Arles Amphitheatre

The amphitheater is the way in, but Arles rewards a full day of Roman layers. The arena, which seated about 20,000, was turned into a fortified village with houses and chapels after Rome fell, a reuse you can still read in its towers. From there, walk the cryptoporticus, the vaulted galleries that held up the Roman forum, and the fourth-century Baths of Constantine. Save time for the Arles Antiquities Museum, which built a new wing for the Arles-Rhône 3, a first-century river barge about 31 meters long recovered from the Rhône in 2004. Nîmes and the Pont du Gard are close enough to combine.