Toulouse & Occitanie 8 Days
 

Envious of DW who will be going to visit DD, SIL and GD in Chicago, but fully awed by her energy and beauty after forty years of marriage, I bought very good priced tickets to visit especially the region I had recommended my daughter
for her honeymoon, Languedoc. Turkish airlines has special prices, apparently flying for only the cost of taxes, fuel charges and similar, to Marseilles, Bordeaux and Toulouse.

We had already been to the Southern coast and were not interested in a very busy port., or potentially unfriendly inhabitants. Toulouse was the most attractive in terms of its friendly reputation and its region. It also provided the shortest
route to Chateau de la Caze, where we could stay replicating DD's honeymoon. Not in terms of action but just location.

Trip is for late April and early May
I am a reasonably mobile seventy five and DW is an energetic 60.
We like anything interesting, old and new.
We like pastoral settings and mysterious places.
We like both city centers and small villages.
We are open to eating anything (taking care of my diabetes.)
I do not enjoy walking more than a mile at a time and threer miles a day at most.
- We love festivals fetes, farmers markets, local arts and crafts
We like french coffee
I like to taste and DW likes to drink wine.

Eser does not speak French. I can fake it somewhat.if I can dig back in my memory of fifty five years ago when I spent three months in France.
We do not have a large budget, so we can handle only three nights at more expensive lodging, two pricey restaurants. We like to make our own sandwiches with cheese and charquterie.
We are fine with au bon pain or similar.


Our immediate thoughts are as follows:
- Rent car
- Stay in Toulouse because of late afternoon arrival
- Pick a budget hotel like Ibis with free parking close to city center.
- Next morning, short drive around town and then to Ste Enimie for the chateau de la Caze.
- Enjoy the area ?????
- Slowly drive West towards St Cirq Lapopie
- Find a charming B&B en route.
- Visit Fodorite StCirq
- Drive South, past Toulouse to Carcassonne
- Stay at or near Carcassonne.(4th night)
- Drive to Narbonne (and?) Perpignan
- Stay at village or small town B&B
- Drive West towards Andorra

- 6th night ??
- 7th night ???

Final night in Toulouse at a more comfortable hotel (preferably Novotel or Sofitel due to membership advantages)

We do not have to get to Andorra or even climb the French Pyrenees.

Some quick questions:
- should we stay at Carcassonne and or Perpignan city center?

Any and all suggestion re route after St. Cirq, hotels, B&Bs, great scenery, unmissable smaller castles, great art, great architecture, great food,
forests, gorges, streams, lakes (not so much caves and caverns)

Just a note : We have had visits to Italy, Spain, Eastern Germany, Austria and Czech republic, Finland, Latvia, England and other parts of France.

Attached is my itinerary for the Languedoc.

Stu Dudley

Just a couple of thoughts. If you like cassoulet, then you might want to have lunch in Castelnaudary, the home of the dish. We love a little restaurant just outside the village that is family run. It is kind of a funky placement behind a gas station but has a lovely garden and they have 2 alpaca in the garden. The cassoulet is the best we have had in the village. The restaurant is called Le Tirou.

In Toulouse we like to stay in the area between Place St George and Capitole. I know there is the Ibis capitole hotel in that area. Also I have taken visitors on the "petit train" that leaves from Capitole as a 1 hour guided tour of the city and it is great way to get an overview of the city-fun and informative.

https://tirou.fr/

Looking at your proposed drive you will go through Albi which would make a good stop to see the Toulouse Lautrec museum

An Exceptional Place | Musée Toulouse Lautrec

You will also pass through Rodez and there are a number of what they call the "most beautiful villages in France" that kind of radiate out from that area in a star shape:

The most beautiful villages of Aveyron | RODEZ - Aveyron Midi-Pyrénées

Thank you Stu, Have quickly looked through. Huge amount of information
I have to sift through because we do not have the possibility of staying more than eight days.

Seems that we should increase our single nights at some locations and not visit any more places than I listed.
I hope restaurants you enjoyed are still open

Are restaurants, cafes and bakeries also closed Sundays and Mondays?

Should we really stay in Toulouse last two nights or choose another idyllic place just outside the city, possibly close to the airport?

For me it would depend on what day and what time of day your flight leaves. Traffic into Toulouse can be heavy on weekday at rush hour time in the morning and then away from the city in the evening. We have stayed near the airport but it wasn't particularly scenic-just stayed there for convenience.

Thank you Ipie, some very good advice and recommendations. We like bean stews but have never had cassoulet, so we shall surely try.

