The Pont du Gard carries a Roman aqueduct across the river Gardon in the Gard, about 25km from Nimes. It is 49 metres high and 275 metres long in three tiers of arches, IT IS THE HIGHEST ROMAN AQUEDUCT BRIDGE STILL STANDING, and it was built without mortar: the blocks, some weighing six tonnes, are cut to fit and held by gravity.
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One honest note about the photographs. ALL THREE FRAMES HERE ARE THE BRIDGE, which is appropriate because the bridge is the destination: there is no town, and the visitor centre, the river beach and the garrigue paths are described below rather than shown.
What Is Here
IT IS ONE SMALL PART OF A FIFTY KILOMETRE AQUEDUCT AND THAT IS THE THING TO UNDERSTAND. The channel ran from a spring at Uzes to Nimes, falling only about 12 metres over 50km, an average gradient of one in four thousand, which is the real achievement. The bridge exists because the Gardon valley was in the way. Water ran along it for perhaps five centuries.
YOU CAN WALK ACROSS THE LOWEST TIER AND NOT THE TOP. The road deck added in the eighteenth century beside the lowest level is the public crossing; the water channel at the top is accessible only on guided tours at certain times, which are worth booking if you want to stand in the conduit.
The second image is the structure from downstream, which is how the scale registers: the arches are not uniform, and the courses step back as they rise.
THE RIVER BENEATH IT IS A SWIMMING BEACH AND THIS IS THE PART MOST PHOTOGRAPHS OMIT. In summer the Gardon is shallow and warm on the gravel bars either side, and French families spend whole days in it with the aqueduct overhead. It is supervised in high season at the designated area and nowhere else.
The site is large and well interpreted, with a museum, a film, a children's area and the Memoires de Garrigue, a 1.4km walk through terraced olives, vines and oak explaining how the landscape was farmed.
There is no town here. Remoulins is the nearest village, Uzes is a lovely small town 15km away, and Nimes and Avignon are each about half an hour.
When to Go
May, June and September. The light early and late is much better, and the site opens early.
July and August are hot, above 35C regularly, and extremely busy; the river is the compensation.
GO AT OPENING OR IN THE EVENING. The site is one of the most visited monuments in France, coaches arrive mid morning, and the bridge is far better with fewer people under it.
Winter is quiet and cold with the mistral blowing, and the bridge in low sun is superb. The museum is open.
THE GARDON FLOODS. It is a Mediterranean river with a violent regime: the 2002 flood reached extraordinary levels and closed the site. Check conditions after heavy rain.
Getting There
By car, about 25 minutes from Nimes, half an hour from Avignon, with large paid car parks on both banks.
By bus, services run from Nimes and Avignon in roughly 40 minutes to an hour, seasonal and infrequent.
By train to Nimes or Avignon, then bus or taxi. There is no station at the site.
The two banks have separate entrances and the left bank is the main visitor centre.
Is the Pont du Gard Safe for Women?
This is a managed UNESCO site with staff, and it is entirely safe. The hazards are the river, the heat and the fire season. The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in France, and its terrorism wording is the strongest it uses: terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in France, with shopping centres, entertainment venues, sporting events, transport hubs and crowded gatherings named as possible targets. The everyday risks are more specific than that sounds. Pickpocketing is organised on the Paris Metro and on trains, typically in pairs with one person distracting you, and the FCDO records SERIOUS ASSAULTS on RER lines B and D, which matters because line B is the train most visitors take from the airports. Drink spiking is named with the drugs rather than hinted at: be alert to the possible use of date rape drugs including GHB and liquid ecstasy. Strikes and demonstrations happen at short notice and can stop trains and close roads, usually peacefully. And wildfires affect the south in hot dry summers.
France names wildfire season on the first line of its travel advice. The FCDO landing page leads with a warning that there is a high risk of wildfires from April to October, which is unusual: a named seasonal hazard on the landing page rather than buried in the safety pages. Fires start easily and spread fast in dry scrub and forest, roads close without notice, and discarding a cigarette or lighting a barbecue outside a designated area can be a criminal offence. Check local prefecture notices in summer and leave immediately if told to.
THE GARDON IS THE DANGER AND IT IS THE THING PEOPLE UNDERESTIMATE. It looks like a shallow summer river and it is a Mediterranean torrent with a violent flood regime, sudden depth changes, submerged rocks and strong current where it narrows. Swim at the supervised area in season, do not dive anywhere, do not swim after heavy rain upstream, and do not let the calm surface in August persuade you it is a lake.
The garrigue is wildfire terrain, and the paths close on high-risk days.
There is very little shade on the site and the limestone radiates heat; the heat is what defeats visitors in July.
The upper tier is not open unaccompanied and the parapets on the public crossing are low in places.
The Pont du Gard Packing List
Mediterranean heat, no shade, a cold river and a wind called the mistral.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the right choice at an unshaded Roman site, which is the same reasoning that applies at Pompeii or Jerash: it keeps the sun off your arms and shoulders across several hours with no cover, and unlike cotton it does not go cold and clammy when you have been in the river. From November to March add a heavyweight merino base layer, because the mistral in winter is a cold, dry, relentless wind.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket as the windproof, which here matters more than the waterproofing.
