Carcassonne
Medieval Fortified City With A Double Ring Of Walls And 52 Towers (Confirm The Count), Heavily Restored By Viollet Le Duc In The Nineteenth Century; UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 1997 · Carcassonne, Occitanie
La Cité de Carcassonne is a medieval fortified town on a hill above the Aude river in the south of France, between Toulouse and the Mediterranean. Two concentric rings of walls, about three kilometres of ramparts in all and more than fifty towers, enclose a small town of lanes, a castle and a basilica. It was a stronghold in the wars against the Cathars in the thirteenth century and later fell into ruin. In the nineteenth century the architect Viollet-le-Duc restored it heavily, and some of his choices, such as the pointed slate roofs on the towers, are more his vision than history; it is still among the most complete walled towns in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. Entering the Cité and walking its lanes and the space between the two walls is free, while the Château Comtal and the ramparts walk are ticketed. The lanes inside are full of souvenir shops and very crowded at midday in summer. Below, the lower town, the Bastide Saint-Louis, is a real working town, and the Canal du Midi passes nearby.
La Cité, 11000 Carcassonne, Carcassonne, Occitanie, France
The Cité itself is open at all times: its gates, lanes and the space between the two walls, the lices, can be walked free by day and at night, when the walls are lit. The Château Comtal and the ramparts walk are run as a national monument with set opening hours that are longer in summer and shorter in winter, with last entry well before closing; they close on a few holidays, typically 1 January, 1 May, 25 December and a few others, so confirm. The Basilique Saint-Nazaire is open during the day outside services. Shops and restaurants inside the Cité open late into the evening in summer and many close in the quietest winter weeks. On 14 July, Bastille Day, the Cité is the setting for a huge fireworks display that draws enormous crowds; roads close, parking fills early and hotels sell out. Summer brings a festival of concerts and theatre, some in the open-air theatre inside the walls, with separate tickets. Car parks near the main gate charge for the day, and the lower town's markets run in the morning on several days a week; confirm the days.