Source
r/solotravel•
UndeadOne

Solo travel to Carcassonne

Hi there. I wanted to travel somewhere historical on my own for a long time now, and I finally decided Carcassonne seems like an ideal destination.

I'll be spending 5 days there in October, hotel and flight already organized.

I love museums, old churches, basilicas etc and as such, Carcassonne seems like a great choice. Old city and similar are sure to take at least 2 or 3 days.

Is there anything else in the vicinity, or heck, even something in Carcassonne, that I should definitely visit?

I am not going to rent a car, so all travels outside Carcassonne would be daily trips by bus.

Any advice or help are greatly appreciated since this is my first solo travel.

Posted Sep 26, 2018, 1:32 PM UTC

4633
WhoMovedMySubreddits•

Bring the board game and play it there.

42
Cyberhwk•

Don't deploy your Farmers too early OP.

7
Katastrofa2•

What? It's literally the first thing you should do, put your farmers asap.

6
Cyberhwk•

Good way to get your farm ripped off by a "big dude" late in the game.

3
quiteCryptic•

Just played this ironically for the first time yesterday. Not bad.

2
WhoMovedMySubreddits•

It's a really great game. The (paid) app has a small community of players that are really good at the game, and there's no hassle with counting score when the computer does it all for you.

1
QeenMagrat•

Did you Google? :p

36 hours in Carcasonne

Toulouse is an hour away by train. Narbonne can also be reached with public transport. Perpignan is suppsed to be really beautiful too, and it's about an hour and a half away with public transport, according to Google Maps.

Have fun! It's a beautiful area of France, and the weather should be pretty good in October.

11
UndeadOneOP•

Sure I did :)

But google results are almost always the same, biggest and most famous things to see and sites to visit.

Asking people usually results in finding out smaller, less known places to visit.

15
StonerMeditation•

Try googling 'unusual things to do in X', or similar questions...

-4
there_is_no_try•

I will be moving to Toulouse in the next 1.5 months, so I hope to see the same things. From my research Toulouse is very accessible and fun, and I have heard good things about Albi. They should be perfectly accessible by public transport. I find the French train system to be quite good, any reason you are thinking bus?

5
UndeadOneOP•

Nah. Public transport in general is fine :)

3
hshull•

I traveled to carcassonne and loved it, it was beautiful. I traveled with a group so had a little different experience than you most likely will. There are a lot of little shops to explore in the city, along with just random stone paths throughout.

Have a great time and good luck on your first solo trip!

3
rock_and_shock•

I'm not sure how easy it is to get there from Carcassonne, but there's a winery in a village called Herepian that does a litre of rose for €1.20

3
Jennynumpkins•

I read Labrinth while in Carcassonne. It was perfect as it's set in the castle. I also did a fun day trip to Narbonne.

3
x42bn6•

I went to Toulouse for about a week, but spent a day in Albi and 2 days in Carcassonne. I didn't get a chance to go to Cordes-sur-Ciel, although I should probably have made time.

On Carcassonne, the area is scattered with castles, and there are organised tours to visit them over several days, if that's your thing. Note that visiting many castles in succession can get quite boring. There are also some vineyards and national parks nearby - I didn't have time to go there, though.

That said, I would strongly recommend not wandering around Carcassonne (the city proper) for 5 days. 2 days, maybe 3 at a push is enough to explore the city, so plan your day-trips accordingly.

The official tourism website for Aude (which Carcassonne resides in) has a list of interesting cities and towns you might want to visit.

I would consider visiting Toulouse. Toulouse is a major city in France and you can probably spend days there without running out of things to do. It's got everything a tourist needs and is an hour away from Carcassonne by train.

Also consider Albi - a small, pretty town, about an hour away from Toulouse as well (it looks like if you depart from Carcassonne, you have to change at Toulouse anyway, so it takes 2 hours from there). From Albi, you can go to Cordes-sur-Ciel, a picturesque town a bus journey away from Albi, supposedly voted one of the most desirable places in France to live. You can also go there by train, but apparently you have to call for a bus to get into the town proper (the station is quite far from it).

