Avignon · Boulevard du Rhône
Pont d'Avignon: tickets, hours and what the visit is like
The medieval bridge over the Rhône, of which four arches remain, with its two chapels and the song everyone knows. Official prices, opening hours and practical tips.
Today
Opening hours for every month are on the Opening hours page.
Checked against the official website on 23 October 2026 · Official source
In short
- The official ticket for the Pont d'Avignon costs 6 €, or 19.50 € together with the Palais des Papes in the combined ticket, and under 10 is free. These prices have applied since 1 August 2026, according to the official site on 23 October 2026.
- The bridge has the same hours as the palace and is open every day of the year. The last entry is 30 minutes before closing. The bridge can close temporarily in strong wind or other bad weather, so check before you go.
- The visit takes about 40 minutes: an exhibition called Le Pont retrouvé, a 3D reconstruction of the bridge and an audio guide, free at the entrance.
- The Pont is accessible by lift and carries the Tourisme & Handicap label, according to the official site. Dogs are allowed on a lead.
- Our partner Tiqets, a third party, sells the Pont d'Avignon only as part of the Palais and Pont ticket, 19.50 €, the same as the official combined price. Tiqets asks you to pick a date and a time slot; check the official site for its own rules.
The four arches and the chapels
The bridge had 22 arches and was 915 m long, according to the official site. Four arches remain. On the second pier stand the chapel of Saint Bénézet, below, and above it the chapel of Saint Nicholas, which UNESCO describes as partly Romanesque and partly of the 15th century.
The lower chapel is the only vestige of Bénézet's own time, built to hold his tomb, according to the official history page.
Le Pont retrouvé: films, 3D and audio guide
The visit combines a historical film, research by the CNRS, a film on medieval building techniques and a 3D reconstruction of the bridge in its medieval landscape. An audio guide, synchronised with the films, is free at the entrance and is handed to children from the age of 8.
The official pages disagree on how many languages the audio guide covers, so we do not give a number.
Saint Bénézet and the legend of the bridge
The official site tells the legend of the young shepherd Bénézet, from the Ardèche, whom Christ ordered to build a bridge over the Rhône. The bishop challenged him to lift a rock that thirty men could not move: he carried it to where the first arch was to stand, and he worked eighteen healing miracles.
Historically, the official site adds, Bénézet was behind a brotherhood of bridge builders, the frères pontifes, who collected offerings to build bridges. Construction began in 1177.
The song
The official site says the bridge has been sung since the 15th century and that the version everyone knows is by Adolphe Adam, performed at the Opéra-Comique on 2 February 1853 in the play Le sourd ou l'auberge pleine.