# A weekend in Carcassonne: the Cité, the Canal du Midi and a Cathar castle The 52-tower citadel empty at dusk, the castle and ramparts, the Bastide and the Canal du Midi by boat, and Peyrepertuse on the way home. 2 h 20 from Girona. Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/france/occitanie/carcassonne/itineraries/weekend-cite-from-girona · Revisado: 2026-11-12 Dónde: Carcassonne Carcassonne is two hours twenty from Girona and a little over three from Barcelona: far for a Sunday, perfect for two nights. It is two cities. On the hill, the Cité, a citadel with two rings of walls, 52 towers and a castle, restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century and a World Heritage Site since 1997. On the plain, the Bastide Saint-Louis, the 13th-century town where people live, with the Canal du Midi alongside. This plan splits the weekend between the two and adds, on the way home, Peyrepertuse, a Cathar castle on a rocky ridge. ## How do you get there? By car, take the AP-7 and the French A9 to Narbonne and the A61 towards Toulouse: two hours twenty from Girona, three hours twenty from Barcelona, with tolls on both sides. In the Cité you park in car parks P1 and P2, next to the Porte Narbonnaise: €1 each quarter of an hour for the first two hours and free at night. By train, from Barcelona it is about three hours with a change at Narbonne; the station is in the Bastide, by the canal port, twenty minutes' walk from the Cité. Without a car, leave Peyrepertuse for another trip. ## What do you pay for and what is free? WhatPriceTime Streets of the Cité, the lists and Saint-NazaireFree2 h Count's castle and ramparts€19 from April to September, €13 from October to March · free for under-18s2 h Pont Vieux and BastideFree1 h 30 Boat on the Canal du Midi€10.50, children aged 3 to 12 €8 · April to October1 h 30 Peyrepertuse CastleFrom €82 h, with a 20-minute climb ## Where to sleep The best thing is to sleep in the Cité or at its foot, to have it empty at dusk and first thing. If you come by train, the Bastide is closer to the station and the canal. The list of places to stay in Carcassonne, with prices and who each suits, is on the destination page. If you want something special, La Table de Franck Putelat, with two Michelin stars since 2012, at the foot of the Cité, also has a hotel; the restaurant closes on Sunday and Monday, so book it for Friday or Saturday night. ## What to eat The dish is cassoulet: white beans in an earthenware pot with duck confit and sausage, long and hearty. Order it once, preferably at midday. To drink, the wines of the Languedoc and Roussillon, which in the Bastide's brasseries are ordered by the glass. ## El plan ### Friday · 19:00 · Arrival and the Cité at dusk Drop your luggage and enter through the Porte Narbonnaise when the groups have gone. Make a first circuit of the streets, with the shops now shut, and have dinner on the place Saint-Jean, at Le Saint Jean, facing the castle: cassoulet or tapas, with a €21 set meal and a €24 menu. ### Saturday · 9:30 · The lists, gate to gate Before the crowds arrive, walk the lists, the passage between the two walls, from the Porte Narbonnaise to the Porte d'Aude. An hour and a half, free, and the best way to understand how the city was defended. ### Saturday · 11:00 · Count's castle and ramparts The castle of the viscounts and the wall walk along the top of the ramparts, with the Centre des monuments nationaux. Two hours. Under-18s do not pay, and neither do EU citizens aged 18 to 25, with ID. ### Saturday · 13:15 · Saint-Nazaire and lunch in the Cité The basilica, Romanesque and Gothic, with 13th- and 14th-century stained glass: half an hour, free. Eat nearby, in the Cité, or leave lunch for the Bastide. ### Saturday · 16:00 · Down to the Pont Vieux and the Bastide Leave by the Porte d'Aude, go down the cobbled slope, cross the Aude by the Pont Vieux, which can only be crossed on foot, and keep straight on to the place Carnot and its Neptune fountain. Coffee, shops and the real city. ### Saturday · 20:30 · Dinner in the Bastide Chez Fred, twenty metres from the canal, does seasonal bistro cooking and a cassoulet with the seal of the Académie Universelle du Cassoulet: book. If you would rather not book, the Brasserie à 4 Temps, by Franck Putelat, serves non-stop from 6:30 to 22:30. Walk back to the Cité at night over the Pont Vieux: the illuminated rampart is the photo of the trip. ### Sunday · 10:30 · Boat on the Canal du Midi The Croisière Cité leaves from the port, next to the station: an hour and a half, two locks and the Cité in the background. Board a quarter of an hour early. April to October; in October, at 10:30 only. ### Sunday · 12:30 · Lunch