Wed 7th, to Fri 9th October 2026
We are staying on the “Camping de la Cité” campsite and arrived around mid-afternoon on the Wednesday. After setting up and having some lunch, we walked up to the medieval city to have a quick look around whilst dodging showers. Sadly we had to have a beer in one of the cafes to avoid a huge downpour, but we survived and returned to the campsite to enjoy a game of Carcassonne using one of the extension sets we had bought in the tourism office.
The city of Carcassonne has two parts; the ancient and fortified, Le Cité Médiévale and the newer La Bastide Saint-Loius, which is also very old, having been established in 1247 by King Louis IX.
Le Cité Médiévale:
Le Cité Médiévale is everything we imagined it to be. It is amazing and full of atmosphere, with ancient buildings just all around. Of course there are the souvenir shops and eateries, but it is not over the top. I suppose there is only a limited amount of room.
When we returned in better, but very windy weather on Thursday, we toured the Cháteau Comtal before taking a walk around the ramparts.
The chateau has a large courtyard with defensive towers.
We were able to explore the building in our own time.
In one of the buildings, there is a huge full-wall projected video of the city:
There is a collection of medieval and earlier stone carving in the chateau:
Our tour of the walls was fascinating, affording superb views, but you are particularly exposed to the weather and we struggled with the wind at times.
At times during the ramparts walk we were climbing steep spiral stairs and at others descending very steep and exposed steps:
We also passed the old cathedral which we hoped to visit, but sadly it was closed for a few days coinciding with our visit:
We also passed the open-air theatre, which is also medieval:
After working up an appetite walking around the chateau and walls, we headed for a restaurant and one of their set-menus:
La Bastide Saint-Louis:
La Bastide Saint-Louis is the newer part of the city, and it originally also had walls and gateways. It was built on a grid, with every block being the same size and dead-straight roads, making it feel very modern:
The central square, “Place Carnot” has a very relaxed atmosphere with its many cafes and the large fountain:
We visited both of the churches within La Bastide Saint-Louis. The first, Èglise St-Vincent, was undergoing extensive restoration, both outside and in. Some of the restored gargoyles are superb:
The inside is cavernous, but obviously in need of the TLC that it is receiving:
The second church, the Cathédrale St-Michel, was similar in design to St Vincents, with no isles, just side chapels and was impressively decorated:
It too has some smart gargoyles:
We also visited the Canal du Midi which was quite busy:
On the way back to the campsite we had a last glimpse of the medieval bridge as we crossed the river:
That is it for now. TTFN and see-u-later.
