Nîmes

The best-preserved Roman amphitheatre in the world, built around 70 AD and still hosting bullfights, opera and concerts. The site carries the Qualidog label and explicitly admits leashed dogs of all sizes, including categorised dogs, free of charge during normal visiting hours. The amphitheatre closes to visitors during ferias and concerts.

The Roman temple built around 4-7 AD and dedicated to the grandsons of Augustus, the most complete Roman temple anywhere, UNESCO-listed in 2023. Dogs are banned from the interior 3D cinema and exhibition (guide dogs only). The pedestrian square around it and the temple steps are open access to leashed dogs at any time.

France's first public garden, opened in 1750 around the Roman sanctuary spring on Mont Cavalier, 15 hectares with terraced parterres and a wooded climb to the Roman Tour Magne at the top. Free admission. The tourism office confirms leashed dogs are welcome throughout; the interior of the Roman Tour Magne however bans dogs other than guide and assistance dogs.

The three-tier Roman aqueduct built in the 1st century, UNESCO-listed and the most-visited monument in the Gard. The official site regulations admit leashed dogs on the bridge, the banks, the exterior trails, and free swimming for dogs in the Gardon outside a 30-metre exclusion zone upstream and downstream of the piers. The museum interior, the Ciné, the Ludo and the Roman canalisation ban dogs.

A 165-hectare municipal wood on the north-west edge of Nîmes, the city's largest green space, with marked trails, garrigue and stone pines. Dogs on lead on all trails; categorised dogs (categories 1 and 2 under French law) muzzled. Closes to walkers on red fire-risk days declared by the Gard prefecture.

The social heart of Nîmes, with Place du Marché and the Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle stretching the terraces in front of the Arènes. Wide terraces, fountain, plane-tree-lined central strip. Leashed dogs are entirely at home, and waiters often bring out a water bowl spontaneously in summer.