lindaschilling4079

We are flying into Toulouse late Saturday night and leaving early two Thursdays later in late September (11 days/12 night). Below is a tentative itinerary with some specific questions. I appreciate any advice!

Night 1, stay in Toulouse.

Day 1: train travel from Toulouse to Latour de Carol where we will catch the Petite Yellow Train to Villefranche de Conflent and stay for Night 2.

Based on our interests, and the sites in and around V-d-C, we would explore Day 1 afternoon and Day 2 until the latest train we can take to Narbonne, which will be a home base for the following day trips: Carcassone, Gruissan, Narbonne-Plage or Valras-Plage, vinegar making in Coursan, Beziers and a day cruise along the Canal du Midi.



Then, we will travel to Montpellier, which will be home base for at least some of the following day trips: Nimes, Pont-du-Gard, Aiges-Mortes, Port Camargue, Parc Ornithologique du Pont de Gau, Tour Carbonniere. Requests for advice: What is the best way to go kayaking and get a guided tour of the Pond du Gard without a car? and Does it make more send for Nimes to be a home base for Pont-du-Gard and Aiges-Mortes and other nearby sites?



Day 9 travel to Albi, and continue on to Cordes-sur-ciel, where we will spend Night 10. Specific request for advice: is it better (or maybe it doesn’t matter) for this trip, to stop at Albi, walk around the ville, visit the Cathedral and Museum of Toulouse-Latrec, then continue to Cordes-sur-Ciel, or to stop at Albi and see the sites on our way back from Cordes-sur-Ciel to Toulouse? We were going to do this at the beginning of our trip, but the plethora of artists in Corde-sur-Ciel might be too hard to resist and we would rather have such purchases at the end of our trip.

Nights 10 and 11 will be in Toulouse. Day 11, we visit Toulouse and leave very early day 12.

We welcome any advice, or links to relevant trip reports. We are not wine drinkers, so that is not a priority for us. We're more interested in slow travel than packing everything in. We intend to keep a modest budget, but will splurge for the right opportunities.

Following are specific questions:

Since we have to make some tough decisions, we can't see it all: Instead of going to Gruissan and Carcassone, Aiges-Mortes seems to have the walled city, the historic salt ponds, and scenery that might be more appealing. Suggestions for how to decide?



The train schedules suggest that I can get from Villfranche-de-Conflent fairly easily, but in reality, is that a good plan, or should we plan to spend a night in Perpignan?

Since we’ll be visiting other Plus Beaux Villages (Villefranche de Conflent, Cordes-sur-Ciel), how value added would a trip to Uzes be? I know each village has its own charm, but...



Since none of the smaller train stations have luggage lockers, how might we find a place to store luggage if we arrive someplace early in the day? We will have backpacks (hopefully around 35L or smaller)? Are there options other than luggage lockers at trains?

How soon should we start committing to making accommodation reservations? First choices will be staying in Chambres d'hotes or VRBO. Small hotels will be a second choice.

tomboy

Obviously, you'll have to ride in someone's car:
why not one you rent, and drive, instead of some other person's car (for which you'll not only pay the equivalent of car rental, but also that other person's time for 11 days)?

StuDudley

That region really needs a car. Attached is my Languedoc itinerary

Stu Dudley

ANUJ

Here is my TR, the latter portion may be helpful, we had a car and would be challenging without one TRIP REPORT : THE Auvergne and Languedoc, June 2022

bilboburgler

We did most of this, except the Nimes area bits on bikes over 2 weeks (and we are lazy), we did most of the Nimes bits on trains and buses but not the smaller villages. If I only had 12 days I'd use a car for most of it but I wouldn't enjoy it as much ;-)

Adelaidean

I was waiting with interest to see what others suggested, as I’d like to visit the region too - like you, not driving.
Nor cycling 🫤

geetika

Same here, but unfortunately Languedoc is hard to do without a car, as others have pointed out.

FTOttawa

Your problem is not so much the lack of car as the ambition to hit 18 lovely places in 11 days.

Narrow it down. I’ll make some suggestions but only you know your priorities.

This website has bus routes and schedules as well as links to the TER train routes:

https://www.lio-occitanie.fr/horaires-et-plans/

Nannybag might be a help for luggage storage. I have never used them, but do your own research. Hotels and true chambres d’hôtes rather than VRBO have been good about keeping bags for an early arrival or late departure. The tourist office web sites of each city and département are great for finding lodging.

You are correct that Nîmes would be a better base than Montpellier for Pont du Gard and Aigues-Mortes, but that whole area deserves its own trip. You actually don’t mention anything convenient to Montpellier that you want to visit, so rethink this.

We spent only a half day in Albi and regret this. Two days in Cordes-sur-Ciel, but that was for their mediéval fest which you’ll miss. End of September…season ending… Albi will be livelier. Possible to kayak on the Tarn, lovely river valley.

You might want to check for transhumance events (sheep coming down from the high pastures) in the Pyrenees or Ariège. Lingering in Tarascon-sur-Ariège might let you visit the original prehistoric paintings in Grotte de Niaux.

I’d call Toulouse - Latour de Carol - Villefranche de Conflent - Perpignan - Narbonne - Carcassonne - Albi - Cordes sur Ciel plenty in your time frame.