Provence Prestige in Arles: Nov 21 to 25

The 20th annual Provence Prestige show opens Thursday at the Palais des Congrès in Arles. This festive holiday-theme market fills a number of vast indoor expo halls with 3500 square meters of holiday goodies, gifts, home decor, food and wine, clothes, accessories, books and much more. And it's all made in Provence by exhibitors who agree to the terms of a special ''locally made'' charter.  This year, nearly 200 exhibitors and 30,000 attendees are expected. 

Tickets are 6€ (adults), 3€ (ages 12 to 18 and groups), and free for kids under 12. Tickets for Provence Prestige entitle you to discounted admission at the Musée Départemental de l’Arles Antique (MDAA) and the Musée Réattu but only while Provence Prestige is on. (This would be a great chance to see the 50-ton, 31-meter, roughly 2000-year-old Roman barge called Arles Rhone 3 that was pulled from the muddy depths of the Rhone River in 2011 and painstakingly restored. It was put on display in a tailor-built wing of the MDAA last month, along with 450 other artifacts linked to navigation on the Rhone in antiquity.)

Provence Prestige show hours are Thursday 21st to Monday 25th from 10 am to 7 pm, with special late hours (until 11 pm) on Friday November 22. There are also some special events and tastings, which you can see here. All the info is on the main website here.