The trip is acquiring more boundaries now. Adding Rodez and Albi, we may need to drop Perpignan.

Can we decide as we go along, or do we need to make all lodging reservations in advance?
My plan is to do the first night and the second night tomorrow and possibly the last two nights as soon as possible; leaving the rest to chance.

OC, I don't have any specific advice, but I will say prepare yourself to write us a trip report. You're going to have a great time and we'll want to hear all about it.

Whenever we go to a new place I use monumentum.fr to look up historic buildings, bridges, fountains, anything that's on the Monuments Historiques list. I see that Toulouse has a long list of such places. I clicked on one just to see and this beautiful photo of a dry dock popped up. (You have to page down; the photos are always below the map.)

https://monumentum.fr/bassin-radoub-pa00094675.html

I think for late April early May you should be able to leave some of the nights open-we have done that before without issue. Especially since that time of year you probably won't need A/C etc.

I think you might be wise to skip Perpignan simply because there is so much to see in the regions where you will be.

Bakeries and cafes are usually open on Sundays & Mondays, but most restaurants close on Sunday (except noon - sometimes) and Mondays also.

Stu Dudley

Coquelicot in Australian terms ‘ you are an absolute champion’ with all the wonderful links you provide.

otherchelebi Toulouse is a fabulous city. Your trip sounds great. I am not a fan of Perpignan and would suggest dropping it. Of course others may disagree

thanks again Stu, Ipie and cheska. I bow to your experience and dump Perpignan, hoping we can do another trip that includes the coast and the Pyrenees, possibly stretching into Northern Spain. (definitely after the Cornwall visit)

coquelicot, thanks. I will surely write a trip report but may just post it on my travel blog www.otherchelebistravels.blogspot.com because readers on Fodors find it difficult to spend time on the posts in order to find practical and useful
information among all the personal stuff, the satire and the irony. A well'known Turkish literary critic once wrote an excellent review of my one and only book, saying, "I think he makes fun of all of us and also of himself."

I walked through the area north of Toulouse on the Via Podiensis, and places that stood out were:

The cave at Peche Merle, in Cabrerets (close to St. Cirq). These are one of the few caves with paleolithic art that is open to the public. Absolutely amazing. Reserve ahead of time.
Condom, for its connection to Armagnac and to D'Artagnan, of the Three Musketeers fame.
Cahors - A nice medieval city, and the "black wine" of Cahors is delicious. Gascony in general produces very good wines, but the region has a reputation for bad wines. This is because they keep the good stuff for themselves and only export the bad stuff.
Figeac - There is a public square in town that is paved with a reproduction of the Rosetta Stone in black granite.

I love this area, and the food is to die for. Interestingly, my brother-in-law works part of the year in Toulouse and he isn't impressed with the city itself as as a tourist-destination. I haven't been.

Thanks michael_cain, i am claustrophobic so will not partake of the caves, but will definitely try the black wine. Figeac is on my list of places to visit.

Do you think that treading on the Rosetta Stone will give a perk to my tired feet? and How was only one Condom connected to both Armagnac and D'Artagnan? (sorry could not stop myself)

I think that is a very good idea-we love Roses in northern Spain-so you can check it out for next visit.

On the way to St Cirq there is Montauban with its Ingres museum and Place Nationale

https://flic.kr/p/7UdDkX
and a little farther west is Moissac known for its abbey church carvings

https://flic.kr/p/8vDkXa
and you should not miss Albi for its church and Toulouse Lautrec museum in the former episcopal palace

https://flic.kr/p/7UdyNF
For cute (and touristy villages) look for the Michelin map of France which specializes in les plus beaux villages

In Toulouse DH and i stayed at the Hotel Albert I re which is very central and has a bit more character than the Ibis. It looks quite reasonably priced in April. It did a good breakfast and has a lift as well as some parking, though we picked up our car from the railway station as we left Toulouse. Personally I would spend 2 nights there - a day should be enough to see most of the city at a reasonable pace - and then move on.

The name of the town of Condom [where there is a well known rugby team] also brings out the comedian in many brits.

