Why go
Occitanie is the second-largest region in mainland France and one of the least understood by Americans. It stretches from Toulouse and the Tarn in the west to Roman Nîmes and the Pont du Gard in the east, and from the high plateaus of Aveyron down to the Spanish border on the Mediterranean.
The appeal is variety at reasonable prices. You get two lively university cities, Toulouse and Montpellier; a fairy-tale walled city at Carcassonne; ruined Cathar castles on mountain peaks; the best-preserved Roman monuments outside Italy; a tree-lined canal you can cruise on a rented boat; and miles of Mediterranean beach. Hotels and restaurants cost noticeably less than in Provence or on the Riviera.
This page covers the Aude (11), Aveyron (12), Gard (30), Haute-Garonne (31), Hérault (34), Pyrénées-Orientales (66), Tarn (81) and Tarn-et-Garonne (82). The Lot and the Pyrenean départements, also part of Occitanie, are on the Dordogne & Lot and Basque Country & Pyrenees pages.
Toulouse
France's fourth-largest city is called la Ville rose for the rosy brick of its old center. It is a young, sunny university town and the capital of Europe's aerospace industry, home to Airbus. Two or three days lets you see the main sights and eat well.
Place du Capitole
The city's grand main square, faced by the 18th-century Capitole, which houses the city hall and an opera house. Step inside the free Salle des Illustres, a gilded hall lined with paintings, when it is not in use for official events. A big Occitan cross is set into the paving of the square.
Basilique Saint-Sernin
The largest surviving Romanesque church in Europe, built from the 11th century as a stop on the pilgrimage to Santiago and part of a UNESCO listing. Its octagonal brick bell tower dominates the skyline. A small fee lets you into the crypt and ambulatory, with its relics.
Couvent des Jacobins
A Gothic Dominican church with a famous "palm tree" column whose ribs fan out across the vaulted ceiling. The cloister is a quiet refuge; there is a small fee for it.
Cité de l'espace
A space theme park and science museum with a full-size Ariane 5 rocket, a replica of the Mir space station you can walk through, a planetarium and an IMAX theater. Children and space fans can easily spend a day. Bus links from the center take about 30 minutes.
Aeroscopia and Airbus tours
Aeroscopia is an aviation museum next to the airport, with two Concordes you can board, an A300B and a Super Guppy. Let's Visit Airbus, run by the tour operator Manatour, offers 90-minute guided tours onto the Airbus industrial sites, including the A321 and A350 assembly lines in 2026. Tours sell out, require advance online booking with the name on your passport, and include a security ID check, so bring your passport. The tour lineup changes with production, so check manatour.fr when you book. Tram line T1 reaches the area from the center.
The Garonne and Canal du Midi
Join locals on the riverbanks at sunset: the Prairie des Filtres park, the Quai de la Daurade and the Saint-Pierre bridge. The Canal du Midi starts from Toulouse, with walking and bike paths along its plane trees.
Toulouse has two metro lines, trams and buses. A third metro line, linking the Airbus area in the northwest with the eastern districts, is under construction and scheduled to open around 2028.
Albi and Cordes-sur-Ciel
Albi
A red-brick episcopal city on the Tarn and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile looks like a fortress outside, and inside is covered in painted vaults and a vast 15th-century Last Judgment; there is a fee for the carved choir. Next door, the Palais de la Berbie houses the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, with the largest public collection of the painter's work. Lautrec was born in Albi in 1864. The museum opens from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in summer and closes for lunch from October to May; the palace's terraced garden above the river is free.
Cordes-sur-Ciel
A 13th-century fortified town on a hilltop, so named because its upper town floats above morning mist. Steep cobbled lanes lead past Gothic houses to a market hall at the top. Wear good shoes, and park in the lower lots; a shuttle runs in summer.
Carcassonne
Carcassonne's walled Cité, on a hill above the modern town, is one of the largest medieval fortified cities in Europe: two rings of walls nearly 2 miles (3 km) long, 52 towers and a castle. Much of what you see was restored, and partly reinvented with slate-capped pointed towers, by the architect Viollet-le-Duc from 1853. It joined UNESCO's World Heritage list in 1997 and is one of the most-visited places in France.
- The Cité. Walking through the gates, the lists between the two walls, and the lanes inside is free. The Basilica of Saint-Nazaire is free too.
- Château Comtal and ramparts. The castle and the walk along part of the ramparts are run by the Centre des monuments nationaux and need a ticket, €13 (about $15) for adults. As at other national monuments, under-18s enter free, as do EU nationals and residents aged 18 to 25. Book a timed slot on remparts-carcassonne.fr in summer; hours vary by season.
- Crowds. Tour buses arrive from late morning. Visit the castle at opening, leave at midday, and come back in the evening, when the walls are lit and day-trippers have gone. July and August are extremely crowded. On July 14, the Cité hosts one of France's largest fireworks displays.
