# Carcassonne, the Medieval City — The South of France
> The largest walled city in Europe — a double ring of ramparts and fifty-two towers above the Aude, a Cathar stronghold restored to its full silhouette. Carcassonne, in the Languedoc.

*Source : https://the-south-of-france.com/en/languedoc/carcassonne/*

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By **The Editors** — _Carcassonne, Aude_

Spring 20268 min read Share LinkMail

Seen from the road, the **Cité de Carcassonne** hardly looks real — a double ring of ramparts and fifty-two pepper-pot towers crowning a hill above the Aude, the largest walled city in Europe. It is a fortress out of a storybook, and for once the storybook is telling something close to the truth.

## I. The double walls

Two full circuits of wall ring the city, with a wide grassy lists between them where you can walk the whole way round. Inside, narrow lanes lead to the **Château Comtal**, a castle within the castle, and the **Basilique Saint-Nazaire** with its medieval glass. The walls go back to Rome and the Visigoths; the silhouette is medieval, and unforgettable.

“A fortress out of a storybook — and for once the storybook is true.”

From the notebook

![A grassy space between two rings of medieval wall](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1572573520609-0bd98c35f181?fm=jpg&q=74&w=1400&auto=format&fit=crop)

The lists between the walls — a full circuit on foot around the city.

## II. The Cathars and Viollet-le-Duc

In the thirteenth century this was a **Cathar** stronghold, taken in the brutal Albigensian crusade that broke the independence of the south. The city later fell into ruin, and what stands today owes its dramatic restoration to **Viollet-le-Duc** in the 1850s — the conical roofs are his, and the debate about them has never quite ended. The history beneath is real enough.

![A canal lined with plane trees in a lower town](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1580513860129-dee8825dfe44?fm=jpg&q=76&w=2400&auto=format&fit=crop)

The Canal du Midi at the foot of the city — the lower town’s green artery.

## III. The lower town and the canal

Across the river the **Bastide Saint-Louis**, the lower town, is a grid of squares and plane trees laid out in the Middle Ages, with the **Canal du Midi** running through on its way from Toulouse to the sea. Stay down here for the markets and the everyday life, and keep the floodlit Cité for the walk back at night.

The Practical Carnet · Carnet pratique

### Plan the _visit_

Getting there

Carcassonne is on the main line between Toulouse and the coast; the Cité is a walk or short bus from the station.

When to go

Spring and autumn; come early or stay late, when the day-trippers have gone.

Where to stay

**Hôtel de la Cité**, inside the walls, to have the ramparts after closing.

Read next

[The Languedoc — coast, canal and garrigue](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/languedoc/languedoc-guide/)

E

About the Author · L’auteur

#### Élise Marchand

Travel Editor — based in Marseille

Élise has been driving the back roads of the Midi for the journal since its first issue. She pays for her own rooms and her own lunches — and only writes about the places she would return to.

[More by Élise Marchand — voir ses articles](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/journal/)

Continue reading · À lire ensuite

### More from the _South_

[

![Vineyards by the sea in the Languedoc](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1562687598-40393b4d426b?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Languedoc

#### The Languedoc — coast, canal and garrigue

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/languedoc/)[

![A table in the Midi](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1577026624672-ec2ba6b8946f?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

The Table

#### Six tables worth the detour this spring

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/the-table/)[

![A hotel in the Languedoc](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1593899025469-8ea731985ccb?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Stays

#### Where to stay in the Languedoc

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/stays/)