After two days in Arles, France, we hopped back on the train for the three-hour journey to Toulouse, our final stop in France. Toulouse is the only French city we knew we were going to visit for sure when we started planning this trip. My in-laws lived there for a year when they were newly-weds, so we had to go visit and explore this special city for ourselves.
We stayed in Toulouse for three nights. We took a slower pace here, enjoying time wandering the city streets and resting at our Airbnb rather than packing the days with back-to-back activities like most of the rest of the trip. That being said, I don’t have a full three-day itinerary to share here; instead I am sharing the highlights from our time in Toulouse that you should make sure to include in your itinerary along with some additional activities. Most of these recommendations will fit into itineraries of any length. The exception to that would be the day trip to Carcassonne; you will want to have at least two full days in Toulouse in order to see some of Toulouse itself in addition to the day trip to Carcassonne.
French Lunch
While Toulouse is a wonderful place to visit, it doesn’t attract as many English-speaking visitors as many European cities do, so we definitely felt the language barrier here. We knew a few common French words to get around, but in most situations, we had to point and mime. Our first meal in Toulouse was at an French restaurant called Marius near our Airbnb where we had a wonderful three-course pre fixe lunch. Because the menu was in French, we weren’t certain of exactly what type of food we were getting until we received our dishes (both were wonderful!).
Coffee
We found an adorable French coffee shop to have a pastry and coffee on a rainy day. La Fiancee served great coffee options, breakfast items, and baked goods.
Bus Tour with CityTour Toulouse
In order to see more of the city on this rainy day, we took a bus tour. There weren’t many English-speaking tour options, but this one offered pre-recorded tours in several languages. You just select your language when you plug your headphones in at your seat. At nearly $15 apiece for a one hour and twenty minute tour, it was a bit pricey for the value received, but we were happy to stay warm and dry while learning more about the beautiful city.
Musée des Augustins
Toulouse is home to many museums, but we were most interested in visiting the Musée des Augustins. It is a French art museum with sculptures and paintings from the medieval times to the 20th century. The signs didn’t have English, but we were able to rent English audioguides. There were some very interesting exhibits, and it was nice to see art specifically from France and to learn a bit more about French history. Admission was only about five dollars, so even if you can only stop by for an hour to see a couple of exhibits, it is worth your time! Here are some photos of the parts of the museum I really enjoyed.
Day Trip to Carcassonne
From Toulouse, you can get yourself to a real life castle in just over an hour by train! Carcassonne is a French town that is home to Cité de Carcassonne, a famous medieval fortress. You may have heard the name from the strategy board game, Carcassonne (this is an Amazon affiliate link). In my opinion, Cité de Carcassonne is the most “castle-ly” castle we saw in all of our time in Europe. This fortress holds about 2,500 years of history, and for just about $9, it is yours to explore!
Traditional Toulouse Cassoulet
At my in-laws recommendation, we hunted down a cassoulet dinner on our last night in Toulouse. Cassoulet is a meal that originated in Toulouse, and it consists of pork and mutton, white beans, and pork skin. It is cooked in a deep pottery bowl very similar to a crockpot called a cassole. While the meal may not sound or look very appetizing (see second photo below), it was very good and definitely something you must try when visiting Toulouse.
And that’s a wrap on our time in France! We love France so much, and we cannot wait to explore more of the country in the future. To see all of our posts from France, click here.
This article is now available as a mobile app. Go to GPSmyCity to download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to the attractions featured in this article.
Our time in France was part of a 2.5 month trip across Western Europe. Click here to check out all of my posts from this adventure!
{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with frequent travel while planting roots at home in Austin, TX. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel or cuddling with our chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably planning, packing, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat (emilya89), or subscribe to my blog!}
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