Arles with my mother

Can you please advise if Arles is safe to wander around, back from restauranats etc in the evening as two females? I will be travelling with my mother. I have just returned from Avignon, where my husband and I were hassled twice quite aggressively by street people and also had a scary incident - at the traffic lights near the TGV someone tried to wash or windscreen, we said no, he did it anyway and then counted back from 10 threatening to break our side mirror on our car unless we paid him - very unpleasant experience. I am now worried about travelling to Arles with my mother......

We really want a relaxing break to explore the area, St-Remy etc (but cannot get into any nice hotels there!)

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we stayed in Arles last fall - 3 women - at the Hotel D%26#39;Arlatan. We like to be able to walk to restaurants in the evening and really appreciated the fact that right outside the hotel(and within a 2-3 street radius) were several retaurants/cafes(including one Van Gogh painted) which meant that we did not have to venture too far to eat at night. One-La Grueule (need reservations - very small, very poular, very good) - was one of the best restaurants we have been to in France, Au Brin de Thym was also excellent. One of the many reasons we enjoyed the D%26#39;Arlartan (Our review is listed under the hotel section of TA) was its proximity to dining choices in the evening.

jhgrady

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We%26#39;ve enjoyed Arles on several occasions and with one exception that occurred late last November have never had a problem there.

Like any urban area, however, common sense and awareness of your surroundings are important.

In our case we neglected the fundamentals and contributed to the situation by providing a really inviting target. Late evening, walking down a deserted street (sidewalk construction) with my wife on my outer (street) side and carrying her purse by its strap! We might as well have held up a sign saying %26quot;come and get it%26quot;. Anyway, the kids coming up from behind us on the motorbike missed the grab and kept going while we walked back to the hotel and thought about how lucky we were to have had such an inexpensive lesson.

Given that, Arles is a nice compact walking town and there are lots of good restaurants near the hotels in the old center. Janeharriet has mentioned a good one, we happen to like the Calendal. But do keep the fundamentals in mind and don%26#39;t offer the bad guys too much temptation and you%26#39;ll be fine.

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