6 Best Sights in Toulouse and the Languedoc, France

If you have time to fit only one of Languedoc's bevy of Cathar castles into your trip, formidable Peyrepertuse is the one to go for. High above the pretty village of Duilhac, its jagged ramparts command amazing views.

La Cité de Carcassonne is the original fortified part of the town, often first glimpsed as a fairy-tale-like castle floating on a distant hilltop when approaching by car. Legend has it that Charlemagne laid siege to the original settlement here early in the 9th century, only to be outdone by one Dame Carcas—a clever woman who boldly fed the last of the city's wheat to a pig in full view of the would-be conqueror. Thinking this indicated endless food supplies (and an endless siege), Charlemagne promptly decamped, and the exuberant townsfolk named their city after her. During the 13th century, Louis IX (St-Louis) and his son Philip the Fair strengthened Carcassonne's fortifications—so much so that the town came to be considered inviolable by marauding armies and was duly nicknamed "the virgin of Languedoc."

A town that can never be taken in battle is often abandoned, however, and for centuries thereafter Carcassonne remained under a Sleeping Beauty spell. It was only awakened during the 19th-century craze for chivalry and the Gothic style, when, in 1835, the historic-monument inspector (and poet) Prosper Mérimée arrived. He was so appalled by the dilapidated state of the walls that he commissioned the architect, painter, and historian Viollet-le-Duc (who found his greatest fame restoring Paris's Notre-Dame) to undertake repairs. Today the 1844 renovation is considered almost as much a work of art as the medieval town itself. No matter if La Cité is more Viollet than authentic; it still remains one of the most romantic sights in France.

There’s no mistaking the fact that 21st-century tourism has taken over this UNESCO World Heritage site. La Cité’s streets are lined with souvenir shops, crafts boutiques, restaurants, and tiny "museums" (a Cathars Museum, a Hat Museum), all out to make a buck and rarely worth that. But you should still plan on spending at least a couple of hours exploring the walls and peering over the battlements across sun-drenched plains toward the distant Pyrénées. Staying overnight within the ancient walls lets you savor the timeless atmosphere after the daytime hordes are gone. There's an annex of the city tourist office at 21 rue Cros, just inside the Porte Narbonnaise.

The 12th-century château is the last inner bastion of Carcassonne. It has a drawbridge and a museum, the Musée Lapidaire, where medieval stone sculptures unearthed in the area are on display.

Dating back to the late 10th century, Quéribus perches on a crag that made it a natural stronghold and one of the last redoubts of the heretic Cathars, who held out here until 1255.

A slender jetty divides the Boramar Beach, beneath Notre-Dame-des-Anges, from the small landing area at the foot of the Château Royal. The castle served as the summer residence of the kings of Majorca from 1276 to 1344 and was remodeled by Vauban 500 years later.

The Spanish influence is evident in Perpignan's leading monument, the fortified Palais des Rois de Majorque, begun in the 13th century by Jacques II of Majorca. Highlights here are the majestic Cour d'Honneur (Courtyard of Honor), the two-tier Flamboyant Gothic chapel of Ste-Croix Marie-Madelene, and the Grande Salle (Great Hall), with its monumental fireplaces.