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Languedoc-Roussillon
Stretching from Provence to the Pyrenees, this sultry, sun-baked territory (now part of the greater Occitanie region) feels like a country in its own right. It’s been a strategic border since Roman times and is awash with historical reminders, from Roman aqueducts to hilltop Cathar castles. Today it’s best known for its vineyards, which produce a third of France's wines, and the busy beaches sprawling along its Mediterranean shore.
Each of Languedoc-Roussillon's three main areas has its own distinct landscape and character. Bas-Languedoc is home to the biggest beaches and the captivating cities of Montpellier and Nîmes. Inland lies the high, wild country of the Grands Causses and Cévennes, with a fascinating mix of hills, caves, gorges, forests and surreal moonscape plateaux. Roussillon, in the southwest, shares close ties with Catalonia just across the Spanish border, including traditional sardanes folk dances and a passion for rugby and vibrant summer festivals.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Languedoc-Roussillon.
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Pont du Gard
The extraordinary three-tiered Pont du Gard was once part of a 50km-long system of channels built around 19 BC to transport water from Uzès to Nîmes. The scale is huge: the bridge is 48.8m high, 275m long and graced with 52 precision-built arches. It was the highest in the Roman Empire. At the visitors centre on the left, northern bank, there's an impressive, high-tech museum featuring the bridge, the aqueduct and the role of water in Roman society. Each block was carved by hand and transported from nearby quarries – no mean feat, considering the largest blocks weighed over 5 tonnes. The height of the bridge descends by 2.5cm across its length, providing just enough gradient to keep the water flowing – an amazing demonstration of the precision of Roman engineering. You can walk across the tiers for panoramic views over the Gard River, but the best perspective on the bridge is from downstream, along the 1.4km Mémoires de Garrigue walking trail. If you buy the Pass Aqueduc, you can walk the bridge's topmost tier, along which the water flowed (guided tour). For children, there's Ludo, an activity play area. Early evening is a good time to visit, as admission is cheaper (adult/child €5/3) and the bridge is stunningly illuminated after dark. It's 21km northeast of Nîmes.
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Les Arènes
Nîmes’ twin-tiered amphitheatre is the best preserved in France. Built around 100 BC, the arena once seated 24,000 spectators and staged gladiatorial contests and public executions; it's still an impressive venue for gigs and events. An audio guide provides context as you explore the arena, seating areas, stairwells and corridors (known to Romans as vomitoria), and afterwards you can view replicas of gladiatorial armour and original bullfighters’ costumes in the museum. At 133m long, 101m wide and 21m high, with an oval arena encircled by two tiers of arches and columns, the amphitheatre is a testament to the skill and ingenuity of Roman architects. Despite being adapted, plundered for stone and generally abused over many centuries, the structure of the amphitheatre is still largely intact, and it’s not hard to imagine what the atmosphere must have been like when it was filled to capacity. The seating is divided into four tiers and 34 rows; the posher you were, the closer you sat to the centre. The amphitheatre’s oval design meant everyone had an unrestricted view. A system of trapdoors and hoist-lifts beneath the arena enabled animals and combatants to be put into position during the show. Originally, the amphitheatre would have had a canopy that protected spectators from the weather.
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Musée Fabre
Founded in 1825 by painter François-Xavier Fabre, this exceptional museum houses one of France’s richest collections of European art. The galleries collectively showcase the last 600 years of artistic activity in Europe; most of the big names are represented here. Recent renovations have transformed the museum into a light, airy and engaging space. Highlights of the Old Masters section include three paintings by Rubens, a dreamy Venus and Adonis by Nicholas Poussin, and a collection of works by Jacques-Louis David. The Romantic section is strong on French artists – particularly Delacroix, Géricault and Corot – while Courbet, Monet, Degas and Delaunay are among the standouts of the modern section. Of particular local interest are the works of Marseille-born artist Fréderic Bazille (1841–70), a close contemporary of Monet, Sisley and Manet. The artist has a whole room devoted to him: look out for his portrait of Renoir, seated on a chair with legs tucked up beneath him, and a moody portrait of the artist himself by a very young Monet. Two rooms are also devoted to French painter and sculptor Pierre Soulages, born in 1919 in Rodez. The lavish mansion L’Hôtel de Cabrières-Sabatier d’Espeyran is attached to the museum.
