RV Rental Arles, PAC

Wherever you choose to bring your RV rental, Arles has no shortage of natural beauty. Arles is famed for the vast Camargue Nature Park. This park is one of the largest wetland reserves in France. Stretching over 385 square miles (100,000 hectares), it surrounds the Rhône River delta, encompassing marshes, Mediterranean beaches, and ponds. Much of the Camargue Nature Park is accessible by car. It also offers scenic walking and cycling trails, such as one to the Gacholle Lighthouse. It's home to wild Camarguais horses, flamingos, and fighting bulls. Within the park are historic rice fields, growing rice that you can purchase at the historic Arles Market, and the Giraud salt pans, where hundreds of thousands of tons of salt are harvested.

Just 16 miles (26 kilometers) from Arles is the Alpilles Regional Nature Park. Although less than 200 square miles (510 square kilometers), this small park is a hidden gem. Alpilles and its villages offer outdoor experiences like horseback riding, rock climbing, and hiking. Driving and biking tours are also available. This beautiful countryside has been enjoyed for thousands of years. Park visitors can still see the well-preserved remains of the Roman Aqueduct of Barbegal. This aqueduct carried water into Arles and powered the first-century Roman mills. Today, Alpilles is still home to multiple mills, including oil mills that create rich olive oils from the park’s 350,000 olive trees.

Less than two hours’ drive from Arles is the Luberon Regional Nature Park. This enormous park boasts multiple easy and intermediate walking trails through its diverse landscape of forests, grasslands, and mountains. Out of the center rises the Luberon massif, a 3,690-foot (1,125-meter) mountain. The countryside is dotted with historic buildings – stone cottages, chapels, and even fortified castles — buildings that whisper of hundreds of years of French history. UNESCO has recognized this park as both a Global Geopark and a Biosphere Reserve.

As a popular nature-lovers’ destination, Arles offers several places to park your luxury RV rental. You'll have no trouble finding a friendly campground near the city. Many are in or near Arles’s beautiful nature parks. The Camping Crin Blanc campground, located between Arles and the Camargue Nature Park, offers sunny, shaded, or semi-shaded sites to park your RV. These sites are spacious and accessible for children and people with limited mobility. Every site includes electricity and sanitation facilities (note you'll need European adaptors).

Camping l’Arlesienne is an RV-friendly campground just outside of Arles and the Camargue Nature Park. Its sites are accessible and include electricity and Wi-Fi. This campground, complete with a bar/restaurant, offers a swimming pool, table tennis, and bike rentals. If you’re headed to Alpilles Regional Nature Park, Camping Les Micocouliers is just a 10-minute drive away from Alpilles’s famous village, Saint-Remy-de-Provence. It also includes adult and kiddie pools, outdoor recreation centers, and a multilingual library.

When you rent a campervan in Arles, this ancient city will not disappoint you. If it’s history you seek, look no further than the magnificent first-century Roman ruins that earned Arles its UNESCO World Heritage Site status. The awe-inspiring Roman Amphitheater, modeled after the Coliseum, was built almost 2,000 years ago and held up to 20,000 people for events. Events are still held in this remarkably-preserved amphitheater today.

Nearby are a Roman theater and the Thermes de Constantin – one of the most complete Roman bath complexes left today. What remains of the ancient Roman forum is built into the walls of the Hôtel Nord Pinus. But what’s beneath the forum is even more interesting. The cryptoporticus comprises three ancient tunnels built by the Greeks in the first century B.C. The tunnels were used for hundreds of years, but their purpose remains a mystery. Arles also boasts one of the ancient world’s most famous necropolises, the Alyscamps, and the Eglise St-Trophime, a Roman Catholic church that contains some of the best remaining Romanesque sculpture. For Roman culture at a glance, consider visiting the Musée de l’Arles et de la Provence Antiques, a well-known history museum that houses Roman artifacts. For medieval architecture, the Montmajour Abbey is an inspiringly mysterious place to visit.

Arles also offers a rich artistic experience. Arles is famous for being the temporary home of Vincent van Gogh. This impressionist artist painted many well-known pieces of this charming city, many of which can be viewed here. This was also the city in which he famously cut off his own ear. But many other well-known artists have graced this city. The Musée Réattu is home to a fine collection of art, including three rooms dedicated to Pablo Picasso.

If the Arles food scene entices you, the Le Marche d’Arles may be the place for you. People have purchased and sold in this vast street market for over 1,500 years. Open Wednesdays and Saturdays, it boasts such culinary gems as fresh produce, cheeses, spices, rice from Camargue, and Arles’s well-known sausages, as well as clothing and crafts. If cooking isn't on your itinerary, you can find fresh food from this market served up in dozens of local restaurants.

There are plenty of grocery stores and gas stations where you can refuel yourself and your RV rental in Arles. Keep in mind that they're concentrated in and around the city and less common in the nature parks and on the highways between the cities.