9 Stunning Places To Add To Your Road Trip of the Occitanie region in the South of France

I’d wanted to see Carcassonne for the longest time. Ever since I lost myself in the Kate Mosse trilogy, set in that very city back in the Middle Ages, I’d been itching to walk the cobbled streets, hidden passageways, and secret tunnels she brought so vividly to life.

She made you feel like you already knew the place. I finally went in 2018, and it lived up to all my expectations.

And although I almost feel like I’m being unfaithful to Carcassonne, I have to say it, there’s so much more to this corner of France than one walled city, however magical. Occitanie is huge, stretching from the cliffs of the Lot all the way down to the Spanish border and east toward Provence, and it’s filled with Roman ruins, hilltop villages, and pretty ports.

9 Places To Visit In Occitanie

So, as I’m about to head off to Rocamadour for the weekend, it felt like the perfect moment to pull together the nine places I visited last year into an easy road trip you can follow yourself. I’ve put them in the order they fall on the map, dropping down from the north, swinging south to the coast, then back up toward the Gard. Pack light and don’t rush it.

1. Rocamadour

Rocamadour stops you in your tracks. There’s no getting away from it because it really is jaw to the floor time. It clings to a cliff face above the Alzou gorge, a tumble of medieval houses, chapels, and a castle stacked one on top of the other, looking for all the world as though it might slide off at any moment. 

It’s been a pilgrimage site for the best part of a thousand years, one of the great stops on the road to Santiago de Compostela, drawing everyone from barefoot peasants to kings like Louis IX. The faithful once climbed the Grand Escalier, all 216 steps, on their knees.

You’ll want a good half day here. Don’t miss the Cité Religieuse with its clutch of chapels, especially the Chapelle Notre-Dame and its Black Madonna, the little wooden statue said to work miracles. 

Climb to the château at the top for a view across the canyon that’s worth every puff and pant, and pick up some of the creamy goat cheese that carries the town’s name. If you fancy more of this gorgeous corner of the Lot and the Dordogne, there’s plenty within an easy drive.

2. Cordes-sur-Ciel

From Rocamadour, head south into the Tarn for Cordes-sur-Ciel, and try to arrive early. On a misty morning, the hilltop town appears to float above the clouds, which is exactly how it got its name, Cordes in the sky. 

It was founded in 1222 by Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, as a bastide, a fortified new town, partly as a refuge for people fleeing the Cathar crusade. Merchants and craftsmen flocked in, and the wealth they brought is written all over the grand Gothic houses lining the steep main street.

You don’t really need more than a couple of hours, but don’t miss the climb up through the old fortified gates, the carved facades of the merchant houses, and the covered market hall at the top. Stop for a coffee and a bag of the local sugared almonds while you catch your breath. 

It’s been voted one of France’s favorite villages, and once you’re up there, you’ll see why. If you love a hilltop village, there are more dotted across Occitanie, well worth a detour.

3. Albi

A short hop south brings you to Albi, a city built almost entirely from rosy red brick and sitting on a bend in the Tarn. Its great showpiece is the Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile, the largest brick cathedral in the world, and it looks far more like a fortress than a church. 

It was raised after the Cathar crusade as a great looming statement of Catholic power over a region the Church didn’t trust. Step inside, though, and the mood changes completely, with a painted ceiling and a breathtaking Last Judgment fresco.

Give Albi at least half a day. Don’t miss the cathedral interior and the Palais de la Berbie next door, the old bishops’ palace that now houses the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born here in 1864, and it holds the world’s biggest collection of his work. The whole episcopal quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it’s easy to see why.

4. Carcassonne

And so to the city that started it all for me. Carcassonne’s La Cité is the largest walled fortress in Europe, a double ring of ramparts and more than fifty turreted towers crowning a hill above the River Aude. 

It looks like a film set, but it’s the real thing. Romans, then medieval lords, then the Cathars and the crusaders who besieged them in 1209 during the Albigensian Crusade. By the 19th century, it had crumbled and was nearly demolished, until the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc restored it to the fairy-tale silhouette we see today. 

I won’t lie, the climb up into the cité left me red-cheeked and out of breath, but the view from the top made up for it.

Set aside at least a day, but more like two. Don’t miss walking the restored ramparts, the Château Comtal at the heart of the cité, and the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire with its beautiful old stained glass. 

My top tip is to stay until the crowds thin in the evening, when the place empties out, and you can almost hear the centuries whispering in the stone.

