Now that I've happily printed off my idTGV tickets at home (thank you MorganB and all the others who helped me through that process!) we are having fun thinking about how to schedule, loosely, our time in Languedoc. We will be staying in a gite near Pezenas Sunday September 3 through Sunday the 10th. While there I imagine we'll spend time at the beach, around Montpellier, Sete, Meze, Nimes, St. Guilhem le Desert, maybe some day trips further west too -- whatever strikes our fancy. I found some wonderful suggestions on the website http://ourhouseinfrance.com. but would love to hear any other recommendations you all might have. The gite was are considering has a pool and as much as there is to see in the area, I also foresee plenty of relaxing family time at the pool and the sea -- maybe Lac du Salagou too?

I'd love to have some suggestions for the next few days we have in the south (Sunday - Wednesday afternoon) before we head back to Paris for our final 4 days. We will have our two kids with us (age 9 and 6). I want to head west at that point, but we have to get back to Montpellier by late Wednesday afternoon to return the car and catch the train back to Paris.

Some places/sites/ideas that have caught my eye are Collioure, Ceret, the Petite Tren Jaune, popping into Spain, Minerve, and of course Carcassonne for my 9 year old knight . That's probably too much to accomplish in the time we have.

Wondering if we should spend Tuesday night in Carcassonne to see the Cite lit up, tour in the morning and drive to Montpellier to catch the train, or spend the last night (Tuesday) in Montpellier.

I would be grateful for any recommendations on things to do, places to base, accomodations to consider. (Keep the kiddos in mind.) Ideally we would be in the same place for Sunday and Monday night.

Thanks in advance as always for your helpful suggestions.

You have already everything what is in the area on your list. If you want to see everything you will need two weeks. It is hard to recommend something, it depends on your interests. For a balanced tour, I would recommend:

- Certainly Carcassonne, it is unique.
- Certainly Nimes, the most beautiful Roman ruins in a beautiful setting.
- Certainly Aigues-Mortes, for another authentic medieval town.
- Certainly Montpellier for a typical French town of historic significance.
- Certainly Sète, with the romantic harbour.
- Maybe La Grande Motte, just driving through to see what "modern" architecture means.
- Maybe Beziers, with the wine museum (including the 2,500-year-old wine which Cousteau found at the bottom of the sea).
- Maybe (if there is time) the Ardèche (Pont d'Arc).
- Maybe horse riding through the Camargue swamps.
- If you want to see the Pyrenées you can drive up Mont Canigou (requires additional hiking).
- I found St. Guilhem le Desert rather disappointing (unless you are from New York City).

I've never ridden the La Petita Tren Jaune but I have sent a various visiters who did ride. It's a beautiful ride but it's pretty long. Plus, the last third of the trip is pretty boring.

Ceret isn't my cup of tea but Collioure is/does. Collioure is good for a nice day and the evening is good too. There's good housing in this village but it's usually tough to find a place.

Porte Vendres adjacent to Collioure is worth visiting as well as Banyuls further towards Spain. If you're inviting, keep on driving across into the Spanish border and head towards Rosas. You can head towards Figueras before heading towards Montpellier. From Figueras to Montpellier via the autoroute can be back in three hours. Dali's museum is in Figueras.

Argeles-sur-Mer is just before Collioure and this is a beautiful sandy beach. Collioure heading towards Spain is all galet or very small sand beaches.

Blackduff

Thanks to you both for your response. That's a nice list, Traveller. And Blackduff, I was hoping for your reaction as I know you live near the Spanish border (right?) I was wondering if the train ride got a little long -- with so much to do/see, maybe we don't want to spend our time like that.

I welcome any other thoughts on how to divide up our time.

With two small kids in tow, I'd give some consideration to a trip to Foix, which has the very best castle on a hill I've ever seen.

http://tinyurl.com/m3ryp

My other fave attraction in that area is the Pyrenees, most specifically just uphill from Cauterets to Pont d'Espagne. If it has been a rainy summer, there are nice waterfalls en route, and if nobody is afraid of heights and the weather is fine, there is a chair lift to take you up into the meadows near the peaks for a hike.

http://olivier.cecillon.free.fr/galerie.php?a=1

I am not such a fan of Collioure or its neighbor, Banyuls-sur-Mer. They are picturesque in their way but withot a lot to do other than have a drink or a meal with a waterview. And I think the drive to Figueras would be a haul, with only the Dali museum as a payoff.

