Carcassone area
 

My husband and I are contemplating a trip to Barcelona and the Carcassone area in France. I know very little about it and would like some input from fellow travelors. We will be driving on our own. thanks for your help.

We stayed one night in Carcassone two years ago, and we loved it. Stayed at the Hotel Dame Carcus which is inside the walls and would recommend it. Cars are only allowed to go inside the walls before 10 and after 6 so you don't want to arrive during those hours. Once in, you can leave at any time. I'm not sure you'd want to stay there very long, but it was so different than anything else I'd ever encountered that I was intriqued by it. It can get quite busy during the day when busloads of tourists arrive, but early morning and early evening is wonderful. We arrived there by train, then rented a car and drove to the Dordogne area which has more to offer, but I'm glad we got to see Carcassone.

I did this trip from Barcelona to Carcassone. The drive is really easy. I stayed at the Hotel Frantour just outside the walls of the city. It was between okay and good. It was clean and nice furnishings but the underground parking was creepy and expensive. A day trip from Carcassone that is not to be missed is Albi. A wonderful town which I preferred over Carcassone. Tolouse was a major disappointment, in my opinion. Another very quaint town is Cordes. <BR>Ellen

If you're planning to stay one week in the Carcasonne area I would suggest you <BR>to stay in a 'gîte' at a wine-château <BR>25 km east of Carcasonne. Well equipped, <BR>cheap, nice Belgian owners etc. If <BR>interested, contact me at [email protected] <BR> <BR>Jef <BR>

Judy, <BR>We drove to Carcassone last year from Barcelona using AutoEurope. The drive was easy and we loved Carcassone. Stayed at the Hotel Mercure which was walking distance outside of the wall. Nice hotel about $125 for two a night I seem to remember. We stayed for two nights and had two full days at the walled city which was enough time by far. I would recommend going to see it.

Judy - I second Ellen's comment re: Albi vs. Carcassone. Albi is less touristy, less crowded and has beautiful buildings and a nice river view. Rubbing shoulders with throngs of tourists at Carcassone was just not our kind of sightseeing. I think Cordes is that neat little hilltop village; great side trip. The drive from Carcassone to Albi was thru a natural wooded area, with lots of low hills and beautiful flowers (in May-97). Saw many French cyclists practicing.

HI I AM PLANING THE SAME TRIP FOR FIRST WEEK IN NOVEMBER WHAT ABOUT THE WEATHER?IS IT REANY? IS PERPIGNON WORHT IT? <BR>THANKS

Hi, Judy, <BR>I agree with much of the above. Albi is a knockout, Carcassone impressive but a little touristy and faux-feeling (about uses up my French)... <BR>For Jenifer (and others), we found Perpignan to be really interesting, very much a Catalan rather than a French city. The pastel stucco and transparent blue skies reminded us a little of San Francisco. Some interesting North African-feeling neighborhoods, too. <BR>If you go to this interesting area of France, you would do well to look up the history of the Cathars - a very interesting if a bit obscure part of this region's history.

Do the Hotels in Cordes have parking facilities??,Thanks!

You might want to do a search for Languedoc on the European board for more information.

Mia: I stayed in Cordes about a week ago, in the Hostellerie du Vieux Cordes. Let me tell you, the parking situation is not the easiest thing to manage.
First you drive to the hotel on an insanely narrow street full of mobs of deaf tourists who don't hear you coming and don't move out of the way. Then you leave your bags at the hotel and get a &quot;jeton&quot; and an absolutely pathetic, inaccurate, hand-drawn, miniature map showing you how to find the hotel parking, which requires descending the hill through the mobs again and re-ascending on another tortuous path. When you finally find the right parking spot, you stick the jeton into a little box, and the &quot;borne cylindrique&quot; (a large metal cylinder that blocks the parking lot) descends into the ground just long enough for you to drive over it and into the lot.
When you've finally parked, you then hike up the rest of the hill to your hotel. You have to do the entire thing in reverse when leaving.
Thankfully, we were driving in a friend's automatic transmission car - even so, the brakes were smoking by the time we parked. That hill is something!