Provence
Price €50
Min age 2
Rating 4.31 / 5 [153 ratings]
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Travel bucket list idea:
Arles, Provence, France
Quintessential to the mystique of the Provence region, La Camargue – the enormous Rhone delta just south of Arles – is Western Europe’s largest river delta and home to an important range of flora and wildlife, including nearly 400 species of bird. Almost 140,000 hectares are declared a national park. The Pont de Gau Ornithological Park is good for spotting some of the Camargue’s 400 species of birds, while the Marais Vigueirat Nature Reserve has nature trails and offers guided wildlife excursions.
Local tour operators in Arles and Les Saintes-Maries offer 4WD drive wildlife safaris and zodiac river safaris into remote areas; in winter, sand yachting on the long empty beaches is also possible. There are a number of cycle paths into the Camargue from the little coastal town of Les Saintes-Maries, where you can also find bikes to rent.
Other visitors come for the wild beaches by the picturesque seaside town of Les Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer, dominated by its famous fortified Romanesque church.
The Park is also home to Provence’s famous gardians, local herdsmen who raise local breeds of bulls and horses. Gardians live on manades (ranches), many of which offer horse riding excursions.
You can visit a traditional manade: bulls are raised on these ranches for their meat and the Courses Camarguaises bull races. A good one to visit – with English speakers – is the Manade Gilbert Arnaud.
The Camargue is vast, and although you can get a taste of it by car (the park boundaries begin 5km southwest of Arles), it’s best to get off the roads and explore on a guided tour, either by land or water. You can download a map from Arles Tourism’s website.
You can go year-round, but spring and autumn are the best times to spot birds and other animals. August is the driest month, and can be very crowded, hot and the mosquitoes will be at their worst.
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