Pont du Gard: 4 tips to arouse your children's curiosity

The Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct probably built in the first half of the 1st century. It's one of the region's millennia-old must-see monuments, mistakenly thought to be for adults only. But there are plenty of activities on offer for children. And we're going to give you some tips on how to stimulate their curiosity and make their visit as exciting as possible.

4 tips to make the Pont du Gard exciting for your children

The educational angle: what are aqueducts for?

Children as young as 6 or 8 can easily understand that aqueducts are a kind of man-made river. At the time, towns didn't have enough water to meet all the needs of their inhabitants: drinking, washing, doing the dishes... So water was fetched from wherever it was found, and where it was clean: spring water. This gives you the opportunity to explain the water cycle!

The magic of technology: since the spring is higher than the town, we'll build a kind of large "pipe" with a slight slope, so that the water flows naturally down towards the town. Sometimes, a hill prevented the pipe from going straight from the spring to the town. And now it was time to get them thinking: what could be done to solve this problem? The solution: we'd go around the hill, or even more tiring: we'd dig a tunnel through it!

The inspiring angle: the Pont du Gard is huge

The Pont du Gard is an aqueduct, and like all aqueducts, it's as we'll explain to them a kind of pipe. Only, not the kind of pipe your children imagine. It's more like a bridge. A large 275-meter stone bridge. That's almost the size of 3 soccer fields!

And the weight of this behemoth: 50,000 tonnes. That's equivalent to the weight of 380 blue whales, 7,142 large trucks, or 100,000 elephants.

And in terms of water volume, we're approaching the volume of the Eiffel Tower: 20,000 m3. To make them understand, that's 12 municipal swimming pools or 20 million bathtubs!

The amusing angle: what if we counted the number of arches on the bridge?

Once there, you can have them count the number of arches on the bridge.

There are :

• 6 arches on the first level
• 11 arches on the second floor
• And 35 arches on the third

When they reach the 3rd floor, you give them a revelation: there's a trap! In fact, there were originally 47!

The practical angle: activities around the bridge

The Pont du Gard site is a 165-hectare playground, perfect for children. It's a great place for them to discover the region, have fun and enjoy themselves. The site offers a wide range of activities.

For example:

• A play area to discover the origins of the bridge and project yourself back into the Gallo-Roman era, to explore the origins of the Pont du Gard. Schoolchildren or novice archaeologists will have games to play and riddles to solve.
• A treasure hunt that's also a real investigation: who carved the mysterious inscription on the large stone block next to the bridge? They'll have a route booklet, a map and a pen to solve the enigma.

And just an hour from the bridge, our 4-star hotel

The Auberge Cavalière du Pont des Bannes is only 1 hour from the Pont du Gard.

There are two routes to get there: one via Nîmes, the other via Arles and the Camargue Regional Nature Park. Whichever you choose, you'll have the opportunity to plan a rewarding day out.

Discover our rooms, our activities, our restaurants and our family-friendly swimming pool to recharge your batteries after this exploration!

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