Saintes Maries de la Mer is the capital of the Camargue in the south of France. The town of 2,100 people (2021) sits in the Rhône river delta, about 1 km east of the mouth of the Petit Rhône distributary

Understand

According to the Christian gospels, it was in Saintes-Maries that the rudderless boat occupied by Marie-Jacobe, sister of the Virgin Mary, and Marie-Salome, the mother of John the Baptist, washed up after their flight from the Holy Land. The two saints were accompanied by Sarah, her servant.

See

1 Parc Ornithologique de Pont de Gau, road 570, a few kilometres out of town, ☏ +33 4 90 97 82 62, fax: +33 4 90 97 74 77, contact@parcornitologique.com. Apr-Sep: 09:00-sunset; Oct-Mar: 10:00-sunset; closed Dec 25. ticket valid for a whole day. 

To date, there are two pilgrimages to Saintes-Maries: On May 24th and in late October each year, pilgrimages held in honor of Jacob and Marie Marie Salomé, and in May, for Sarah, the patron saint of Gitanes (which are mainly Spanish Roma).

Eat

Most eateries in the downtown serve a very trivial set of dishes, calling them "a local specialty" for marketing reasons. This is because only 5% of StMdlM summertime population are local residents, while catering tourist crowd has always been much easier and more profitable.

If you have a car, for a finer dinner experience for nearly the same budgets, try restaurants inside the hotels found along the D570 road on the way to StMdlM. See Camargue#Eat for some tips on finding a good restaurant outside the town.

Alternatively, try seeking recommendations from locals living there all the year round.

Sleep

Camping

• 1 La Brise de Camargue. (updated Oct 2024)

Connect

As of July 2023, Saintes Maries and its approach roads have 4G from Orange and SFR, and 5G from Bouygues and Free.