It seems to bring out the comedian in the higher powers too ... here is the sky when I was leaving Condom ...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5291ce42bd.jpg
Sky over Condom

When we stayed for 3 nights in a B&B near Condom, we had an excellent dinner at De Bastard in nearby Lectoure - which is another interesting town.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...Occitanie.html

Stu Dudley

OC, your comment about not wanting to walk more than a km at a time has got me a bit concerned. I will have to give that some thought, as most places we enjoyed entailed a lot of climbing/walking. That doesn't mean it can't be done, just needs to be done differently. Toulouse, for example, is a very pedestrian city. However, I remember they also have good transit. And as someone above mentioned, the little tourist train will take you around. By the way, the airport is not a nice area to stay. Just nothing around. We took a taxi from our hotel to the airport and it was all fine.

I adore Toulouse! Make sure you give it enough time -- a couple of days would not be unreasonable, though of course it depends on your interests.

And Albi is a gem, IMO. If you dine while there, consider le Clos Sainte Cécile.

Enjoy!

Stu, have you heard of character analysis by clouds?

Thank you all. Your recommendations are being noted.

Just found out that the second day of trip Chateau de la Caze is fully booked. Also their idea of a grand lit is 140x190 which would be just about right for my lithesome bod,
but Eser refuses to sleep on the floor. So, had to give up best view for a larger bed. This will be the night of splurge with breakfast and dinner at the chateau.

Now, we have planned second evening somewhere near StCirq and third on the route from st Cirq to Ste Enimie.

Will then drive down through Albi to Carcassonne (?) Will stay where the storms will throw us.

Spending final night at Toulouse proper accepted.

Should receive the Michelin green from Amazon UK within two weeks together with a 2020 easy read road atlas, for more detailed planning.

We have absolutely no friends in Istanbul who plan and/or travel like we do. Quite a few have tried to latch onto us but we have managed to always evade them.
They usually arrange for a private tour in a small group or join one of the expensive but supposedly excellent Fest travel tours. Otherwise they visit the same places they have seen.

Some years ago, when we were telling about our trip to a location which was recommended to us by a friend just two years earlier, the same chap, turned to his wife and asked, "Honey have we ever been there?"

OC, I will write more later, but for now just want to say:

I agree about dumping Perpignan. If you want a great Languedoc town on the Med, go to Narbonne. Lots of history and canal charm there.

Here is a wonderful hotel near St-Cirq-Lapopie: https://www.hoteldesgrottes.com If you want something more in between Toulouse and St-Cirq, let me know.

I totally agree about having cassoulet in Castelnaudary at Le Tirou.

In my view, you could wing it with accommodations, but personally I wouldn't. I hate giving up even an hour or two to search for a place to say, especially in a region so full of wonders.

Not sure if you're aware that "my" St-Cirq is not St-Cirq-Lapopie, but farther north in the Périgord Noir:(

StCirq, As the boy in the Japanese puppet show said, "But I did not Know!."

The puppeteer sadly responds, "Yes. you did not." (At end of one of my favorite novels, "Quinn's Shanghai Circus" by Edward Whittemore.)

Some more change of plans.

Toulose to your village is about three hours. We can handle that day after our arrival.
Our hotel should be close to your hamlet, preferably towards the East so that we can make it an easy drive to Figeac or Rodez the next day.
We can stay at Figeac or better still continue to Rodez for one more night before reaching St. Enimie to imagine being with our daughter.

Sarlat seems to be a good option but we will wait for your instructions.

OC, Toulouse to Sarlat on the autoroute shouldn't take much more than 2 hours. We have no problem going to Sarlat - the Microcar could probably find its way there on its own! Will PM you with further details and suggestions.

And will come back with more suggestions for Figeac, Rodez, maybe Villeneuf-de-Rouergue and more later today.

OC, great to see you on the France forum!

I highly recommend reserving your room in advance at the Hôtel des Grottes, with demie pension. The hotel restaurant is excellent and you’ll enjoy your meals there, the location is also stunning, especially the terrace where you dine.

I’d also ask you to reconsider visiting Pech Merle, seeing the prehistoric art was one of the most awe inspiring moments in my life, right up there with some of my top travel experiences.

St Cirq-la-Popie is a pretty town, rather touristy, though the crowds will probably be less that early in the season. Figeac though most definitely warrants a visit.

We are not big fans of Rodez. We've been there 3 times - once to visit the town, once for dinner, and another time to purchase cepes in their farmer's market.

Stu Dudley

Here are a couple of other hotel options in or right near Sarlat that we have stayed with a car that are well located for you visit with St Cirq.

