Amphitheatre of Nîmes — Attraction in Nîmes

Our experience here is directly related to the Roman Days - Remus event.

First, the amphitheater is absolutely amazing! It’s in wonderful condition and is a stunning piece of architecture to behold, let alone go to an event! We felt privileged to do so. We purchased our tickets online months in advance and paid extra, €67 per ticket so that we could be seated right in the center of the arena just behind the handicap seating area across from where the emperor would sit. Our choice proved to be a good one as we had great leg room, and though there were a couple of folks in front of us in wheelchairs, our use were unobstructed.

Entering the arena was a breeze, there were multiple lines, and we walked up directly to a security person without having to wait at all. After a quick check over us, a separate one for women and men, we were directed inside. Fortunately where we chose to enter was right where our seats would be. The seats are wooden and bench style, unfortunately the front wood slat of our seats was just slightly higher than the rear, so it made for a ridge across your bottom. We ended up folding our coats and sitting on them, and that took care of the problem.

If I could add any suggestions, a concession where you could rent a seat cushion would’ve been wonderful and I would’ve happily have paid some money to sit a little more comfortably. The only restrooms are Porta potties, but they did flush, and there were about a half a dozen of them in our area.

All of the staff were friendly and helpful and directed us to our seats answering questions as best they could with my broken French and their broken English.

The event itself was outstanding! Over two hours of storytelling where two gentlemen had a conversation remembering the life of general Remus. Though we didn’t speak enough French to understand what they were saying, the battles and scene changes that took place told the story well enough. There were at least a dozen set changes and all of them were incredible and quickly done. We kind of felt like we were an ancient room as I’m sure that was probably the way they did things. The participants were all well-versed in their acting, and there had to be at least three or 400 of them. There was an equestrian group that was simply outstanding! Their horsemanship and ability to flip over the saddles and even go under the horse during full gallop was amazing to see.

All in all the event was outstanding and we highly recommended if you were going to be in the area in April. My understanding is that they have a different...

The amphitheater WAS stunning. The outside IS stunning.

We went as it was preparing for a concert. They had laid tarmac on the arena floor, the staging, seating, bars and general ‘venue’ stuff totally overpowered the experience. Not worth a visit if they are doing a concert there as you can barely see the inside at all through the staging, lighting, fork lift trucks, gantries, seating etc.

I have been to Nimes before in 1987 and can honestly say that I preferred the amphitheater back then. There was less permanent seating and it was a partially restored ruin you could actually see rather than a ruin that has been converted into a modern venue.

The traditional entertainment does not impact the venue as detrimentally as the modern concerts. I want to see a bull fight (they don’t kill the bulls these days!) and re-enactments at the arena not Simply Red and Slipknot. 🤷‍♂️

I can see the direction they have taken in order to continue to use the arena as a venue but they have lost some of the historical authenticity of the place.

They have commercialised the whole building and made it ‘an accessible experience’ when it really was awe inspiring as a the worlds best preserved and intact Roman amphitheatre. It didn’t need MORE to...

Good news & bad news! It is a stunning piece of Roman amphitheatre, and it's amazing that (after a lot of restoration in the last few hundred years) it's still largely intact. You get a real sense of the scale of the building by being able to go up to the top levels, and explore through the corridors.

However, for anyone wanting to learn how it was built or anything else about the structure, there's no information at all. In a couple of places on random walls, there were sketches of how the Arena would have originally looked, but that's all. The audio guide was pathetic and seemed to be just aimed at trying to engage small children only, rather than adults.

To get any proper background information on the building itself you would need to pay for a separate visit to the excellent Musée de la Romanité nearby.

During July & August, as the Arena is used for concerts, you're not able to get into the centre or certain other parts, and obviously any photos you take are spoiled by the enormous stage and modern seating installed.

So best to visit in the Spring or Autumn, when the entire structure will be visible, as well as...