in the Bastide The Brasserie à 4 Temps is open every day: cassoulet, mussels marinière or veal sweetbreads. ### Sunday · 14:30 · Peyrepertuse, on the way home An hour and a quarter south, through the Corbières. The fortress occupies a whole ridge: twenty minutes' climb from the car park, two enclosures and the St Louis staircase up to the highest point. In strong wind it closes. From there to Girona is about two hours via Perpignan. ## Un consejo más Bring comfortable footwear: the Cité is cobbled and the climb to Peyrepertuse is rock. And a jacket for the Cathar castle: in the Corbières the wind blows. ## Cuándo no ir July and August at midday in the Cité: heat, groups and queues at the castle. If you go in summer, do the Cité first thing and at dusk, and the canal and the Bastide in the middle hours. ## Preguntas frecuentes ### How long does it take from Girona? About two hours twenty by car on the AP-7, the A9 and the A61. From Barcelona, three hours twenty. By train from Barcelona, about three hours with a change at Narbonne. ### Do you have to pay to enter the Cité? No. The streets, the lists and the basilica are free. You pay for the count's castle and the walk along the ramparts: €19 from April to September and €13 from October to March. ### Where do you park at the Cité? In car parks P1 and P2, next to the Porte Narbonnaise: €1 every 15 minutes for the first two hours and free at night. ### When does the Canal du Midi boat leave? From April to October. From April to June and in September, at 10:30 and 14:30; in October, at 10:30 only. It costs €10.50 for adults. ### Can you go with children? Yes. Under-18s enter the castle free, the boat suits all ages and the lists are a flat walk. The climb to Peyrepertuse, with small children, hand in hand. ### Is it worth sleeping inside the Cité? Yes, if you can. At dusk and first thing, without groups, is when the citadel looks like what it once was. ## Dónde dormir if you're driving - **Hôtel Le Parc**: A small hotel beside a two-star table Le Parc opened in 2013 next to La Table de Franck Putelat, Carcassonne's two-Michelin-star restaurant, about 800 metres from the Cité. It has five stars and only seven rooms and suites, of sober design, some with a private jacuzzi. The idea is to sleep after dining at La Table without taking the car, and to walk up to the Cité in the morning. The rooms There are seven, between rooms and suites, with or without a private jacuzzi, with refined decor. The hotel is open all year. The chef sells gift boxes for a hotel night and for a night with dinner for two, at La Table or at his Brasserie à 4 Temps: his website publishes them with prices. Getting there and what is nearby It is on the Chemin des Anglais, at the foot of the Cité hill, to the south. From the A61 motorway, leave at Carcassonne Est and follow signs to the Cité. On foot, you reach the Porte Narbonnaise in about fifteen minutes; to the Bastide and the station it is about twenty more. - **Camping de la Cité**: A short walk from the ramparts Camping de la Cité is on the Chemin Bernard Délicieux, south of the citadel, about a 15-minute walk from the ramparts. It is the way to sleep next to the Cité without paying for a hotel inside, and to see the citadel empty early in the morning or lit up at night without taking the car. The Canal du Midi is 3 km away, and there are spaces designed for cyclists and walkers who follow it. It opens from 16 March to 31 October. Arrivals are from 13:00 to 19:00, and reception has a small shop of souvenirs and products from the Aude. Pitches and accommodation The pitches are marked out, are at least 80 m² and take up to six people and two small vehicles, for a tent, caravan or motorhome. To sleep without your own gear there are mini-woods for one or two people, with two beds, USB sockets and a kettle, designed for cyclists; wood-lodges made in Occitania, in a car-free area; and mobile homes for four to eight, one of them adapted. There is a swimming pool and a play area. In low season the minimum booking is two nights and in high season four; for fewer nights, turn up at reception and they will find you a spot if there is one. Motorhomes and dogs Next to the campsite there is a motorhome area open all year, with no booking, no toilets or electricity, with waste emptying and ten minutes of water per 24 hours included. The campsite accepts dogs: two per pitch and one per mobile home, with a park for them to run in. - **Hôtel Le Donjon**: Sleeping inside the walls Le Donjon is a four-star hotel inside the Cité, in old stone houses that look onto interior gardens with aromatic herbs and centuries-old lime trees. Sleeping inside is what changes the visit: early