You and your children might enjoy a trip in the many prehistoric and stalactite filled caves of the region, especially on a hot day.

Now THAT'S what I call a castle! Thank you for the links and the suggestions. The chair lift sounds awesome.

Any thoughts on a good base for two nights? I think we'll do the final night in Carcassonne just for the fun of seeing everything lit up. It doesn't look like the drive back to Montp is too bad and I'm going to assume in our week or so planted nearby (Montp) we will have time to explore the city rather than reserving it for the last night before we head north.

Hi Molloy95,
I'm a big fan of Ceret (and its wonderful little art museum with collection of Picasso tauromaquia ceramic plates), but I think your children would enjoy the liveliness of Coullioure more, and the drive along the coast. We've done the coastal drive from Coullioure into Spain down to Roses, and it is spectacularly scenic, but it gives new meaning, truly, to hair pin curves. Non stop, but unforgettable.
If you were to base for 2 nights in the Cerdanya valley, on the French side, you could do the Petit Train Jaune easily. We stayed for 4 days at the L'Atalaya, a Relais de Silence and member of Chateaux Hotels of France, recommended in Alistair Sawday's Special Hotels in France (Stu Dudley has written about it here in his wonderfully detailed Languedoc travel notes) in tiny Llo, and it has a pool. Truly beautiful scenery in these Pyrenees foothills, and the walk from Llo to Eyne is quite nice. From there it was an easy drive to Mont Louis to catch the 9ish train. There are also family hotels in Llivia, the Spanish enclave within France.
With your children, I would definitely consider taking this delightful ride, but only between Mont Louis and Villefranche-le-Conflent, where the kids can have fun climing the ramparts and driving up to Fort Liberia at the top of this Vauban built garrison town either before or after the train ride.
This little yellow Canary, the "Metro of the Pyrenees" is fun for kids, like a very tame Disneyland ride. But the whole route is just too long and not necessary. As blackduff says, west of Mont Louis it becomes just flat and boring. The "fun" part comes between Mont Louis and Villefranche.
But check the schedule very carefully for your dates, as you won't want too much wait time on either end.
www.ter-sncf.com
We miscalculated the return (didn't read the fine print) and had quite a bit more "wait time" for our return to Mont Louis than we had bargained for, but we just turned a minus into a plus with a nice leisurely tapas lunch at Casa de la Nine. But with kids, we would have had a difficult time keeping them entertained. And from Villefranche you can catch a jeep that will take you up to Mont Canigou. You'll see the signs as you pass through the city gates, to your right.


http://tourinfos.com//fr/r0011/d0066...24/p000198.htm

I've written more about our stay here if you do a search under Villefranche le Conflent.

Your travel plans sound wonderful!

Great stuff! Thank you, as always, Maribel. Your descriptions make me feel like I am there.

Molly
Maribel mentioned Villefranche and the various things to look there. I was thinking about this too. This city (really is a village) has ramparts which can be walked, at least part of it anyway. Kids would love this. Also within the walled city of Villefranch are many stores-most are for tourists but there's one toy store and kids are offered to try the toys. If I remember, these toys are made with wood.

Maribel forgot to mention, or I didn't read enough but there's a big cave nearby. It's about 500 meters from Villefranche. It's beautiful inside and it's about 500 kms deep, which is allowed to review. Actually this cave continues about 10 kms under this rock.

It's a good place to spend a day.

Blackduff

Hi blackduff,
Missed the cave! And you're absolutely right that the kids would enjoy walking the ramparts and also Fort Liberia. When we arrived at the Villefranche station, there was a navette waiting to take passengers up to Fort Liberia. There's also a navette that departs from the cafe "Canigou". One poster has suggested here that the walk down is terrific.

Molloy,
La Casa de la Nine-great, casual, inexpensive tapas menu. Rue Saint-Jean.
Ramparts are open for walking from 10-7.

for more about Le Petit Train Jaune de la Cerdagne:
www.countrycousins.co.uk/yelltren.htm

Just found my Ter 16 schedule. We took the 9:35 train from Mont-Louis-la-Cabanasse., arriving in Vollefranche at 10:56. Were planning to return on the 13:30 or 14: 50, but it didn't run that Sun., so we took the 16:10 back, arriving at 17:50. Failed to read that those runs were Mon.-Fri (after July 6) and Mon. -Sat. only.

