Wolfgang Moroder, CC BY-SAPont du Gard: tickets, opening hours and what to see
Walking onto the Pont du Gard is free. You pay for parking, per vehicle, and a separate ticket opens the left-bank museum, cinema and Ludo area.
In short
- The bridge is free: only parking, charged per vehicle, and activities such as the museum and guided tours are paid.
- The cultural areas ticket opens the museum, cinema, Ludo area and temporary exhibition. Under-18s enter free with proof.
- Only the guided tour goes up to the Roman canal on the third tier, on a fixed day and time.
- The museum, cinema and Ludo are on the left bank, and close every Monday morning for maintenance.
- Plan at least 1 hour 30 for a self-guided visit, and ideally a full day with the tour and the museum.
- No car? Bus lines 115 and 121 serve the site from Avignon, Alès and Nîmes.
- 49 mthe highest Roman bridge-aqueduct in the world
- 50 kmof aqueduct from Uzès to Nîmes
- Almost 80steps up to the ancient canal
- 2,500 m²of museum on the left bank
Don't miss
The canal on the third tier
Walk inside the channel where water flowed 2,000 years ago, reachable only on the guided tour.
Three rows of arches
Six, 11 and originally 47 arches stacked on three levels. Look for the companions’ marks cut into the stone.
The construction site in the museum
Follow the work from the quarry to the arches, with full-scale reconstructions of the Estel quarry, which is closed to the public.
Grotte de la Salpêtrière
A major site of French prehistory whose wide opening faces the right-bank esplanade.
Pont du Gard tickets: how to get them
Sold by billetterie.pontdugard.fr, at the official price.
| Ticket | Adult | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Entrance fee for cultural areasStandard entry | €8 | ID checked at entry |
| Guided visit « L'Odyssée du Pont du Gard » - Guided Tour in english : In the Footsteps of the RomansGuided tour | €15Child €6 | Timed slot · ID checked at entry |
| Guided visit « L'Odyssée du Pont du Gard » - Guided Tour in french : In the Footsteps of the RomansGuided tour | €15Child €6 | Timed slot · ID checked at entry |
| Audio-guide - Visit the site at your own paceWith audio guide | Price on the official site |
Free entry (2026)
- Under 18s
Which ticket is right for you?
You only want to see and cross the bridge
No ticket needed
The bridge, the trails and the riverbanks need no ticket. By car, you pay only for parking.
You want the museum, the film and the play area
Entrance fee for cultural areas
It opens the museum, cinema, Ludo area for children and the temporary exhibition, and is free for under-18s, with proof.
You want to walk inside the Roman canal
Guided visit « L’Odyssée du Pont du Gard »
One hour with a guide, including the walk through the ancient canal, plus the cultural areas. Valid only on the selected day and time.
You want commentary on your own phone
Audio-guide - Visit the site at your own pace
Covers 12 outdoor points of interest and eight in the museum, on your own phone, but does not include museum admission. Valid for 30 days from purchase.
Your visit, step by step
Left bank, in front of the reception desk
Start with the guided tour and the crossing of the third level
The one-hour tour takes you up to the ancient canal, the only way onto the top tier.
Banks of the Gardon
Walk the trails along the banks of the Gardon and in the scrubland
From below, count the three rows of arches: six, 11 and originally 47.
Left or right bank
Have lunch at the Bistro on the left bank or the restaurant Les Terrasses on the right bank
You can also eat at the picnic tables on either bank, but not on the terraces of the sales points.
Left-bank building
Finish in the cultural areas on the left bank
The museum follows the work from the quarry to the arches. Allow one hour to an hour and a half.
Free bridge, paid parking, paid cultural areas
Access to the Pont du Gard site is free and open. The official prices page says that only parking and certain activities, such as the museum and guided tours, are subject to a charge.
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Parking is paid per vehicle, regardless of the number of people or the length of your visit. If you arrive on foot, pedestrian access to the bridge is free.
The official ticket office sells three products, compared in the ticket chooser above, and none of them includes parking. For the guided tour, young people under 18 get a reduced rate rather than free entry.
Buying online saves a stop at the ticket office:
- with a cultural areas ticket you go straight to the entrance on the left bank
- with a guided tour ticket straight to the meeting point in front of the reception and ticket office.
Among the partner passes listed by the site are the Nîmes City Pass and the Avignon City Pass, which gives the reduced rate for the cultural venues on presentation at the reception desk.
Crossing the canal on the third tier
Access to the canal is regulated and only possible on a guided tour with a mediator from the site. The tour is called « L’Odyssée du Pont du Gard » and its high point is the crossing of the ancient canal on the third level of the bridge, where water flowed 2,000 years ago.
It lasts one hour and departs from the left bank, in front of the reception desk.
- Days: every day during school vacations, and on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday the rest of the year.
- Age: the tour page gives a minimum age of 6.
- Bags: bulky items and large backpacks are left at the left-bank reception desk before the tour and collected afterwards.
- Weather: in bad weather the site may replace the visit to the monument with a guided tour of the museum.
Tours are offered in French, and some are conducted in English. When that is the case, the online ticketing system says so at booking. When no online slots remain, the tour is fully booked.
The left-bank museum, cinema and Ludo
The museum, the Ludo area and the cinema are in the building on the left bank, in the municipality of Vers-Pont-du-Gard. They are offered in French, English, German and Spanish, and the cultural facilities close every Monday morning for maintenance.
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- Museum: a 2,500 m² space that reconstructs the construction site, from the quarry where nearly 50,000 tons of stone were extracted to the building of the canal and arches, and ends with the marks left by the craftsmen who worked on it. Allow one hour to an hour and a half.
