9 fabulous things to do in Toulouse, France

09.09.2024 - 22:47 / lonelyplanet.com

Sep 9, 2024 • 8 min read

The fourth-largest city in France may lie in the country’s sprawling southwest, between a bend in the Garonne River and mighty Canal du Midi.

But Toulouse has never been shy in making itself heard.

A UNESCO-listed “city of music” since 2023, this sun-soaked metropolis comes with a bewitching sound cloud. Think the peel of old-town church bells, the roar of planes, the rhymes of busking rappers and hip-hop artists, the splashing of canal boats passing through a lock, the steamy hiss of a mechanical Minotaur and the clink of pastis glasses on a hot summer’s day.

A rhythmic ebb and flow has always punctuated urban life here. Medieval pilgrims making their way on foot to Santiago de Compostela in Spain passed through here, venerating relics and the tomb of Toulouse’s 4th-century bishop-turned-saint at Basilique St-Sernin. Aviation junkies have gravitated to Toulouse since the 1960s, when Airbus set up shop on the city’s outskirts. Music buffs rave about the town’s repertoire of star-drawing festivals. Toulouse’s university, serving students since 1229, is among Europe’s oldest.

For first-timers and returning visitors alike, this dynamic student city has something fun (and sometimes free) to offer every month of the year. In summer, for example, boating (on the Canal du Midi) and beach life (on the banks of the Garonne) is as fundamental to the urban psyche as art, culture and eating exceedingly well.

Not sure where to start? These nine incontournables (unmissable things to see and do) will help you get going.

The essential way to soak up Old Toulouse is on foot. View it across the water from 17th-century stone bridge Pont Neuf before diving into the picture-postcard tangle of quaint coral-brick shop fronts, elegant hôtels particuliers (private mansions), cute boutiques and charming cafes where you can sit down for a chocolatine (the local version of the classic French pain au chocolat). From Place du Capitole, a neoclassical masterpiece of a central square, wind along mellow backstreets to medieval Couvent des Jacobins, with its tranquil cloister garden. Follow your nose to the striking, ever-so-slightly-leaning “wedding cake” bell tower of Romanesque Basilique St-Sernin. Unearth Roman Toulouse at the honey-brick Musée St-Raymond, and try to blend in with some of the city’s 130,000-odd students hanging out in the trio of gardens converging in Jardin du Grand-Rond.

Local tip: Toulouse of a place of places. Hit Place St-Georges and Place de la Trinité for buzzy cafe life, Place St-Pierre for alfresco dining and street buskers, and bourgeois Place St-Etienne for chic shopping and art galleries.

In France’s foodie Southwest, the epicurean stakes are high. Accordingly, stalls at