Hello all:

I have 10 days, flying in Saturday morning to Toulouse and out of Montpellier a week Monday in the evening. Travel will be by public transportation – I have previously driven through the area three times, so have seen the out of the way areas and now want to concentrate on the towns.

I would like your feedback on the following plan.

I am thinking of staying in Toulouse for five nights/six days with possible day trips to some of Albi, Carcassonne, Galliac and Moissac.


Then to the coast for four nights. I am trying to decide between staying in Montpellier or Perpignan. What are your thoughts? Side trips if I stay in Montpellier might include Collioure, Narbonne, Perpignan. If I stay in Perpignan, Narbonne, Montpellier.

Any comments? Any substitutions? Any recommendations on restaurants and hotels?

Best regards Ger

One of our favorite parts of France. We did 10 days there in February of 2018 (plus 5 in the Pyrenées) on public transportation - easy. I would choose Narbonne as a base instead of Perpignan. In fact, I'd probably split up the time between Montpellier (big university town and all that goes along with that) and Narbonne and spend at least a night in Collioure rather than a day trip. In order to accomplish that I'd probably spend one less night in Toulouse, much as I love that place. The train that runs from Avignon (I think that's right) along the coast down to the border at Port-Bou is a delightful ride, but rather slow, so you can't exactly zip from Montpellier to Collioure, for example.

Inland, have to say that Gaillac has been a big meh for me on at least two trips. Carcassonne, on the other hand, turned out to be a wonderful surprise apart from the Cité that everyone flocks to. The lower town is gorgeous and bustling. We particularly enjoyed our dinner (not fancy) at Chez Fred there. I'll dig into my archives and see what else I can revive. I would never recommend the hotel we stayed at in Narbonne (but we completely fell in love with the city for its lack of tourist pretension and amazing cathedral and archaeological museum and indoor market and canal-side cafés), but the apartment we rented in Carcassonne was fabulous and huge and inexpensive, though the communal breakfast was a bit strange. We and another couple were the first guests they had had since opening, so maybe we were treated with special gratefulness, but we thought the place was just lovely. Collioure was practically empty when we were there, so we had little choice of hotels and restaurants, but I'll go back and see where we stayed and ate. It was all satisfactory except for the much-touted Les Templiers, which was nothing but a loud sports bar with overpriced drinks. On a previous trip to Collioure I stayed at the Casa Pairal, which was just lovely.

More to come when I've gone back into my files.

You are a dear Mellen - thank you!

Narbonne looks like a great base. Ill check it out

Here is where we stayed in Carcassonne. As I said, we were their first customers, but they did seem to be on their way to offering great accommodations at a good price (I would be sure to ask them for a quiet room because the hotel faces the main thoroughfare of Carcassonne - our apartment was so big, though, that the bedroom was way in the back overlooking a courtyard and we heard nothing from the street): https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/carcassonne-bastide.en-gb.html?label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaE2IAQGYAQm4AQfIAQ3YAQHoAQH4AQuI AgGoAgO4AtS8yusFwAIB;sid=ff1cf9f428c67f008510fce9b b3e80d3.



In Collioure we stayed at the Hôtel Triton, but mainly because it was one of the only places open in February. It was fine, very comfortable, with a small room and view of the ocean, but there may be better choices at other times of year.

In Narbonne we stayed at Will's Hotel, which I would absolutely not recommend. The room was fine, as was the location, but outside of the (odd) hours the proprietors kept you had to wander through the dark back halls of the hotel and exit through a side door, then fumble around with locks and codes to get back in.

In Collioure we were pretty much forced to eat at Le Jardin de Collioure if we didn't want takeout pizza, so we did both nights we were there, and it was delightful both nights. On a previous visit I had a wonderful meal at L'Escale Bleue. You have to visit the anchovy factory and eat anchovies wherever you find them - if you like them. The market (I seem to recall it's Tuesdays, but check) is a good one, with some unusual crafts, and the surrounding cafés are a good place for a light meal or drink.


In Narbonne: Au Pin Parasol, La Petite Cour, and l'Aladin. But we also had some tasty morsels just sitting by the canal and near the market.