- Lower town. The Bastide Saint-Louis, the planned 13th-century lower town, is where locals live and eat. It has the train station, a market on Place Carnot, and cheaper restaurants.
Insider tip
Restaurants inside the Cité are mostly tourist traps. For cassoulet, eat in the Bastide or in Castelnaudary, 25 minutes west, which claims to be the dish's birthplace.
The Cathar castles
In the 13th century, the Catholic Church and northern French barons waged the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars, a dualist Christian sect strong in this region. The last Cathar strongholds were mountain-top fortresses in the Corbières hills south of Carcassonne. Their ruins, perched on ridges, are among the most dramatic sights in France.
Peyrepertuse
A huge fortress stretched along a knife-edge ridge at about 2,600 feet (800 m). The climb from the parking lot takes 20 to 30 minutes, then steep steps lead to the top. Closed in very high winds.
Quéribus
The last Cathar castle to fall, in 1255, on a rocky pinnacle with views to the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees. A shorter climb than Peyrepertuse, but very exposed to wind.
Lastours and Puilaurens
Lastours has four castles on one ridge, 15 minutes north of Carcassonne. Puilaurens, further south, is one of the best preserved.
Watch out
These are real climbs on uneven rock with sheer drops and few railings. Wear proper shoes, carry water, avoid the midday heat in summer, and check opening status on windy days, when sites can close. A car is essential; roads are narrow and twisting. A combined "Pays Cathare" pass gives discounts across many sites.
The Canal du Midi
Built by Pierre-Paul Riquet between 1666 and 1681, the 150-mile (240 km) Canal du Midi links Toulouse with the Mediterranean at the Étang de Thau. It is a UNESCO site and France's favorite slow vacation.
- Boat rental. You can rent a self-drive cabin cruiser without a license after a short briefing: no experience needed. Rentals usually run by the week, from bases such as Castelnaudary, Homps and Trèbes; a week covers roughly 60–90 miles at walking pace, with lock-keepers helping at many locks. Le Boat and Nicols are among the main companies. Book early for spring and summer.
- Hotel barges. Crewed luxury barges carry 6 to 12 passengers on all-inclusive weeks with a chef and excursions, mostly sold to Americans and Britons. Prices start in the several-thousand-dollar range per person.
- Cycling. The towpath is part of the Canal des Deux Mers cycle route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Sections near Toulouse and between Carcassonne and the coast are paved; elsewhere the surface is dirt and roots. Bike rental shops serve Carcassonne and Castelnaudary.
- Day highlights. The lock staircase at Fonsérannes outside Béziers, the Malpas tunnel, and the canal port of Le Somail.
A fungal canker detected in 2006 is killing the 42,000 plane trees that once shaded the banks, and they are gradually being felled and replaced with other species, so some stretches look bare. The navigation season runs from mid-March to early November.
Montpellier, Nîmes, the Pont du Gard and Uzès
Montpellier
A fast-growing, young city with one of Europe's oldest medical schools. Centered on the marble Place de la Comédie, the old town (the Écusson) is a car-free maze of 17th-century mansions. See the Musée Fabre's fine art collection and the Promenade du Peyrou with its aqueduct. Trams with designer liveries cross the city, and in summer, tram-and-shuttle connections reach the beaches at Palavas and Carnon.
Nîmes
The "French Rome". The 1st-century arena, one of the best preserved in the world, still hosts concerts and bullfights. The Maison Carrée, an almost perfectly intact Roman temple, joined UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2023. Across the square from the arena, the Musée de la Romanité shows mosaics and finds. A 3-Monument Pass on arenes-nimes.com covers the arena, the Maison Carrée and the Tour Magne, and combined tickets with the Pont du Gard are also sold. Denim is named after the city: "de Nîmes".
Pont du Gard
A three-tiered Roman aqueduct bridge, about 160 feet (49 m) high, built in the mid-1st century to carry water to Nîmes. Its height was exceptional even by Roman standards, and it has been one of France's most visited sites for centuries. Admission is about €9.50 (about $11) for adults and free for under-18s, and includes parking, the museum, a film and walking trails; a guided tour onto the aqueduct's upper level costs extra. Check pontdugard.fr for current prices and seasonal hours. Swim or kayak in the Gardon river below in summer. Come at opening or in the late afternoon. Buses run from Nîmes and Avignon.
Uzès
A golden-stone town with arcaded squares and the medieval towers of the Duché, seat of the dukes of Uzès, who rank as France's senior ducal family. The Saturday market on the Place aux Herbes is one of the best in the south.