This a little b&b with 3-4 individual little cottages-there is parking right next door-sometimes you have to pay in my recollection, but there is also free parking not far away
Sarlat Côté Jardin 13 rue du Collège - Place Pasteur 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda +33 6 03 11 52 96

https://www.sarlatcotejardin.com/en-us

Another really nice hotel set in the hills just above Sarlat that we stayed in last year was :

Hôtel Le Mas del Pechs: 10 route des Pechs, 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda, France : +33 5 53 31 12 11

It has a pool and private parking lot-very quiet and a nice place

https://www.sarlat-hotel.com/en/home/

And this year I have a place booked just outside of Sarlat that is very inexpensive-it is a little b&b property on a farm with our own little 2 bedroom cottage. It also has a pool. I haven't stayed there yet but it gets good reviews. The digs are fairly simple but the price reflects it:

Les 4 Saisons 824 route du Bugue, 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda, France: +33 6 16 04 22 82

https://www.les4saisonsaquitaine.com/fr-fr

Our favorite restaurant in the area was on the road to La Roque Gageac and is called O plasir des Sens. Nice family run restaurant with a more formal higher level food in part of the restaurant but also a more casual "bistro" side to the restaurant as well. I have eaten at both and both are really nice. Another advantage is that they have plenty of parking.

https://o-plaisirdessens.com/

OC, Leaving Sarlat (or thereabouts) and heading back to Toulouse, you might want to stop in Martel (the town of 7 towers and well worth even a short stop: https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/la-v...illages/martel) and Collonges-la-Rouge (https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/la-v...onges-la-rouge).. You will of course be within hailing distance of Rocamadour and the Gouffre de Padirac (neither of which holds much interest for me, but are obviously huge attractions for many people). Then you could make your way south to St- Céré, a lovely riverside town where a look at Jean Lurçat's tapestries at his château at Saint-Laurent-des-Tours is worth a stop if it's open (he famously copied the Apocalypse tapestries in the Château d'Angers and has a museum there as well). Then down to Figeac...

Figeac: https://ville-figeac.fr https://www.tourisme-lot.com/en/the-...o-the-pyramids http://www.tourism-figeac.com

There are some wonderful restaurants in this town, notably La Dinée du Viguier, but plenty of less posh places as well, and on a nice day a picnic by the river is wonderful. I imagine the museum of writing would be right up your alley.

From Figeac you can scoot down to Villefranche de Rouergue (which I mistakenly called Villeneuf in an earlier post). https://www.tourisme-villefranche-najac.com No need to tarry here, but worth a look around. A boat ride in Najac is pleasant.

Rodez: I'm fond of Rodez, but I wouldn't feel compelled to visit. From Villefranche you can continue south on the D922, choosing to veer west to St-Antonin-Noble if you like (https://www.tourisme-saint-antonin-noble-val.com), and Cordes-sur-Ciel (worth at least a half-hour, preferably more Cordes sur Ciel et Cités Médiévales : Du Pays Cordais au Pays de Vaour) and Castelnau-de-Montmiral (worth a 10-minute stop https://www.tourisme-tarn.com/patrim...u-de-montmiral), and then on to Albi.

Of course I'm not sure which way you're heading out of or back to Toulouse, so these are just random suggestions, but I would try to stay on the D roads and wind around through some of these amazing places. There is just so much to choose from in this area. It will be hard to select where to stop, but you really can't go wrong!

OC, Leaving Sarlat (or thereabouts) and heading back to Toulouse, you might want to stop in Martel (the town of 7 towers and well worth even a short stop: https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/la-v...illages/martel) and Collonges-la-Rouge (https://www.vallee-dordogne.com/la-v...onges-la-rouge).. You will of course be within hailing distance of Rocamadour and the Gouffre de Padirac (neither of which holds much interest for me, but are obviously huge attractions for many people). Then you could make your way south to St- Céré, a lovely riverside town where a look at Jean Lurçat's tapestries at his château at Saint-Laurent-des-Tours is worth a stop if it's open (he famously copied the Apocalypse tapestries in the Château d'Angers and has a museum there as well). Then down to Figeac...

Figeac: https://ville-figeac.fr https://www.tourisme-lot.com/en/the-...o-the-pyramids http://www.tourism-figeac.com

There are some wonderful restaurants in this town, notably La Dinée du Viguier, but plenty of less posh places as well, and on a nice day a picnic by the river is wonderful. I imagine the museum of writing would be right up your alley.

From Figeac you can scoot down to Villefranche de Rouergue (which I mistakenly called Villeneuf in an earlier post). https://www.tourisme-villefranche-najac.com No need to tarry here, but worth a look around. A boat ride in Najac is pleasant.