- Cinema: « Un pont traverse le temps », a documentary with no audio commentary, built mainly on aerial images of the bridge.
- Ludo: a play-and-learn space for children aged 5 to 12, built around Roman culture, archaeology, water management and sustainable development.
The Estel quarry, 600 meters downstream and one of the main sources of the bridge’s stone, is closed to the public. Full-scale reconstructions of it are in the museum.
What to look at on the bridge
The Pont du Gard is a bridge-aqueduct built by the Romans in the 1st century AD. At 49 meters, it is the highest Roman bridge-aqueduct in the world, made of three rows of arches one above the other: six on the first level, 11 on the second and 47 originally on the third.
- Around 50 AD the aqueduct is built under Claudius or Nero, and supplies Nîmes for five centuries.
- 1743 to 1747 the road bridge alongside the aqueduct is built, with Henri Pitot as engineer.
- 1985 listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- 2000 the site opens to the public, and the exhibition areas follow in 2001.
It is the only example of an ancient three-storey bridge still standing.
It was one section of an aqueduct that carried water by gravity from a spring in Uzès to Nîmes, over 50 kilometers, with an average gradient of 25 cm per kilometer. Look along the top tier: around the 12th century, its first twelve arches were taken to build churches and other buildings in the area. On the stones themselves, more than 320 companions’ marks have been found, the oldest from 1611.
On the right bank, the wide opening of the Grotte de la Salpêtrière, a prehistoric cave, faces the esplanade not far from the bridge.
Planning a day on two banks
For a self-guided visit, the official FAQ suggests a minimum of about 1 hour and 30 minutes. With the cultural areas or a guided tour, it recommends at least half a day, and ideally the whole day, and it sketches a running order, shown in the visit steps above: the canal first, then the trails along the Gardon, lunch, and the cultural areas to finish.
Picnic tables stand on each bank. Picnicking is not allowed on the terraces of the bistro and other sales points. Every summer, from July to August, the arches become the backdrop of a sound and light show after sunset.
Good to know
The site and car parks open every day of the year, while the cultural venues keep their own seasonal hours. Check the opening hours below before an off-season visit, and plan to arrive no later than 50 minutes before the venue closes, as the site recommends.
Car parks on both banks, or the car-free way in
The site is near the A9 motorway, exit 23 Remoulins, 27 km from Nîmes and 21 km from Avignon, and road signs point to the left or right bank.
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The left bank (Vers-Pont-du-Gard) has 800 spaces and the right bank (Remoulins) 600. Since the museum is on the left bank, that is the side to aim for if the cultural areas are on your list.
- Season ticket: within 14 days of paying for parking, you can register online to convert that payment into an annual subscription for one vehicle.
- Bus: line 115 from Avignon and Alès, line 121 from Nîmes.
- Train: the nearest stations are Nîmes centre, Nîmes Pont du Gard, Avignon centre and Avignon TGV, with shuttle buses from Nîmes centre and Avignon.
- Bike: the 32 km greenway from Beaucaire to Uzès gives direct access to the bridge.
On the site itself, cycling is allowed, but you must get off and walk your bike if you leave by the other bank.
Wheelchairs, lifts and bags
Car parks have dedicated spaces, wheelchairs are provided free of charge, and the cultural areas and Les Terrasses restaurant have lifts.
The one part that is not suitable is the canal on the guided tour, which involves 80 steps and a return through the garrigue paths.
Avoid this mistake
The site has no lockers or cloakroom. Pack light: the bag drop at the left-bank reception desk is set up for guided tour participants, who must leave bulky items there before climbing to the canal.
Opening hours
| Period | Days | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| 1 October to 31 October | Tuesday to Sunday | 9 am to 6 pm |
Before you go
- The terms of sale ask for current proof of identity with photo at ticket check points, together with proof of eligibility for a discounted or free ticket.
- Once a purchase is confirmed, tickets cannot be exchanged, modified or refunded, so check the slot before you pay.
- On the guided tour you climb almost 80 steps to the top of the bridge, so wear comfortable shoes.
- Dogs are allowed on the outdoor site on a leash, but not in the indoor spaces such as the museum, cinema, bistro or restaurant, and not on the guided tour.
Accessibility
- Wheelchair access
- Wheelchair accessible
- Lift
- Yes
- Wheelchair loan
- Yes, on site
Map and nearby sights
Frequently asked questions
Is the Pont du Gard free to visit?
Yes, access to the site and the bridge is free. You pay for parking, per vehicle, and for activities such as the museum, the cinema and guided tours.
Can you walk on top of the Pont du Gard?
Only on the guided tour « L’Odyssée du Pont du Gard », which crosses the ancient canal on the third level. Access involves almost 80 steps and is not suitable for visitors with reduced mobility or strollers.
Is there a guided tour in English?
Tours are offered in French, and some are conducted in English. The online ticketing system shows when a session is in English.
Does the museum ticket include parking?
No. The ticket pages say parking is not included and must be paid on site, at the pay stations or the exit terminals.
How long should I plan for the Pont du Gard?
The official FAQ suggests about 1 hour 30 minimum for a self-guided visit. With the cultural areas or a guided tour, plan at least half a day, ideally the whole day.
Can I bring my dog to the Pont du Gard?
Dogs on a leash are welcome on the outdoor site. They cannot go into the museum, cinema, bistro or restaurant, or on the guided tour.
Sources
- billetterie.pontdugard.fr official 2 pages
- pontdugard.fr official 11 pages
- Wikimedia Commons
- Wikipedia
- wikidata.org
Facts last checked on 26 October 2026. Prices and opening hours change, often in January: confirm on the official website before you go.