in the morning and at night, when the groups leave, the streets belong to those staying here. The hotel carries the European Ecolabel. Rooms, bar and brasserie There are 43 rooms and some suites, each different, in stone and wood. The hotel has a bar and its own brasserie, Chez Christine, seating 150, where you can eat at any time of day, and lounges used for meetings and garden weddings. Getting there and parking Cars do not drive through the Cité. Park in the car parks at the Porte Narbonnaise (P1, P2), which are free at night, and go in on foot with your luggage: the cobbles and slopes matter if you have big suitcases. From the railway station it is about twenty minutes on foot or a short taxi ride. ## Dónde dormir in style - **Hôtel Le Parc**: A small hotel beside a two-star table Le Parc opened in 2013 next to La Table de Franck Putelat, Carcassonne's two-Michelin-star restaurant, about 800 metres from the Cité. It has five stars and only seven rooms and suites, of sober design, some with a private jacuzzi. The idea is to sleep after dining at La Table without taking the car, and to walk up to the Cité in the morning. The rooms There are seven, between rooms and suites, with or without a private jacuzzi, with refined decor. The hotel is open all year. The chef sells gift boxes for a hotel night and for a night with dinner for two, at La Table or at his Brasserie à 4 Temps: his website publishes them with prices. Getting there and what is nearby It is on the Chemin des Anglais, at the foot of the Cité hill, to the south. From the A61 motorway, leave at Carcassonne Est and follow signs to the Cité. On foot, you reach the Porte Narbonnaise in about fifteen minutes; to the Bastide and the station it is about twenty more. - **Hôtel Le Donjon**: Sleeping inside the walls Le Donjon is a four-star hotel inside the Cité, in old stone houses that look onto interior gardens with aromatic herbs and centuries-old lime trees. Sleeping inside is what changes the visit: early in the morning and at night, when the groups leave, the streets belong to those staying here. The hotel carries the European Ecolabel. Rooms, bar and brasserie There are 43 rooms and some suites, each different, in stone and wood. The hotel has a bar and its own brasserie, Chez Christine, seating 150, where you can eat at any time of day, and lounges used for meetings and garden weddings. Getting there and parking Cars do not drive through the Cité. Park in the car parks at the Porte Narbonnaise (P1, P2), which are free at night, and go in on foot with your luggage: the cobbles and slopes matter if you have big suitcases. From the railway station it is about twenty minutes on foot or a short taxi ride. ## Dónde dormir if you're flying - **Hôtel Le Parc**: A small hotel beside a two-star table Le Parc opened in 2013 next to La Table de Franck Putelat, Carcassonne's two-Michelin-star restaurant, about 800 metres from the Cité. It has five stars and only seven rooms and suites, of sober design, some with a private jacuzzi. The idea is to sleep after dining at La Table without taking the car, and to walk up to the Cité in the morning. The rooms There are seven, between rooms and suites, with or without a private jacuzzi, with refined decor. The hotel is open all year. The chef sells gift boxes for a hotel night and for a night with dinner for two, at La Table or at his Brasserie à 4 Temps: his website publishes them with prices. Getting there and what is nearby It is on the Chemin des Anglais, at the foot of the Cité hill, to the south. From the A61 motorway, leave at Carcassonne Est and follow signs to the Cité. On foot, you reach the Porte Narbonnaise in about fifteen minutes; to the Bastide and the station it is about twenty more. - **Hôtel Le Donjon**: Sleeping inside the walls Le Donjon is a four-star hotel inside the Cité, in old stone houses that look onto interior gardens with aromatic herbs and centuries-old lime trees. Sleeping inside is what changes the visit: early in the morning and at night, when the groups leave, the streets belong to those staying here. The hotel carries the European Ecolabel. Rooms, bar and brasserie There are 43 rooms and some suites, each different, in stone and wood. The hotel has a bar and its own brasserie, Chez Christine, seating 150, where you can eat at any time of day, and lounges used for meetings and garden weddings. Getting there and parking Cars do not drive through the Cité. Park in the car parks at the Porte Narbonnaise (P1, P2), which are free at night, and go in on foot with your luggage: the cobbles and slopes matter if you have big suitcases. From the railway station it is about twenty minutes on foot or a short taxi ride.