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Cité Médiévale
Built on a steep spur of rock, Carcassonne’s rampart-ringed fortress dates back more than two millennia. The fortified town is encircled by two sets of battlements and 52 stone towers, topped by distinctive ‘witch’s hat’ roofs (added by architect Viollet-le-Duc during 19th-century restorations). Note that to actually walk on the ramparts, you have to pay to enter the Château et Remparts. The hill on which the Cité Médiévale stands has been fortified many times over the centuries – by Gauls, Romans, Visigoths, Moors, Franks and Cathars, to name a few. Following the annexation of Roussillon by France in 1659, the castle’s usefulness as a frontier fortress declined and it slowly crumbled into disrepair. It was saved from destruction by Viollet-le-Duc, who left his mark on many of France’s medieval landmarks, including Notre Dame in Paris and Vézelay in Burgundy. The castle is laid out in a concentric pattern, with the double wall and defensive towers designed to resist attack from siege engines. A drawbridge can still be seen in the main gate of Porte Narbonnaise, which leads into the citadel’s interior, a maze of cobbled lanes and courtyards, now mostly lined by shops and restaurants. The castle’s second gate, Porte d'Aude, was partly destroyed in 1816 and no longer has its drawbridge. In between the walls, an interior space known as Les Lices runs for just over 1km around the castle. Though designed as a defensive space to delay would-be attackers, during the medieval era the city’s poorest residents would have built a shanty town of houses and workshops here, which were cleared out during Viollet-le-Duc’s restorations. It’s now the best place to escape the crowds and properly appreciate the castle’s martial architecture.
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Musée d’Art Moderne
Roussillon had its artistic heyday around the turn of the 20th century, when Fauvist and cubist artists flocked here, attracted by the searing colours and sun-drenched landscapes. This wonderful museum was created in 1950 by Pierre Brune and Frank Burty Haviland, who convinced friends including Picasso, Matisse, Chaïm Soutine and Georges Braque to donate works. The result is one of the finest collections of modern art outside Paris. Take your time – this place is a real treat. Céret’s artistic connections stretch back to 1910, when Catalan sculptor Manolo Hugué, painter Frank Burty Haviland and composer Déodat de Séverac settled here. They were followed in 1911 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, along with other significant figures from the cubist and Fauvist movements, mostly escaping the spiralling rents and stifling atmosphere of the Montmartre art scene. All the big names passed through Céret, sometimes staying for a short while, sometimes for extended periods. Reading like a who’s who of modern art, the list includes André Masson, Max Jacob, Juan Gris, Raoul Dufy, Jean Cocteau, Chaïm Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró. After the museum’s formation in 1950, many of these artists (or their estates) chose to donate their works for free in recognition of Céret’s importance to their artistic development (Picasso alone donated 57 pieces, although only one painting, a still life of a dead crane and a jug). Standout works include a moving The War (1943) by Marc Chagall, 29 ceramic cups painted with bullfighting scenes by Picasso, and a famous cubist view of Céret by Chaïm Soutine, painted in 1919 – but there are many more to discover.
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Duché
This fortified château belonged to the House of Crussol, who were the dukes of Uzès for over 1000 years until the French Revolution. The building is a Renaissance wonder, with a majestic 16th-century façade showing the three orders of classical architecture (Ionic, Doric and Corinthian). Inside, guided tours (in French) take in the lavish ducal apartments and 800-year-old cellars; you can climb the 135-step Bermonde tower for wrap-around town views.
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Palais des Rois de Majorque
Perpignan’s most dominant monument, the Palace of the Kings of Mallorca sprawls over a huge area to the south of the old town. Built in 1276, the castle was later refortified with massive red-brick walls by Louis XIV's military engineer, Vauban. These days the star-shaped citadel is sparsely furnished, but its great battlements and strategic defences still give a sense of the Mallorcan kings’ might. Views from the ramparts stretch over Perpignan’s terracotta rooftops to the coast. Built in a mix of late Romanesque and Gothic styles, the castle is arranged around three courtyards, with a system of ramps, pinch points and ramparts providing a formidable defensive layout. The central courtyard, with its twin arcaded tiers, clearly shows the influence of Spanish architecture, and the complex would once have housed extensive fig and olive groves, lost once Vauban’s formidable citadel walls enclosed the palace.
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Orgues d'Ille-sur-Têt
These rock formations must be one of the most striking geological wonders in Occitanie, though they have remained well under the tourist radar. They consist of clusters of fairy chimneys that were formed when erosion wiped out the softer sandstone covering harder rock, leaving behind isolated pinnacles. Reaching heights of up to 15m, they have conical shapes and are topped by flattish stones of harder rock. Depending on your perspective, they look like giant phalluses, organ pipes or outsized mushrooms. It's about 2km north of Ille-sur-Têt (follow the signs).
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Château de Quéribus
Perched 728m up on a rocky hill, Quéribus was the site of the Cathars’ last stand in 1255. Its structure is well preserved: the salle du pilier (pillars' room) inside the central keep still features Gothic pillars, vaulting and archways. Mind-blowing views stretch to the Mediterranean and Pyrenees from the top. In the theatre, a short film documents the castle’s history, seen through the eyes of one of its curates. It’s 42km northwest of Perpignan via the D117.