Sète
A working fishing port built on canals, with seafood restaurants along the quays and oyster farms on the Étang de Thau lagoon. In summer, traditional water jousting tournaments are held on the canals. Taste the local tielle, a spicy octopus pie.
Collioure and the Vermilion Coast
Where the Pyrenees meet the sea, near Spain. Collioure is a fishing village with a lighthouse-turned-bell-tower, a royal castle and pebble beaches, beloved by Matisse and Derain, who invented Fauvism here in 1905. Banyuls next door makes sweet fortified wine. Collioure is about 30 minutes by train from Perpignan; parking in town is difficult in summer.
Different from home
Bullfighting is still legal in parts of southern France, including Nîmes and Béziers, where it is considered a local tradition. Ferias (festivals) in Nîmes in spring and late summer also include street parties, concerts and the course camarguaise, a bloodless game in which young men snatch ribbons from a bull's horns.
Millau, Roquefort and the Gorges du Tarn
Millau Viaduct
For two decades the tallest bridge in the world, with its highest mast topping out at about 1,125 feet (343 m), taller than the Eiffel Tower, carrying the A75 across the Tarn valley. Drive over it: the toll for a car was about €11 (about $12), rising to about €14 from mid-June to mid-September in 2025. See it from the Aire du Viaduc rest area just north of the bridge or from the viewpoints above Millau.
Roquefort caves
Only sheep's cheese aged in these natural caves can be called Roquefort, France's first protected cheese. Several producers, including Société and Papillon, offer cave tours with tastings. It is 25 minutes from Millau.
Gorges du Tarn
A 30-mile (50 km) limestone canyon with villages like Sainte-Énimie and La Malène. Drive the road along the river or paddle it in a canoe in summer. A full day trip from Millau, or stay overnight.
Conques
A tiny village around one of France's great Romanesque abbey churches, with a carved Last Judgment tympanum and a golden reliquary statue of Sainte Foy. A major stop on the Santiago pilgrimage.
Suggested itineraries
Ten days: Toulouse to Nîmes
- Days 1–2
Toulouse
The Capitole, Saint-Sernin and the Jacobins on day one; Aeroscopia with a Let's Visit Airbus tour or the Cité de l'espace on day two. Evening on the river.
- Day 3
Albi and Cordes
Train or drive to Albi for the cathedral and the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, then Cordes-sur-Ciel in the late afternoon. Pick up a rental car in Toulouse or Albi.
- Day 4
Carcassonne
Drive via Castelnaudary for cassoulet at lunch. Settle in Carcassonne and walk the lit-up Cité in the evening.
- Day 5
Château Comtal and the canal
The castle at opening, then a bike ride or boat outing on the Canal du Midi in the afternoon.
- Day 6
Cathar castles
Peyrepertuse in the morning, Quéribus after lunch in Cucugnan, then down to Collioure for the night.
- Day 7
Collioure
The village and beaches, a Banyuls tasting, and dinner by the harbor.
- Day 8
Sète
Oysters on the Étang de Thau and the canals of Sète. Sleep in Montpellier.
- Day 9
Montpellier
The Écusson, the Musée Fabre and an evening on the Place de la Comédie. Drop the car if you continue by train.
- Day 10
Nîmes and the Pont du Gard
The arena and Maison Carrée in the morning, the Pont du Gard in the late afternoon, and a TGV back to Paris (about 3 hours) or on to Provence.
Four days: Aveyron and the gorges (car needed)
- Day 1
Albi to Conques
Albi in the morning, then the drive north to Conques (about 2 hours) for the abbey at dusk.
- Day 2
To Millau
Cross the plateau to Millau and visit the viaduct area. Stay in Millau.
- Day 3
Gorges du Tarn
Drive the gorges to Sainte-Énimie and paddle a stretch in a canoe.
- Day 4
Roquefort
A cave tour and tasting in Roquefort, then on to Montpellier (about 1.5 hours).
Getting there and around
From Paris
- East (Nîmes, Montpellier, Perpignan). TGVs from Paris-Gare de Lyon reach Nîmes in about 3 hours, Montpellier in about 3.5 and Perpignan in about 5. Low-cost OUIGO trains also serve these routes.
- Toulouse. The fastest trains from Paris-Montparnasse via Bordeaux take about 4 hours 15 minutes. A new high-speed line between Bordeaux and Toulouse, planned for the early 2030s, should cut that to about 3 hours. Intercités trains from Paris-Austerlitz, including an overnight service, also reach Toulouse and the eastern Pyrenees.
- Flights. Air France and low-cost airlines fly from Paris to Toulouse, Montpellier and Perpignan in about 1 hour 15 minutes. There are no nonstop US flights to the region; connect through Paris or another European hub.
Book trains on SNCF Connect; regional TER trains link Toulouse, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Béziers, Sète, Montpellier, Nîmes and Perpignan. See Trains and Flights.
