Uzès France - Uzès Travel Guide

Uzès

A street in the old town of Uzès, France (cc)

Uzès Travel Guide

Introduction

Uzès is an ancient cloth- and licorice-manufacturing town in southern France, best known for its festive and hugely popular farmers' market where you can buy fresh produce of the region, together with souvenirs and locally-woven textiles. It has a lovely old town with narrow streets winding around charming, centuries-old houses, many of them dating from the town's heyday as a textile center in the 16th century. It also has a 1,000-year-old chateau with feudal towers, an historic cathedral, a chapel of note, and a brand-name French candy maker with a sweets museum to appease candy lovers. Besides which, Uzès is notable, too, as the northern terminus of the ancient Roman aqueduct, Pont du Gard, originally built in the 1st century BC at the source of the Eure Gard River, where the town is located, to supply fresh water to nearby Nîmes.

Location

Uzès is situated about 16 miles (25 km) north-northeast of Nîmes in the Gard Department in southern France.

How to Get There

Sightseeing

Neighborhoods

How to Get Around

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Where to Party

Essential Information

Nearby Destinations

How to Get There

Sightseeing

For visitors to Uzès, priorities are the town's famous farmers' market, held on Saturdays in the town square; and the 11th-century Château du Duché, with a 12th-century clock tower, an 18th-century church (St. Etienne) with a 13th-century square tower, and a circular Romanesque tower, Tour Fenestrelle – or "tower of windows" – which is the only one of its kind in France. Among other points of interest here are a Capuchin chapel, built in 1635 on the site of an ancient, 1st century Roman temple; the historic Uzès cathedral, rebuilt in the 11th, 16th and 17th centuries; and French candy-maker Haribo-Riqclès-Zan's museum, Le Musée du Bonbon, located at Pont des Charrettes and highly recommended for anyone with a sweet tooth. And, of course, for history buffs there's the supremely ancient Roman aqueduct, Pont du Gard, more than 2,000 years old and a "must-see" monument on any trip to Provence.

Main Neighborhoods

How to Get Around

Where to Party

Where to Eat

Where to Stay

Trivia

Uzès' most famous son is François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, Vice-Admiral and Count de Brueys, who is well-remembered as the French commander in the 18th-century "Battle of the Nile."

Know Before You Go