With quaint, cobbled streets, pretty squares, lively shops, restaurants, and bars, and art and music museums, there is certainly enough temptation to hang around the town, but there is plenty going on around and about too.
A high drive circuit from Céret, along winding, sometimes narrow roads, through unexploited countryside, remote hamlets and villages with great walking opportunities and superb views.
Chateau Fort Liberia is perched above the beautiful village of Villefranche de Conflent.
We were waiting on the platform for Le Train Jaune.
If you like visiting ruined châteaux, head north to the valley of the Orbiel. Just twenty minutes from Carcassonne is the village of Lastours. High on a ridge above the village, four separate châteaux stand in a line: Cabaret, Tour Régine, Surdespine and Quertinheux.
Between Chateau de Queribus and Chateau de Peyrepertuse on the D19 towards Peyrepertuse and Duilhac, around 5km after Cucugnan, turn right over a small bridge, and follow a narrow road winding through the vineyards for 2…
Out for the Day… in Eyne, the Valley of Flowers. Need a tonic? How about fresh mountain air, kaleidoscopes of wild flowers, serene mouflon and shy izzards grazing, bubbling water features, bumblebees, butterflies and beetles, maybe even a little late snow?
Le Chateau de Castelnou originally re-opened to the public in 2021 after a four-year closure due to safety issues.
Get out and about this year around Amélie les Bains and (re)discover the many pretty little villages and hamlets that often get overlooked
Narbonne is a leafy and well-appointed town, initially founded by the Romans in 118 BCE, when it was known then as Narbo. Once a very prosperous port and a major city due to its strategic location, it was in fact Rome’s first colony in Gaul.