Ryanair flies twice a day from Stansted to Carcassonne’s Salvaza airport, just two miles from the centre of the city. A taxi to the centre costs around £8.40. You can also take the shuttle bus which meets the two Ryanair flights, which takes five minutes to the medieval city and 15 minutes to the modern city centre for £3.50.

WAYS TO STAY

Classic
The Hotel de la Cité has an unrivalled location in the heart of Carcassonne’s medieval citadel, next door to St. Nazarius' Basilica. This Orient Express hotel is muted and elegant. Stained glass windows provide the only colour in rooms decorated with white soft furnishings and pale walls. To the rear of the hotel is a sunny garden terrace where you can sit with a cup of lemon tea while looking out at the ramparts and a small and discreet swimming pool with highly attentive staff.

The newest addition to the hotel is a self-contained villa for private rental. Franck Putelat, executive chef at the hotel’s Barbacane restaurant, picked up a single Michelin Michelin star two years ago. Ask about the hotel’s gastronomic tours, masterminded by Putelat. You can learn how to cook the region’s famous cassoulet and also to bake baguettes.
Doubles from £175 (Place Auguste Pont, www.hoteldelacite.com)

Young at heart
Carcassonne’s youth hostel lays claim to having the best location of any in France. Tucked away in a side street in the medieval city, the hostel has 120 beds in clean but simple single sex dorms with four or six bunks. The showers leave something to be desired but this place is a bargain and the breakfast is filling. Reception open 7am to 12am and 3pm to 11pm. Hostel closed from 16 December to 31 January.
The hostel costs £9.30 a night with a YHA card (Rue du Vicomte Trencavel, www.fuaj.org)

Low town
Outside the medieval city, the three-star Grand Hôtel Terminus is better than its name might suggest. Just a couple of minutes from Carcassonne train station and the canal harbour, the hotel was built in 1913 and retains much of that era’s Belle Epoque style, with high ceilings and tiled floors. Bought by the Hotels du Soleil chain in July so changes may be afoot.
Doubles from £60 (2 Avenue Maréchal Joffre, 68 25 25 00)

THE BEST DINERS IN TOWN

Romantic
In summer, couples flock to the intimate courtyard of Le Jardin de l’Evêque for a romantic night under a canopy of trees. The perfect summer starter is a tangy gazpacho followed by a delicate chicken kebab flavoured with lemongrass. Around £20 per head, excluding wine.
(Place St Nazaire, 68 71 98 68)

Escape the tourists
Much of Carcassonne sits outside the walls of its World Heritage-listed medieval citadel in the Bastide St Louis or low town. The brasseries of the Place Carnot are the place to go to get away from the medieval town tourists and Bistro Florian is one of the best in this part of town. Try the cassoulet, the local delicacy comprising beams, duck and sausage, here.
Around £10 a head (21 Place Carnot, 68 72 77 28)

Fast food
The Bar à Vins sites under the medieval city’s battlements and its terrace is a great place to take it all in while sipping a glass of rosé and lining the stomach with a few good-sized tapas.
Around £10 for a good fill (6 rue du Plô, 68 47 38 38)

DON’T MISS

The Canal du Midi is one of the architectural wonders of the medieval era. The tree-lined canal was built in the 1600s and is now one of the region’s leading tourist attractions, with pleasure boats plying its calm waters. Take a boat ride for an hour or two from Carcassonne canal harbour with Lou Gabaret (68 71 61 26) and you’’ even get to pass through one of the canal’s many locks. The commentary is in English as well as Spanish and French. Adults £5 to £7, children £3.80 to £5.20.

WHAT TO SEE

The “medieval” city
Some question its heritage after it was "restored" by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the latter half of the 19th century but it's worth spending a day wandering around the cobbled streets, towers and ramparts of the medieval cite, which first came to prominence in the 12th and 13th centuries. In summer, it is packed with tourists and most of the souvenir shops selling coats-of-arms can be dismissed but take an hour to explore the castle.

Peaceful retreat

The huge stained glass windows are the key attraction of the St Nazarius Basilica. Two rose windows pour light into the chapels while the glass in the tall 16th century windows of the sanctuary is original. The basilica's organ is one of the oldest in France, dating from 1522. Free admission. Open from 9am to noon and from 2pm to 7pm.

NEED TO KNOW
Carcassonne tourist office is at 28 rue de Verdun in the centre of the modern city. It has an English website at www.carcassonne-tourisme.com.

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