Fodor's Expert Review Château

Despite Tarascon's modern-day drawbacks, with the walls of its formidable château plunging straight into the roaring Rhône, this ancient city on the river presents a daunting challenge to Beaucaire, its traditional enemy across the water. Begun in the 15th century by the noble Anjou family on the site of a Roman castellum, the castle grew through the generations into a splendid structure, crowned with both round and square towers and elegantly furnished. René the Good (1409–80) held court here, entertaining luminaries of the age.

The castle owes its superb preservation to its use, through the ensuing centuries, as a prison. It first served as such in the 17th century, and it released its last prisoner in 1926. Complete with a moat, a drawbridge, and a lovely faceted spiral staircase, it retains its beautiful decorative Renaissance stonework and original cross-mullioned windows.