Gard in Southern France stretches from the Mediterranean in the South to the Ardèche in the North. The area is famous for its 250 sunny days a year and its warm temperatures all year round. Gard offers interesting, cultural monuments and cities, good wine, Southern European cuisine and the quite unique Camargue marshland area with meadows, sand hills and child-friendly sand beaches. In the Northern Gard, you will find the Cévennes Mountains in the surroundings of beautiful nature.

The landscape of Gard

The landscape of Gard is lush and quite varied with Roman cities, large and small rivers, mountains, forests and moor landscape. Fruit fields and vine fields are spread across the landscape surrounded by thyme, lavender, rosemary fields and high plane trees.

Directly towards the Mediterranean is the beautiful sandy beach of Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the middle of the unique Camargue wetland with meadows, sandhills and salt damming.  The great, flat plains are homes of birds, wild horses and bulls. For ornithologists, the national park Camargue is an eldorado with flamingos and herons.

Large cities of Gard: Nîmes

Nîmes is known for its Roman antiques, among others the amphitheatre, which is the best kept one of its kind as well as its festivals and bull-fighting. But the city also offers interesting museums, archaeological collections and the old part of town with its narrow streets and intimate squares.

Tourist attractions in Gard

The tour possibilities are plenty for a holiday in Gard. The most impressive construction work in Gard would probably be Pont du Gard, the admirable stone bridge in Roman construction style which was built to lead water to Nîmes by a 50 km long route from the springs in Uzès.

The city of Uzès oozes life in the summer with cafes, restaurants, market places and medieval buildings. The city is located by the foot of the castle Le Duché. Just outside Uzès is a funny candy museum for the children.

If you are into outdoor activities, you should visit the Cévennes Mountains in the Northern Gard. Here, you will find rivers, rocks, grottos, forests and plains in splendid variation with small, picturesque, Cevenol houses.

Sports activities in Gard

On the beach of Camargue, there are many possibilities of water sports, and the Camargue area is best experienced by horseback or on foot. In the Cèvenne Mountains, you get close to nature by climbing, cycling, riding, trekking, rafting, canoeing or kayaking. On the River Gardon, which is a tributary to the River Gard, you can canoe or kayak by Pont du Gard or go trout-fishing in the rivers.

Gastronomic characteristics of Gard

The food in Gard is very tasty and possesses the heavy aroma from the Mediterranean areas with olive oil, garlic and Southern herbs. In the coastal areas, you will find oyster, clams, sardine, sea urchin and seafood. Another speciality for this area is salted lamb. The animals eat the herbs and salty grass in the marsh of Camargue, which makes their meat tender and well marbled.
The area also supplies France with some of the first peaches, cherries and apricots of the year.

The climate of Gard

In Gard, there is a wonderful Mediterranean climate with endless, dry, warm and sunny summer days with cool breezes. In the spring and autumn, the climate is pleasantly mild.

Some of the photos are kindly lent out from Maison de la France. Photographers Jean Malburet and Jean François Tripelon.