5. Canal du Midi

You don’t so much visit the Canal du Midi as fall in with it for a while, and it threads right through Carcassonne, so it’s an easy one to fold in. This was the brainchild of Pierre-Paul Riquet, who convinced Louis XIV that he could link the Atlantic to the Mediterranean by water. 

Built between 1666 and 1681, it runs more than 240 km through a chain of locks and tree-lined banks, and it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right.

You only need a couple of hours to enjoy it, and there’s no wrong way to do it, from a boat trip or, if you’d rather stretch your legs, a walk or a cycle along the shaded towpath. Find a quiet spot, spread out a picnic, and watch the canal boats drift by.

If you want to build a longer trip around southern France’s great cities and waterways, this is the thread that ties a lot of them together.

6. Perpignan

Now drop down south, almost to the Spanish border, and you reach Perpignan. This is Catalan France, and you feel it the moment you arrive, in the street signs, the tapas, and the warm southern light. 

It was once the capital of the Kingdom of Majorca, and the mighty Palais des Rois de Majorque, the Palace of the Kings of Majorca, still sits at its heart. Salvador Dalí famously declared the city’s railway station the center of the universe, which tells you something about the place.

Don’t miss the Palais des Rois de Majorque and its ramparts, and Le Castillet, the red-brick gatehouse that now holds a little museum of Catalan life. Then simply wander the old town, ducking into squares for a coffee or, better still, a plate of something Catalan. 

If the relaxed, sun-soaked pace has you daydreaming, Perpignan is one of the more affordable corners of the south to put down roots.

7. Collioure

A few minutes further down the coast lies Collioure, and it might just be the prettiest stop on the whole trip. It’s a Catalan fishing port on the Côte Vermeille, the Vermilion Coast, where pastel houses tumble down to a little harbor and a church with a bell tower stands right at the water’s edge. 

Artists adored it. Matisse and Derain painted here in 1905 and more or less invented Fauvism on the spot, dazzled by the color and the light. Guarding the bay is the Château Royal, a fortress with roots going back to the Knights Templar, who built here long before the Kings of Majorca and the engineer Vauban left their marks.

Give it half a day, or a whole one if the beach tempts you. Don’t miss the Château Royal, the church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges with its old lighthouse bell tower, and the reproductions dotted around town that show you exactly where Matisse set up his easel. 

And do buy a jar of the famous Collioure anchovies to take home. If those warrior monks have caught your interest, the real story of the Knights Templar is a cracking read over on my history blog.

8. Nîmes

Now turn northeast and follow the coast up toward the Gard, where Nîmes is waiting with some of the finest Roman remains anywhere in France. They don’t call it the French Rome for nothing. 

Right in the center stands the Arènes, a Roman amphitheater built around the first century AD and so well preserved that it still hosts events today. A short walk away is the Maison Carrée, a near-perfect Roman temple that became a UNESCO site in 2023. 

There’s a nice bit of trivia here, too. The hard-wearing cloth woven in the city, serge de Nîmes, gave us the word denim. Bet you didn’t know that.

You’ll want at least a day here, longer if you love your history. Don’t miss the amphitheater and the Maison Carrée, and if you have time, climb to the Tour Magne in the lovely Jardins de la Fontaine for a view over the rooftops. 

Nîmes is one of the great Roman sites of southern France, and it makes the perfect base for the final stop.

9. Pont du Gard

Save the showstopper for last. Just up the road from Nîmes, the Pont du Gard spans the Gardon river in three soaring tiers of golden stone, and photographs really don’t prepare you for it. 

The Romans built it in the first century AD as part of a 50 km aqueduct to carry fresh water to Nîmes, and the engineering still beggars belief. It stands nearly 49 meters high, the tallest aqueduct bridge the Romans ever built, and they put it up without a scrap of mortar.

A couple of hours will do it, or half a day if you want to make the most of the setting. Don’t miss walking across the bridge and along the lower tier, and pop into the museum to see just how the whole thing worked. 

In summer, bring your swimmers, because there’s nothing quite like floating in the Gardon and looking up at two thousand years of Roman ambition above your head. There’s a fuller story of how it has survived so long if it grabs you the way it grabbed me.

One Last Word

There you have it, nine places that show off just how much Occitanie has up its sleeve, from clifftop pilgrims’ chapels to Roman aqueducts and a Catalan port that fizzes with color.

Take your time, follow the route at your own pace, and let yourself get pleasantly lost along the way. That’s where the best bits of any French road trip tend to hide.

À bientôt et bonne route!