Carcassonne in 1 day
 

My friend and I are on a 2 week tour of Languedoc region in South France this Spring.
We're making a day stop at Carcassonne. So if you've visited Carcassonne I would like to hear your experience.

I'm only visiting the city for 1 day so, I need to know which tour I should go to, museum to explore etc.
I'm interested in learning as much history of this wonderful town.

Any suggestions, experience, comments would be a great help!!

Merci

You might get some tips from this recent thread about Carcassonne:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ng-history.cfm

The tourist office website will give you some ideas too:

http://www.carcassonne-tourisme.com/...geIntroVisiter

If you are really interested in the history of Carcassonne there are some great links to informative articles about the place in the first link I provided. For the average person who is only casually interested in Carcassonne I would say a 3-4 hour visit is sufficient. If you are seriously interested in it you could easily spend longer.

www.carcassonne-tourisme.com
hoteldelacite.com my fav there.

Stay in the Castle prettier than the town LOTS to do...

Most of our visitors want to see Carcassonne. In spring and summer I like to arrive around 2:00 when the car parks just outside the walls are beginning to empty.

All age groups seem to find 3-4 hours inside the walls sufficient, the more energetic can walk the ramparts, there are many cafes which are adequate, a few good restaurants, many shops, most loaded with kitsch but some nice ones as well.

As everyone says, it is very impressive when viewed from the lookout points on the autoroute.

You might want to combine with a stop in Limoux for lunch (less than 30 min south of Carcassonne).

You don't need to plan this. One day is more than sufficient to see every last corner of it (including the lower town if you want). It's completely laid out for visitors, with signs everywhere. Just go through the gates and start walking.

Take the castle and ramparts tour. Visit the museums that look interesting to you, maybe the museum of the history of Carcassonne. Visit the Basilica of Saint Nazaire.

Les Aigles de La Cite is a great exhibit featuring the largest collection of birds of prey in the world.