VAN-COMPARATOR Guide
The Alpilles and the Pont du Gard by Campervan: Avignon, Les Baux-de-Provence, Arles and Uzès
A 170 km loop through Avignon, the Pont du Gard, Uzès, Les Baux-de-Provence and Arles: distances, where to park a van or motorhome, what’s off-limits in the village centre, and the best season to go.
Between Avignon, the Pont du Gard and the Alpilles hills, this stretch of the Rhône valley packs an outsized amount of Roman and medieval heritage into less than 200 km — without the crowds or the mountain roads of the Luberon or the Verdon gorges. It's a flat, compact loop that suits a campervan well: three to four days is enough to string together Avignon, the Pont du Gard, Uzès, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Les Baux and Arles.
The loop and the distances
Avignon, with its airport and rental fleets, is the natural starting point; Marseille-Provence, a bit further south, widens the choice of vehicles. Budget roughly 25 km to Remoulins and the Pont du Gard, then 15 km more to Uzès. From there, head southwest to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (about 55 km), gateway to the Alpilles, then on to Les Baux-de-Provence, a further ten kilometres or so. Arles closes the loop about thirty kilometres on, before a roughly 35 km run back to Avignon. All told, a little under 170 km — a slow-travel pace, with two or three nights along the way rather than a rushed circuit.
The village of Les Baux: what a large vehicle can't do
This is the main trap on this loop. The hilltop centre of Les Baux-de-Provence is closed to motorhomes and oversized vehicles — narrow streets, tight turns, and a chain blocking the main car park to large rigs. The workaround: park lower down and walk up (15 to 20 minutes), or leave the vehicle in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence or Maussane-les-Alpilles, both better suited to bigger vehicles, and reach the village by bike or in a smaller car if you're travelling as a group. The effort pays off: the Carrières de Lumières, an immersive light show inside a former bauxite quarry, ranks among the region's most visited sites, and the village itself, listed among France's most beautiful, overlooks the whole Alpilles plain.
Arles, with the Camargue within easy reach
A Roman amphitheatre, an ancient theatre, the Baths of Constantine and the sites Van Gogh painted (the Langlois Bridge, the Espace Van Gogh): Arles is easy to explore on foot from a parking spot on the edge of town. Every summer, from 6 July to 4 October 2026 for its 57th edition, the city hosts the Rencontres d'Arles, one of the world's largest photography festivals, with around forty exhibitions across heritage venues. Arles is also the natural gateway to the Camargue: to extend the trip toward pink flamingos and wild beaches, our guide to the Camargue by motorhome lays out the route.
Uzès and the Pont du Gard: Roman engineering at full scale
The Pont du Gard, the tallest aqueduct bridge the Romans ever built, carried water from a spring near Uzès to the ancient city of Nemausus (Nîmes), some 50 km away, dropping by a mere 24 centimetres per kilometre on average — across the bridge itself, the channel loses just 2.5 cm over 275 metres. A hydraulic engineering study by Charles Ortloff, published in 2021 in the journal Water (Google Scholar page), analysed the water-distribution castellum at Nîmes and showed that its ten distribution pipes optimised flow using principles remarkably close to modern critical-flow theory — a feat from engineers who had neither modern precision instruments nor differential calculus. Uzès, some fifteen kilometres away, is worth the stop for its market and medieval centre before getting back on the road.
Where to sleep on the loop
- Avignon, Chemin de la Barthelasse: a private motorhome area with around thirty spaces, facing the Palais des Papes, with waste disposal and water, capped at 48 hours.
- Remoulins, less than 2 km from the Pont du Gard: a fenced area with electric hookups and wifi, accessible around the clock.
- Castillon-du-Gard: a small area with one pitch dedicated to heavy vehicles, electric hookups and video surveillance.
- Uzès, at the Stade du Refuge car park: 600 m from the centre, open day and night except Sunday mornings, 48 hours maximum.
Wild camping remains banned in the Alpilles regional nature park, as it is across most of the region's coastline and protected sites: our guide to wild camping, the real rules breaks down what's tolerated and what isn't, town by town.
The mistral: a factor not to underestimate
The Rhône valley is one of France's most reliably windy corridors: the mistral blows on more than a hundred days a year on average, with gusts that frequently top 90 km/h and can approach 130 km/h during the strongest spells. For a tall, light vehicle like a converted van, the sideways pull is noticeable right from the edge of Avignon, especially on the bridge and the open straights toward the Pont du Gard. Slow down, keep both hands on the wheel in exposed stretches, and retract the awning and antenna before every drive — the same habits covered in our guide to driving a motorhome for the first time.
When to go
July and August draw crowds to Les Baux and the Pont du Gard, with queues at the car parks from early morning. May-June and September offer equally beautiful light, clearer roads and less crowded motorhome areas — also the best window to visit Les Baux without queuing to park below the village.
Booking smart
Van-Comparator compares Yescapa, Goboony, Roadsurfer and Indie Campers availability around Avignon and Marseille in a single search; our platform comparison helps decide between peer-to-peer listings and a professional fleet. Before setting off, read our departure checklist. Looking to extend the loop south? Our guides to Marseille and the calanques and the Luberon by campervan connect naturally with this itinerary.
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