After leaving Andorra on our European road trip last month, our next stop was a quick little day trip to visit Carcassonne, France. Only a 3-hour drive from Andorra la Vella and one hour from where we’d be staying that night in Toulouse, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit. All the time we spent playing the board game Carcassonne with our roommates over the years meant that we had to at least check it out.
As we approached Carcassonne in our rental car, I was stunned by the sheer size and density of the fortress. I’ve seen a lot of medieval castle and a lot of medieval walls through my travels in Europe… and Carcassonne was something different entirely. Sometimes it’s easier to appreciate how big something really is when you’re looking at it from far away. And without even stepping foot outside the car, I was already impressed by Carcassonne.
But does that mean it’s necessary worth a visit? Keep reading for my verdict.
What It’s Like to Visit Carcassonne
Ok, so when you think of Carcassonne, you think of the castle, right? Well, Carcassonne is technically an entire city with a population of around 50,000. The fortress, including the castle and its walls, is known as the Cité de Carcassonne, or the citadel. For the intents and purposes of this blog, though, we’re going to refer to the fortress as Carcassonne — because that’s what you’re really here to learn about, right?
So, as good fortresses are, Carcassonne is perched on the top of a hill. If you come with a rental car, there is plenty of parking just outside the castle walls. I believe we parked at P0 Parking Delteil which wasn’t too expensive for the few hours we were there. And after parking, we made the less-than-5-minute walk to the Porte Narbonnaise, or the gateway to Carcassonne.
And then we were inside the ramparts. But rather than just being a bunch of castle buildings, like we were expecting, it was truly an old medieval community. There were shops and restaurants, and narrow, winding cobblestone streets that almost make it easy to imagine what it would have been like to live there in the early 12th century, when castle construction began.
It’s true that a lot of the restaurants within the walls of the fortress were overpriced, and most of the shops were for souvenirs — and everything was closing up shop by about 4pm. But what do you really expect when you’re visiting a tourist destination that doesn’t have much else going on except that tourist destination? I’ll also say that I’m sure there are a lot more tourists visiting Carcassonne during many other months of the year… but we were there in January, so we almost had the city to ourselves.
After grabbing some sandwiches at a café near Place du Château & Rue Viollet le Duc, which is one of the entry points for visiting the castle, we bought our entrance tickets.
Inside the Citadel
Of course, we weren’t going to go out of our way to visit Carcassonne and not go inside the fortress/castle part! We bought our entry tickets online — I think there was a QR code to scan right outside the entrance, which brought us to the webpage. Again, since we were there in January, it was easy to buy tickets for 30 minutes later and not have to worry about it being sold out.
If you’re booking for a visit during more traditionally peak travel season, I’d recommend booking in advance. Viator is a company I’ve used to book experiences and tours in the past, so there’s sure to be something that works well for you!
We didn’t have a guided tour, but there are information placards throughout the duration of the visit — I believe they were in French, English, and Spanish, so this helps to provide some context for the history of the impressive fortress.
Once you’re inside, the visit route is clearly marked with arrows and one-way signs. Interestingly, the gift shop is about halfway through your visit. We seriously thought about buying a copy of Carcassonne in the gift shop, since we don’t own the game. Turns out that buying board games as souvenirs isn’t really possible when you pack for your whole trip in just a backpack. 🙃
Overall, we probably spent about an hour and a half or two hours wandering through the castle, and then outside on and around the ramparts. We did have to frequently stop to take photos — Carcassonne is ridiculously photogenic, especially with the perfect weather we had. Like I said before, I’ve been to a lot of castles and old city walls, and Carcassonne is hands-down the most beautiful that I’ve ever seen.
For me, the gorgeous weather and the super-impressive fortress meant that it was definitely worth it to visit Carcassonne. Matt agreed, even as someone who has previously told me that “once you’ve seen one [cathedral/castle/palace], you’ve seen them all.” With exceptions, of course. For him, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona was an exception to the rule with cathedrals, and Carcassonne was an exception to the rule with castles.
The Best Way to Visit Carcassonne
When I was researching this blog topic, I came across this article from the Rick Steves website: “Carcassonne? Meh.” As a Rick Steves devotee, I was shocked to find this take… until I realized it was written by a guest author, not Rick himself. While the author was clearly not impressed with the citadel, he did mention that Rick suggests (in his book) to visit Carcassonne in the evening, stay overnight, and leave in the morning. In other words, you don’t need a lot of time there.
And while I may have come to a different conclusion than that guest author as a whole — as I really liked Carcassonne — I do agree with Rick that you don’t need very much time there. If you have a few hours to visit the castle, walk around the ramparts, and maybe get something to eat, that’s really all you need. With the gorgeous pink city of Toulouse, France, only an hour away, there’s really no reason to spend any more time in Carcassonne than necessary.
So the way we planned our visit to Carcassonne, as a stop on our way to Toulouse, turned out to be perfect. It would also make a great day trip from Toulouse if you’re looking to get out of the city for a day. If you don’t have a rental car, you can easily book day trips to Carcassonne from Toulouse.
Since we spent just the right amount of time there, that might have also been a reason we felt it was worth it to visit Carcassonne.
The Best Places for Photos of Carcassonne
Because I found Carcassonne to be so beautiful, I also wanted to get as many great photos as I could to share. Of course, it photographs so well! But there were a couple of shots that you might really like if you’re a photographer.
The first one is right around the Porte d’Aude, which is on the west side of the fortress. Whether you’re looking through the “door” on the lower level (the porte), or you’re up on the ramparts, the shot is sure to be impressive! The photo of Matt, if you scroll up, is the view from below near the porte; the feature photo at the top of this article is the shot from above on the ramparts.
And if you really want to try to photograph Carcassonne from a distance — like I wanted to — you have to get some distance. But you’ll need a rental car. I found the best place to get that panoramic shot (like the one above) is a rest stop just outside Carcassonne. It’s called Aire du Belvédère de la Cité, and it’s only about a 10-minute drive from Carcassonne center. (Plus, it’s on the way to Toulouse if you’re headed there next.)
Unfortunately, if you want that iconic shot, you’re going to need a better camera/lens than what we had on us at the time 😂 Full disclosure, the panorama photo above is not ours. Shout out to whoever took it and posted it to a free photo site. But I wanted to let you know, that’s the kind of photo you can get with the right lens, from the right spot!
Ok, so we really enjoyed our visit to Carcassonne and are glad we decided to stop there for a few hours on the way to Toulouse. Are you thinking about visiting Carcassonne, or do you have a different opinion than me? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
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Originally Published on February 25, 2023.
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