Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a city in southern France, best known for its UNESCO World Heritage listed walled city. It can be visited comfortably as a day trip. Among board game enthusiasts, the city may ring a bell as the inspiration for the 2000 German board game of the same name.

Understand

The medieval Cité de Carcassone

Carcassonne is divided into two main parts:

• The Cité de Carcassonne, a medieval fortress settlement with a history that exceeds two and a half thousand years. Picturesque fortifications (over 3 km of walls with 52 towers, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was partly shot here) were reconstructed by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century but, as with most monuments reconstructed in those times, authenticity was not the main objective. It is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
• The town centre, known as the ville basse (literally 'lower city'), where the other sights and hotels are located.

Carcassonne was one of the centers of the Cathars and was fought over during the Albigensian Crusade in the early 1200s; the Crusaders took it, the Cathars took it back, and the Crusaders took it again.

Tourist information

• Destination Carcassonne, 28 rue de Verdun, ☏ +33 4 68 10 24 30. 

Get in

By train

1 Gare de Carcassonne (Carcassonne train station). Carcassonne is on the Bordeaux–Sète and Carcassonne–Rivesaltes SNCF lines.  

High speed TGV trains from Lyon, Barcelona and Toulouse call at Carcassone. Slower Intercités between Bordeaux, Marseille (and overnight Corail Lunéa couchette trains between Paris and Cerbère / Port-Bou) also stop.

An extensive network of frequent, modern and comfortable regional services is provided by SNCF's TER Languedoc-Roussillon, with services to Toulouse, Narbonne, Marseille, Cerbère, Perpignan, Limoux and Quillan.

The train journey from Toulouse is around 1hr to 1hr 15min depending on the train type.

By plane

Ryanair serves the airport to/from Billund, Charleroi, Cork, Dublin, Eindhoven, Glasgow (Prestwick airport), Liverpool, London-Stansted, Nottingham (East Midlands airport) and Porto.

2 Carcassonne Airport (CCF  ^IATA) (3 km from the city centre).  

A shuttle bus (navette aéroport; €5 per person) runs between the airport and Carcassonne town centre (SNCF railway station). Some shuttle buses also stop at the Cité. The shuttle bus timetable is available at the airport website.

A taxi between the airport and Carcassonne town centre costs around €10 to €15, whilst a taxi between the airport and the Cité costs around €15 to €20.

Alternatively, you can fly into Toulouse Airport.

Get around

The Cité is around 20 minutes by foot from the railway station. The main tourist sights in Carcassonne are situated within easy walking distance of each other.

Tourist maps of Carcassonne are available from one of the three tourist information offices. There is one tourist information centre situated once you leave the railway station and cross the bridge, on the right-hand side of the road near the junction between Boulevard Omer Sarraut and Avenue Mal Joffre. There are also tourist information centres in the Cité and in the town centre at 28 rue de Verdun.

There is a taxi stand outside the railway station. You can also book a taxi by calling ☏ +33 4 68 71 50 50, which is the one single official hotline for booking all taxis in Carcassonne. For more information, visit the official website of the Association of Carcassonne Radio Taxis.

There are no left luggage facilities at the train station, though you can leave your luggage at the Hotel La Bastide Saint Louis (42 rue Barbes 11000 Carcassonne; €3 for 1/2 day and €5 for 1 day), which is useful if you wish to visit Carcassonne before catching a flight from Carcassonne airport.

See

Château Comtal

Carcassonne Cathedral

• The Cité: historic fortress (built upon ruins predating Christianity) that was featured in the movie Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves. Around 20 minutes by foot from the railway station.
• 1 Château Comtal, ☏ +33 4 68 11 70 70. Castle and ramparts. €13. (updated Oct 2024)
• 2 Carcassonne Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Michel de Carcassonne), 52 Rue Voltaire, ☏ +33 4 68 25 14 48. The city's magnificent cathedral. (updated Nov 2016)
• Torture Museum (Châteaux Cathares et Instruments de Tortures), 17 Rue du Grand Puits, ☏ +33 4 68 26 95 22. If you're up to it, this museum is also worth a visit. It's small but filled with torture instruments from the Middle Ages. Not for the squeamish! (updated Nov 2016)

Do

• Medieval jousting displays are held twice a day between the two walls during the tournament in July and August. Whilst this may sound like a typical tourist activity, this is actually a very impressive and entertaining display of horsemanship and combative competition. Entry is €11 for adults as of Summer 2021.
• Rugby league: AS Carcassone play in Elite 1, the top French tier for 13-a-side rugby. Their home ground is Stade Albert Domec (capacity 10,000) on the east river bank in the lower town. The playing season is Sept-April.
• Cité Ciné festival. Four days (including a weekend) in January. Mostly loosely political films for what is a mostly older, white, (upper) middle-class audience. 
• Festival de Carcassonne. Jul–Aug. 
• Around half of July there is a huge firework show (the second biggest in France).
• 1 Domaine de Pommayrac, Chemin de Pommayrac, Verzeille (in Verzeille, 12.5 km south of Carcassonne; from the village, follow signs for Centre équestre), ☏ +33 4 68 69 49 60. horse trail riding and horseback lessons and courses, holiday accommodations, restaurant. 