If you can find a bus from Montpellier to Bouzigues, take it and have some fabulous seafood in a shack or restaurant on the shore. If not, there are buses to the seashore in other places where you are likely to find the same thing.

Hi Ger,
If you do decide to spend a night in Collioure, I can recommend a lovely, cozy and innovative place to dine either for lunch or dinner if you want a special treat:
"Le 5ème péché" at 18 rue de la Fraternité.
Restaurant Le 5eme Péché, Collioure
It has a Tokyo-born chef who trained under the Roca brothers, it comes Michelin + lefooding recommended. *We dined on his weekday 3-course lunch menu currently priced at 25 euros. * Beautiful presentation, market-driven cuisine. Closed Sun/Mon. the owners of our Céret inn recommended it as well.

On our first June Collioure visit we stayed at the rather pricey Le Relais de Trois Mas only because: there was no room at the very pretty, perfectly located family-run Casa Païral (Relais du Silence), Le RTM offered valet parking (a godsend in high season), its La Balette restaurant had a Michelin star, it has that picture postcard perfect view of the town, and my traveling companion wanted a pool + balcony room. *LeRTM's rates are much lower in Nov.
But... after seeing the Casa Païral I wished I would have booked earlier. *I think the Casa Païral closes for the season, however, on Nov. 4, but check.

Like StCirq I think Collioure would be lovely in Nov. without the crowds. And it would be just a 1 hour TER ride from Narbonne.

Forgot to mention that the Place Carnot, in central lower town of Carcassonne just off the main pedestrian street, has a variety of nice cafés and often good live music in the evenings. Kind of the hub of lower Carcassonne, and a lot of fun.

I haven't been to much of this region, but IMO, Toulouse and Albi are delights! For a meal in Albi, you might consider Restaurant Le Clos Sainte Cecile. And BTW, we need the rest of your Puglia trip report!

Ger,
We too loved the pink brick city of Albi, so pretty, and really enjoyed touring the Toulouse Lautrec Museum.

My restaurant rec there: La Table du Sommelier, a Michelin Bib Gourmand for price/quality value with a very attractive outdoor terrace. But closed Sun/Mon.
La Table du Sommelier - Albi

I would never base in Perpignan instead of Montpellier for that long a time. There just isn't that much to do there. It isn't even central to anything much, but I suppose that depends what you would want to do. You could visit Narbonne, of course, and even Spain if that is your idea. If you wanted to visit Spain, like Figueres, ok, otherwise I wouldn't do it. It's very small. And the best part to stay isn't right near the train station, anyway. If you do stay there, the area around the central Basse canal is best (somewhere in the area of the Castillet museum) as there are a lot of open air restaurants and stores around there, so it's an easy area to stroll at night to eat, etc. I stayed at the Mercure there, right next to a big park, and that was a great location (I often stay in Mercures in France), but it's probably close to 2 km to the gare. Now of course that is walkable but not ideal for easy day trips. In Montpellier, you can stay very close to the gare in a great lively area, near place de la Comedie, and be only a few blocks to it.

Fantastic stuff guys. many thanks to you all.

I've made the decision re staying in Narbonne. Its a perfect location. Thank you Mellen for that and the other recommendations!

Yes Christina, I as worried Perpignan was too small.

Maribel, so great to see you again. Thank you for your restaurant recommendations.

kja: I have ben remiss - sorry. I was thrown right into a full time project in Sweden but will try to continue soon

Adelaidean: Thanks! I am also planning an October trip for 10 days in Galicia: Santiago de Compostela and A Coruna. I booked the flight today and have a preliminary itinerary. I have been there a few times, but not for years.

Best regards Ger

Hard not to keep adding to this thread. Narbonne has a whole beach area separate from the town - Narbonne Plage. Can't help with it because I've never been, but just thought you might want to know. Pretty sure there are local buses out there and probably great seafood. Also, Argèles-sur-Mer, which is on the surface a rather unappealing place a few kilometers from Collioure, apparently has a few really good restaurants. Again, no personal knowledge, just things we picked up when in the area. We went through Argèles on our way to Collioure last time and thought it quirky but very serviceable.

(takes copious notes til pen finally runs out of ink)

"HUN! Where's that other pen we bought?! Izzit' in my thing?!"

I am done. the end.