experiences:

Avignon Festival

Avignon, Provence, France

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Bucket List Experience
An actor with a painted face, waistcoat, and a bowler hat, walks on stilts and holds fliers to advertise his performance

Nearly a thousand shows and exhibitions over three weeks, showcasing world-class drama, music and dance. France’s answer to the UK’s Edinburgh Festival.

Best for ages 13+

Duration: 3 weeks

When: July

Frequency: annually

Palace of the Popes

Avignon, Provence, France

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Bucket List Experience
Exterior view of front facade

The world’s biggest Gothic palace was home to popes during their 14th-century exile from Rome. Seven reigned here until 1377, in a colourful period of greed and depravity.

Adult price: £10

Best for ages 18+

Pont du Gard Aqueduct [kayaking & swimming]

Vers-Pont-du-Gard, Occitaine, France

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Bucket List Experience
View of the aquaduct over the river

A UNESCO World Heritage Site of breathtaking beauty, this aqueduct bridge, dating back to the 1st century BC, is testimony to the genius of Roman engineers.

Adult price: £8.50

Best for ages 6+

Duration: -

Angladon Museum

Avignon, Provence, France

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Bucket List Experience
Inside the museum, three paintings hang on three different coloured walls.

A superb private art collection in a townhouse, including the only Van Gogh in Provence. There are also paintings by Chardin, Manet, Cezanne, Degas, Modigliani, Sisley and Picasso.

Adult price: £7

Best for ages 18+

Maison Carree

Nimes, Occitanie, France

exterior of the Maison Caree, Nimes – world's best Roman ruins

A genuine masterpiece of classical architecture, and looking almost good as new after recent restorations, the gleaming white Maison Carree (really a temple to the divine heirs of Augustus) is one of the best-preserved of all Roman buildings. Nearby in the Jardins de la Fontaine is another unique monument, the Tour Magne, a tower offering views over the city.

Adult price: £5

Best for ages 18+

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Les Alyscamps

Arles, Provence, France

View into a graveyard with old ruin walls around

An evocative, romantic Roman burial ground – once the most famous cemetery in medieval Europe. It’s the burial site of the legendary St Trophime and the first bishops of Arles, and remains an important stop on the pilgrimage to Compostela.

Best for ages 18+

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Amphitheatre of Nimes

Nimes, Occitanie, France

Aerial view of Nimes Arena, Roman amphitheatre

Nimes’ landmark amphitheatre makes an elegant focal point for the city centre. Like many others, it owes its survival to being converted to a fortress in the Middle Ages. ‘Les Arenes’, as the Nimois call it, is now restored, and used for bullfights, courses camarguaises (bloodless bullfights), historical re-enactments and concerts.

Adult price: £12

Best for ages 18+

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