Eat

A bowl of cassoulet

Don't leave Carcassonne without trying cassoulet, a local dish made of beans, sausage and duck. Foie gras is also a speciality of the region, so expect it to be on many menus.

There are bars around the train station that offer cheap eats. There are a few restaurants on rue Trivalle, the road that connects the town centre with the Cité. There are also quite a few restaurants clustered around the main square inside the Cité, the majority of which have outside tables so you can people-watch and enjoy the buzz of the square on summer evenings!

As Carcassonne can get quite touristy during the summer season, restaurants can become crowded and the prices charged can be a bit over the top. You may therefore wish to eat away from the Cité, perhaps in the town centre instead, or better in one of the enchanting villages away from Carcassonne.

Budget

• 1 Café Saillan, 31 Rue du Dr Albert Tomey. (updated Feb 2023)
• 2 Restaurant Inter Administratif, 37 Rue de la République. (updated Feb 2023)
• 3 Comptoir Ludique, 24 Rue de la République. (updated Feb 2023)
• 4 La P'tite Table, 24 Rte Minervoise. (updated Feb 2023)
• 5 Délice Métisse, 26 Rte Minervoise. (updated Feb 2023)
• 6 Le Lotus d'Or, 13 Rue Barbès. Vietnamese. (updated Feb 2023)

Mid-range

• 7 Le Trivalou, 69 Rue Trivalle. Has very friendly service and delicious home-made dishes, including cassoulet. (updated Feb 2023)
• 8 Restaurant Comte Roger, 14 Rue Saint-Louis. €25-35. (updated Feb 2023)
• 9 Restaurant Au Four Saint Louis, 4 Rue Saint-Louis. French cuisine (updated Feb 2023)
• 10 Restaurant le chaudron, 6 Rue Saint-Jean. (updated Feb 2023)

Splurge

Budget permitting, there are several excellent restaurants inside the Cité, serving really good regional food. These all serve divine food and the service is, as you would expect, impeccable.

• 11 La Barbacane, Pl. Auguste Pierre Pont. (updated Feb 2023)
• 12 Barrière Truffes - l'Atelier de la Truffe, 51 Rue Trivalle. (updated Feb 2023)

Drink

Try the regional wines. Wines of the Grand Carcassonne region use six AOCs (Minervois, Minervois La Livinière, Corbières, Malepère, Cabardès and Languedoc) and four IGPs (Cité de Carcassonne, Coteaux de Peyriac, Aude and Pays d’Oc).

• 1 Eurl le Bar a Vins, 6 Rue du Plo, ☏ +33 4 68 47 38 38. Nice, sheltered, relatively quiet place to grab an ice cream or drink. 

Sleep

It is advisable to book earlier if visiting Carcassonne during the high season.

Budget

• 1 Hosteling International Carcassonne, Rue du Vicomte Trencavel, Cite Médiévale (in the medieval city), ☏ +33 4 68 25 23 16. Apr–Oct. Good place to go on a budget. They offer various activities to guests. There is an extra fee for those who are not Hosteling International members. 

Mid-range

• 2 Notre Dame de l'Abbaye. Offers moderately priced accommodation in a converted abbey building and is just outside the Cité. Free Wi-Fi and friendly English-speaking reception staff. 
• 3 Camping de la Cité, Route de St Hilaire (by the river, signposted from the town centre). Apr–Oct. Good facilities (tennis grounds and pool) with a path running into the city. Gets fairly crowded in summer. 
• 4 Carcassonne Porte de la Cite (Mercure Hotel), 18 rue Camille Saint-Saens (about 5 minutes' walk from the Cité), ☏ +33 4 68 11 92 82, H1622@accor.com. Decent accommodation. From €97 per night. (updated Nov 2016)

Splurge

• 5 Hotel de la Cité, Cite Medievale, ☏ +33 4 68 11 23 00. The most historical, luxurious (and most expensive) hotel in Carcassonne. Operated by Orient Express Hotels. 

Go next

• Much to see in this somewhat neglected region of France. Get into the hills and visit little villages like Minerve. Try using the Michelin maps but forsake the red roads and take to the little white roads. You will be rewarded by seeing lovely little places that tour buses etc. never visit.
• There are regular barge trips along the historic Canal du Midi, and these are a very relaxing way of spending some time. The boats leave from the jetty just outside the main train station, and tickets can be bought from clearly signposted vendors at the canal-side (just beside the lock). Multilingual commentary is provided on the history of the canal and the various sights along the way.
• Limoux — Small town south of Carcassonne known for its sparkling wine and Le Carnaval de Limoux, which is a three-month carnival held each winter.
• Toulouse — 4th largest city in France and a popular tourist destination, about 95 km north-west by road