Rodez: I'm fond of Rodez, but I wouldn't feel compelled to visit. From Villefranche you can continue south on the D922, choosing to veer west to St-Antonin-Noble if you like (https://www.tourisme-saint-antonin-noble-val.com), and Cordes-sur-Ciel (worth at least a half-hour, preferably more Cordes sur Ciel et Cités Médiévales : Du Pays Cordais au Pays de Vaour) and Castelnau-de-Montmiral (worth a 10-minute stop https://www.tourisme-tarn.com/patrim...u-de-montmiral), and then on to Albi.

Of course I'm not sure which way you're heading out of or back to Toulouse, so these are just random suggestions, but I would try to stay on the D roads and wind around through some of these amazing places. There is just so much to choose from in this area. It will be hard to select where to stop, but you really can't go wrong!

Thank you all again for your wonderul advice.

StCirq, I guess you missed that we will be driving to St. Enimie and Chateau de la Caze for our fourth night. So, we will have one night in between Sarlat and St. Enimie.

We may drive South from there to Albi and/or Carcassonne. for our fifth and sixth nights, returning to Toulouse for the eighth night.

I will soon make the Sarlat lodging reservation, trying to choose between recommndations in terms of comfort and price.

Mattress and pillow are of topmost importance.after
free WI FI and a surface I can rest my laptop.

Sorry, OC, can't help with accommodations - don't need them - but you've got lots of help here from other people!

Will look at the map again and see if I can help with any details between Sarlat and St-Enimie.

Long time Geetika, almost seven years since you were in Turkey. Hope life has been treating you well (or vice versa).

Even though you might not need it in late April/early May I would also get a place with A/C if you can-as much for the noise to be able to keep the windows shut if it does happen to be warm.

For Sarlat, you might look at the Hôtel Montaigne. Nothing fancy, but I had an absolutely lovely stay there, and it still gets good reviews.
And as I mentioned upthread, do be sure to give yourself enough time for stunning Toulouse!

Good point, kja. I'd forgotten that we do sometimes need to stay in Sarlat overnight for business appts. and such - and we always stay at the Hôtel Montaigne.

All well OC, I was rerouted via Istanbul last September, but our last actual visit to Turkey was in the summer of 2015. Would love to go back one of these days...

Plan almost finished.
One important question left: Should I do two final nights at Toulouse or an extra night at Albi or an extra night at Carcassonne?


Arrival evening, Stay at Toulouse

Day 1, Toulouse to Sarlat or all the way to StCirq. 200 or 230 k
Stay night at Sarlat

Day 2, Sarlat to Rodez. 160 k
Late lunch at Figeac
Stay night at Rodez

Day 3, Rodez to st. Enimie 95 k
Stay night at Chateau de la Caze

Day 4, St Enimie to Albi 170 k
Stay night at Albi

day 5 Albi to Carcassonne 170k
Stay night at carcassonne

Day 6 ?

Day 7 Toulouse

Day 8, Flight back


Decided to skip any place South of carcassonne because the plan ainvolves already too much driving. Do not wish this trip to resemble too much my life "in transit"

Toulouse and Sarlat hotels and the Chateaux de la Caze booked.

By the way, Turkish Airlines seems to offer best rental car deals with an Opel Insignia automatic for about 300 euros from Alamo for eight days.

Investigating inexpensive hotels at Rodez, Albi and Carcassonne.

Thanks again and warm feelings to all, Ipie, stu, kja, stcirq geetika and everyone else.

Figeac is one of my "top 5" medium sized cities in France. Rodez is in the lower 5% of the cities/villages mentioned in guide books . We spent 2 weeks in a gite near Rodez, (on the Lot river near Espalion) and explored that area quite a bit. I would choose to overnight in Figeac, Conques (one of the most popular small villages in France - Michelin 3 star), or Belcastel (see next line) instead of Rodez.

https://www.francetoday.com/accommod...el-restaurant/

Stu Dudley

Stu, thanks for your advice again.

we are stuck with the hotel reservation at St Enimie for the fourth night of our trip, first night being Toulouse. We are also required to get to Sarlat.the second day.

Otherwise we are free to stay anywhere on the route between sarlat and St, Enimie for our third night.

Belcastel was booked for our third night, but we can check it for the fifth because it looks great.

We do not have to stay in Rodez but need to minimze daily driving between hotels so that we can enjoy the environment.

Consider Conques for the third night. Or on the Lot river in Espalion, or Estaing. Lovely area. Read about this region in my Languedoc itinerary - heading "Vallee du Lot".

Stu Dudley