In Arles, between the Rhône and the sea, the largest commune in mainland France and its 33,647 plots

History

In IGN’s boundary data the commune of Arles covers 75,678 ha, or 757 km². No commune in mainland France is larger: the runner-up, Val-Cenis in Savoie, covers 456 km², and Paris 105 km². Overseas, Maripasoula in French Guiana exceeds 18,000 km².

The 2023 census counts 51,811 inhabitants in Arles, an average of 68 people per km². Most live in the town on the Rhône; much of the commune stretches south into the Camargue.

The amphitheatre was built around AD 90. It measures 136 m on its long axis and 107 m on its short axis, and held about 21,000 spectators. In the Middle Ages it became a walled, fortified town; it was only cleared in the nineteenth century and has since hosted shows again, bullfighting among them. In 1981 it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List with seven other monuments of the town, in the property now named "Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments".

The cadastre divides the commune into 33,647 plots. The amphitheatre stands on plot AH 642, of 11,470 m², roughly the area of an ellipse 136 m by 107 m. The largest plot in Arles, RB 3, covers 727 ha at the place called Rascaillan, in the south of the Camargue. The plots add up to 721 km² of recorded area; the rest of the territory, roads, canals and public land, is not divided into plots.

The historic centre is covered by a safeguarding and enhancement plan (PSMV), a planning document specific to heritage districts, which replaces the local development plan there. Géorisques lists for the commune the risks of slow flooding from the Rhône, coastal flooding and shoreline retreat, as well as earthquake and forest fire.

Updated 27 October 2026