There's also a family hotel in Saillagouse, a few km. from Llo, the Hotel Planes, that looked fine. It also has a pool. In my Michelin red, it's a Bib hotel (offering good levels of comfort and service for a low price-under 67 euros). It has a pool and is a member of Logis de France.
www.planotel.fr/index.php

Sete has boat trips, musée Paul-Valery and the Espace Georges Brassens dedicated to one of France's beloved port/singers.
I thought st Guilhem, a lovely quiet village.Collioure, the sardine small town has a fortified church that seems to sit in the water, a pretty place,
of flower bedecked balconies.
Ceret has bullfights
Aigues-Mortes. we like and and stayed there at a hotel one year and have returned for day trips.
Montpellier we dined for lunch at a Guigonette(sp?) and took the local train that circles about the town before going on.

Hi blackduff,
Went running to my Langedoc-Roussillon road map and found the caves! Grottes des Canalettes, correct? We missed them because we weren't touring by car.
www.grotte-grandes-canalettes.com/

Also Molloy, we really enjoyed our visit to the Romanesque Abbaye of St. Michel de Cuxa. It's tucked away, surrounded by peach and apple orchards. I had seen part of the pink marble cloisters that were taken to the Cloisters Museum in NYC. It's one of the venues for the Pablo Casals music festival in Prades. And the Eglise St. Pierre de Prades has the largest Baroque altarpiece in France. Open 8:30-12, 14:30-18. Closed Mon. afternoon.

Oh, you guys are the best. Really great info in here! Thanks Blackduff, for following this thread and commenting. It's great to have a native add info on their own area. I'm definitely going to pull out my maps and books this weekend and start marking them up! Very exciting!!!

Molloy,
One more incentive for visiting Villefranche-le-Conflent-it's one of the plus beaux villages of France, a 3 flower village, one of 4 in the Pyrenees Atlantiques, along with Castelnou, Eus and Mosset.

We used our favorite Thomas Cook Signpost guide, Languedoc and South-west France for our touring-really love these detailed guides, and you know how I feel about reliable guides!
For nitty gritty, mundane, practical stuff, also took along the Rough Guide, Languedoc Roussillon.

L'Atalaya: www.atalaya66.com/

What about the chateau of Peyrepertuse? It's an incredible setting, and I see from their web site that they have medieval festivals going on in the summer:
http://www.chateau-peyrepertuse.com

That web site is in French, but if that's a problem, you can Google it to find other information in English.

The climb up to the ruined castle might be a bit steep for a 6-year-old though.

Molly
If you and your kids like to walk/climb, there's a good place to hike up to the Spanish border. This ends at the summit above Nuria in Spain.

I can't remember the name of this hike but it's just a few kms further up the road from Villefranche. It's a small path which climbs up this gourge.

Probably it's too much for this vacation but keep it in your mind, if the kids hiking. It's a good day's hiking and you can stay at the ski resort in Nuria. Then you can take the cog wheel train on the Spanish side and take a regular train heading towards France again.

I've been on both sides but never putting them into one trip. I do have friends who make this trip and it's spectacular.

Blackduff

blackduff and Molly,
Another fantastic little train ride is the cogwheel train up to Val de Nuria. Then you can hike down. Several Fodorite Catalunya afcionados have posted about this truly unique experience.
In our stay in the Cerdagne, we took the little yellow train one day, then the train (cremallera) to Nuria the next. My traveling companions couldn't decide which they enjoyed more. Both are absolutely delightful!
www.valldenuria.com

Maribel
Although I haven't went up the train to Nuria during the summer time, I have been up there for skiing on this slope. On the rate of one to ten, I would it only 4-5 points. But, that train ride is really fun. In fact, it scared the hell out of me.

If you ever take this ride, make sure you seat is on the inside of the mountain. The other seat is right over emptyness. Scary! There were golden eagles were coasting below the train.

Like I said, the slopes were on the low requirements but the trip was great.

Blackduff

Hi Blackduff,
It didn't appear that those small slopes would be a prime skiing venue, but the scenery is extraordinary, I agree! Worth the trip up for the tranquility and utter beauty of the setting and the walks to take from the hotel.
I first "discovered" Nuria through a post by one of our Catalonia experts on this board-one of the many gems of Catalonia that have been recommended here on this forum. You're so lucky to have lived in such a beautiful part of the country.

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