Marked by the imprint of the Romans, the Gard department stretches from the wooded foothills of the Cévennes (in the west) to the Mediterranean, where it ends in a landscape unique in France: the Petite Camargue, with its rice fields, bulls and labyrinths of canals lined with bulrushes: a garden of Eden for lovers of unspoiled lands.

Nearby, Nîmes and its surrounding areas are just waiting to be explored. The town is two thousand years old and its seven hills offer views of Roman monuments in a rare state of preservation, dating from the 1st Century A.D. (the Arena, the Maison Carré, etc.) while, just a few miles away, the Pont du Gard, the highest of the known Roman aqueducts, sits aside the banks of the Gardon Gorge, rising 48 metres above the river.

Don't miss: Nîmes (Arena, Maison Carrée...) and the Pont du Gard (Gardon Gorge)