Perpignan, Carcassone or where for 6 days
 

To Blackduff, Stu Dudley and other valued Fodorites:

My wife and I are going to take a car trip in June thru parts of Languedoc and Rousillon, ending in Arles for a 7 day cruise on the river. We have 6 extra days. I have already reserved a B&B in Pezenas for 3 nights. We like natural areas and old city streets and plan to use Penzenas as a base. Now I need your help. With the remaining 3 days, I lean toward a split between Perpignan, where we debark the train from Spain picking up a rental car, using Perpignan as a base and/or Carcassone. We'd like to visit some of the hill towns, grotes, etc. Should we spend only one night in Perpignan and two nights near or inside Carcassone or vice versa ? I've heard that the night illuminations are fantastic in Carcassone and as a photographer I will especilly like that. I've driven in Spain and France before and have no problem with mountain roads for touring. Any other suggestions would help from all you Fodorites.

The drawback to staying in Carcassonne is that there is not a whole lot to do in the immediate area. There's MUCH more to do around Perpignan. However, Perpignan has a lot of sprawl and heavy traffic. We drove into there several times, and got lost many of those. We stayed near Ceret, which we though was an ideal location and a cute village. There are a couple of OK restaurants in Ceret, and a hotel or two (thought the Terrasse au Soleil was overpriced & it's out of town a bit - not walkable to town).

Ceret is convenient for dashing into the Pyrenees, going to the coast around Collioure & south to the Costa Brava, into Spain & Gerona & a few of the small villages there, Cathars castles of Peyrepertuse & Queribus, Abbey St Martin (long/hard climb there)Villefranche, Prats de Mollo, Gorges de Fou, Castelnou, along the Tech & Tet rivers, Fort du Salses, and constant views of Mt Canigou.

I would stay in Perpignan or Ceret and hit Carcassonne on the way to Pezenas.

I assume you have my 35 page Languedoc/Roussillon itinerary, with more details of what to see around Perpignan & Pezenas.

Stu Dudley

Thanks for your help, Stu. Your postings have always been illuminating and comprehensive and your knowledge of these areas is awesome. I have not yet downloaded the 32pager but that may be overkill with only 6 days to play with. What do you think ? Maybe you can tell me which pages that I should print ?
I never thought of Ceret but will definitely give it a hard look and try for B & B's there. My thought about Carcassone was that I thought Limioux (sp) was nearby and some people said that would be good to see. But, I also knew about Perpetrouse and other sites and know that they are closer to Perpignan. Have you ever been to the Grote De Demoselles (sp) , near Pezenas? Does it compare to others ? What about caverns in Langedoc/Rousillon?
Any of you other Fodorites have any input? Thanks so much.

>> Have you ever been to the Grote De Demoselles (sp)>>

Twice - probably the best of the 15 or so we've visited in France. Clamouse near there is also good, so is Aven Armand.

Read my itinerary. We spent 2 weeks near Ceret & I wrote about our favorite stuff there - including restaurants. We were near Demoiselles for 1 week and I have info on that area also. There's info about the Gorge du Tarn - we were close to there for 2 weeks in '04.

We took a day trip to Carcassonne from Ceret. We returned through Limoux, Quillan, through the Gorges St Georges & back (quite scenic), then east along the very pretty D117, which passses close to the Cathars castles. On my Michelin map, I write things like "cute", "very cute", or "interesting" next to towns that I liked when we pass through them. Nothing is written next to Limoux - and it did not garnish any stars in the Michelin Green Guide - but it is mentioned in the Guide. The route I mentioned would be a good one to take from the Perpignan area to Carcassonne. Then take the freeway to Pezenas - not that much to see in the area between these two cities, unless you head quite a bit north.

Stu Dudley

There are caverns near Villefranche du Conflent and Vernet les Bains (Grottes des Canalettes. Les Canalettes are underground, as all caves usually are (!)but the Villefranche ones are in the mountain and have been also used by Vauban as fortifications.
If you like mountains, you could use Prades as a base. It's very easy to get to from Perpignan station (since this is where you'll probably pick up your car)as you will not have to cross the town.
From there you can drive to Villefrance (6 or 7 km) and take the Yellow Train up to Cerdagne.
Villefranche itself is worth a visit, it's a fortified town (besides there is an excellent restaurant in town)
Apart from St Martin du Canigou there is another abbaye (on flat land !) called Saint Michel de Cuxa very close to Prades.
Ille sur Tet is also worth a stop for its medieval church. Also Serrabone Abbaye (pink marble).

Collioure is a nice area. Do Ceret on a Sat. for the market.

As far as Carcassonne is concerned..I have stayed in the Hotel la Cite. The village is beautiful at night and horrible during the day! Just full of tourists and tacky shops. A couple years later I stayed at the nearby Domaine d'Auriac, Relais & Chateaux hotel, with a friend while journeying from Nice to Normandy. I took her over to Carcassonne..she was ready to leave in 15 minutes....to each his own, I guess! A pretty daytime view from the autoroute.

You should try to drive over the Millau viaduc. Spectacular.

Enjoy...