Car or no car
The cities, Carcassonne, Albi, Sète and Collioure all work by train. You need a car for the Cathar castles, the Pont du Gard (or a bus), Cordes-sur-Ciel, the Aveyron and the Gorges du Tarn. Pick up the car on the edge of a city to avoid downtown traffic. See Driving in France.
| Route | By train | By car |
|---|---|---|
| Toulouse → Albi | About 1 hr | About 1 hr |
| Toulouse → Carcassonne | 45 min–1 hr | About 1 hr |
| Carcassonne → Peyrepertuse | Not practical | About 1 hr 30 min |
| Carcassonne → Montpellier | About 1 hr 30 min | About 1 hr 45 min |
| Montpellier → Sète | About 15 min | About 30 min |
| Montpellier → Nîmes | About 30 min | About 45 min |
| Nîmes → Pont du Gard | Bus, about 40 min | About 25 min |
| Perpignan → Collioure | About 25 min | About 30 min |
| Montpellier → Millau | Bus only | About 1 hr 15 min |
Where to base yourself
For a city base with good train links, choose Toulouse in the west and Montpellier or Nîmes in the east. Carcassonne is a good middle base, especially if you stay in or right below the Cité for the evening atmosphere. Book coast towns like Collioure early for summer. See Where to stay.
Hôtel de la Cité
A neo-Gothic hotel built into the ramparts of the Cité, with a garden on the walls.
Hotels in the Bastide
Simpler hotels near the station and the canal, a 15–20 minute walk from the Cité.
Central Toulouse hotels
Stay near the Capitole or Carmes for walking access to everything. Weekends are often cheaper, because the city's hotels fill with business travelers during the week.
Canal boat
A self-drive boat is your floating hotel for a week. Prices vary sharply by season and boat size.
Wine estate stays
Many vineyards in the Corbières, Minervois and Pic Saint-Loup offer rooms, from simple B&Bs to luxury estates.
Food and wine
- Cassoulet. A slow-baked casserole of white beans with duck confit, sausage and pork. Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse each claim the true version.
- Toulouse sausage and duck. Coarse pork sausage, foie gras and magret from the southwest.
- Roquefort and Aligot. Blue sheep's cheese from Aveyron, and aligot, a stretchy mash of potatoes and fresh cheese from the Aubrac plateau.
- Seafood. Oysters and mussels from Bouzigues on the Étang de Thau, and anchovies from Collioure.
- Sweets. Violets candied in Toulouse, and fénétra cake.
- Languedoc and Roussillon wines. France's largest wine region by area, with good-value reds from Corbières, Minervois, Faugères, Saint-Chinian, Pic Saint-Loup and Terrasses du Larzac; sparkling Blanquette and Crémant de Limoux; sweet Banyuls and Muscat de Rivesaltes; and Gaillac and Fronton near Toulouse. Cellar doors here are friendlier and less formal than in Bordeaux, and many welcome walk-ins.
Seasons and events 2026–2027
- Spring (April–June). The best time for the whole region, with green hills, wildflowers and comfortable temperatures for the castles and the canal.
- Summer (July–August). Very hot inland, often over 95°F (35°C), with heat waves increasingly common. The coast fills up and Carcassonne is jammed. Plan sightseeing early and late, and rest at midday.
- Fall (September–October). The grape harvest, warm sea water and fewer visitors. The Mediterranean coast can get violent autumn storms (épisodes cévenols) with flash floods; heed weather warnings.
- Winter. Mild in the cities and on the coast, but many seaside hotels close, and the Cathar castles keep short hours.
Annual highlights include Carcassonne's July 14 fireworks and summer festival, the Nîmes ferias at Pentecost and in September, Montpellier's dance festival in summer, and Sète's water jousting around the Saint-Louis festival in August. Dates for 2027 had not all been announced at the time of writing. See Festivals & sports.
Tips for Americans
- Bring your passport for Airbus tours. Security checks are mandatory, and you will be turned away without the ID you booked with.
- Carry water and a hat for the Pont du Gard and Cathar castles in summer; shade is scarce.
- Many sights close for lunch from about 12:30 to 2 p.m. outside July and August.
- Montpellier and Toulouse have had low-emission zones whose rules have changed repeatedly; ask your rental company about the car's Crit'Air sticker. See Driving.
- Occitan is the old regional language, and you will see bilingual signs, especially in Toulouse metro stations.
Related pages
- Trains and Driving.
- The outdoors for canal cycling, hiking and canoeing.
- Wine and Food.
- Travel by interest for families and space fans.
- Nearby regions: Provence (east of Nîmes), Basque Country & Pyrenees, Dordogne & Lot, Bordeaux.
Add it to a route in the trip builder, or ask us to plan the hotels, trains and guides for you.