Salomon X Ultra 4 GTX hiking shoes with Darn Tough merino socks: the garrigue walk is sharp limestone and the riverbanks are loose gravel.
A wide brim sun hat and a RAYMYLO insulated water bottle, which on this site in July is the difference between a good day and a bad one.
Not linked and worth packing: SWIMWEAR AND A QUICK-DRYING TOWEL, because the river is half the point in summer; SOMETHING FOR YOUR FEET IN THE WATER, which we do not link because our only water-shoe entry is contested and the riverbed is rocky; SUNGLASSES; and A DRY BAG for the riverbank. France is card-friendly and the site sells tickets online, which saves queueing.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women at the Pont du Gard
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
The Gardon is the real danger and it is underestimated every summer. It looks like a shallow warm river and it is a Mediterranean torrent with a violent flood regime, sudden depth changes, submerged rock and strong current where it narrows. Swim only at the supervised area in season, never dive, and do not swim after heavy rain upstream. THE 2002 FLOOD CLOSED THE SITE, which is the scale this river is capable of. FRANCE NAMES A HIGH RISK OF WILDFIRES FROM APRIL TO OCTOBER on the first line of its travel advice and the garrigue here is that terrain: paths close on high-risk days. THERE IS VERY LITTLE SHADE and the limestone radiates heat, so go at opening or in the evening. THE UPPER WATER CHANNEL IS ACCESSIBLE ONLY ON GUIDED TOURS; the public crossing is the lower deck and its parapets are low in places. THE TWO BANKS HAVE SEPARATE ENTRANCES.
US State Department travel advisory: the France advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: the nearest emergency departments are at Nimes, about 25 minutes, and Avignon, about 30. Dial 112 for an ambulance or 15 for the SAMU. The site has first aid provision in season. France is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident, which means you pay the same patient share a French resident pays rather than nothing. That is not the same as free and it does not cover repatriation, so travel insurance sits on top of it. French hospitals are excellent and a pharmacie, marked by a green cross, handles minor problems without an appointment and will tell you where the duty pharmacy is out of hours. Tap water is drinkable everywhere. Dial 15 for a medical emergency or 112 for anything.
Official health authority: Sante publique France, the national public health agency. covers the Occitanie regional health agency
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Paris.
Official tourism authority: Atout France, the national tourism body. runs the site, publishes the upper tier tour times, the supervised swimming arrangements and summer fire-risk closures of the garrigue paths
Takeaways
It is one bridge in a fifty kilometre aqueduct that falls twelve metres. That is the achievement.
Go at opening or in the evening. Coaches arrive mid morning.
Bring swimwear. The river beneath it is half the experience.
Respect the Gardon. It floods violently and it is not a lake.
Solo women safety assessment: the Pont du Gard is a staffed, ticketed, heavily visited UNESCO site and there is nothing here for a woman alone to manage socially: the banks are busy with French families all summer, the paths are open and overlooked, and the visitor centre, museum and cafes are normal managed facilities. 112 REACHES POLICE, AMBULANCE AND FIRE free from any phone including a locked one, 15 reaches the SAMU, and Nimes and Avignon each have emergency departments under half an hour away. France's advisory concerns are national and urban and none of them touches a monument in the Gard. EVERYTHING THAT CAN HURT YOU HERE IS THE RIVER, THE SUN OR THE FIRE SEASON. THE RIVER FIRST, because it is the one that kills people on Mediterranean rivers every year and it does not look dangerous: the Gardon in August is warm, shallow over gravel bars and full of children, and the same watercourse has a violent flood regime, sudden holes, submerged rock and a fast channel where it narrows under the arches. The 2002 flood closed the site entirely, which tells you what it can do. Swim at the supervised area in season and nowhere else, never dive into water whose bed you have not seen, and do not get in at all after heavy rain upstream, which can arrive from hills you cannot see. THE SUN SECOND: there is almost no shade on this site, the limestone throws heat back, and July afternoons past 35C are what actually spoil visits. Go at opening or in the last hours, carry more water than feels necessary and wear a brim. THE FIRE SEASON THIRD, because France puts wildfire risk from April to October on the very first line of its travel advice and the garrigue scrub here is exactly that fuel: the walking paths close on high-risk days and that is not negotiable. One small practical thing: the two banks have separate entrances and car parks, so decide which side you want before you drive.
Reading On
The Pont du Gard sits between Nimes and Avignon. The Nimes packing list covers the Roman city the aqueduct was built to supply, 25 minutes away, and the Avignon packing list the papal city half an hour east, with the Arles packing list for the amphitheatre and the Montpellier packing list down the coast. North, the Millau packing list covers the modern engineering equivalent two thousand years later and the Rocamadour packing list the limestone country beyond. East, the Aix-en-Provence packing list, Cassis packing list and Marseille packing list cover Provence and its coast. For other Roman sites the Pompeii packing list and Jerash packing list cover Italy and Jordan. For the country the France travel guide for women and the France packing list carry the transport and the regions in full. For why wool suits an unshaded site and a cold river, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