Other things I would consider:

  • Take a boat ride or cruise on the Canal du Midi
  • Narbonne
  • Béziers
  • One of the national parks nearby to Carcassonne

And these aren't my thing, but:

  • Hiking
  • Pyrenees trekking/skiing

P.S. Try cassoulet, but don't be surprised if it becomes your only meal of the day.

3
UndeadOneOP•

Thanks for the advice.

I most definitely don't plan on staying in Carcassonne for full 5 days. 2 or 3 was my plan, than 2-3 days of one day trips to nearby places.

I do want to visit Toulouse at some point, but not this time.

I haven't been on holidays in almost 8 months and feel exhausted as fuck, so calm and slow walks around castles are exactly what I want. Vineyards and nearby small towns are great recommendations I'll definitely consider while making a plan.

And food!

I do want to try things, and cassoulet is something everyone recommends, so definitely will try.

Thanks for detailed recommendations.

2
foggysf•

I traveled to Toulouse and Carcassonne this May and also made an unplanned stop at Naboonne.

Toulouse is definitely a college town. I feel there is more to do if you have a group of people with you.

Carcassonne is very much only the old city. It was a beautiful town but most of the town is centered around the attraction.

Narbonne wasn’t on my list but turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Very quaint and not that many English speaking tourists.

2
vivereloud•

There's lots to do within the castle walls themselves! I recall there were several museums, lots of great restaurants, street performers, tons of great shops. You certainly won't need 5 days within the castle walls but I'd recommend at least a day or two for exploring what's going on within the castle.

2
digitall565•

Definitely spend a day or two exploring Toulouse. I spent 48 hours there around Christmas and it was so worth it, lovely little town, great food. If you're not a vegetarian you have to try a cassoulet somewhere.

2
glglglglglScotsman, back from 9 month ROW trip•

Toulouse is a lovely place, "ville la rose" or the pink city. Not too touristy in that there's not very many things designed for tourists (I only remember there being 3 or 4 restos with English menus when I lived there a few year ago), but somewhat transient in that there are many students and people just there for work (usually airbus).

Carcassonne is great as well. :)

2
tg987254•

If you’re into history, you might want to check out Avignon also. The seat of the Catholic Church was located there, instead of Rome, for much of the 1300s. The Papal Palace still dominates the city.

2
Vprhxpd9•

Bring a bike if you can or hire one I’ve been to the countryside on holiday there for about ten years in a row. Limoux and other smaller towns are beautiful too

2
wanders_notlost•

I traveled solo to Carcassonne (by train from Paris) and was there for a couple days without a car. The walled in city is definitely close enough to the train station for any day trips (with frequent stops to Toulouse). I found old city amazing! Definitely walk across the bridge to view it all lit up at nighttime!

However, I definitely didn't need 3 days to see all of old city. I felt like I had seen pretty much everything within the first day there (I spent much of my second day walking around the town outside of old city). So it would definitely be worth taking some day trips. The beach is pretty close by, and if you want to check out something super unique, you could go to Cap d'Agde.

2
Samantha_M•

I cannot say anything helpful really but this is a lovely trip idea! I have been wanting to go to France for a long time, I know Paris pretty well but there is so much else to see in the country, and so much history to explore, and I love listening to the French language and trying to speak it. The Tour de France went through Carcassonne this year and that is when I saw the castle. France seems to be a good country for cycling. You will have a great time!

2
UndeadOneOP•

Like I said in another comment, I really got overworked.

I wanted to do something at my pace, as I want to do and where I want to go. I love history as is, and Carcassonne came up more than once while watching Shadiversity channel on youtube.

I started exploring and the more I read, the more I wanted to go there. I asked a buddy of mine and he said "Nah, let's go to Lyon, or some other big city".

Sometimes, you gotta get away from large areas and relax. And since it's only going to be me, there's no one to blame but myself if I do things "the wrong way".

Walk around old city, see the castle, travel to nearby places, just relax, enjoying food and sights.

I am really looking forwards to it. And same as you, I wanted to visit France for a long time now.

France this year, already booked Athens and Crete for next year, probably Italy afterwards. Travelling while I can. Some trips with friends, some solo.

At some point, I recommend doing the same. Just booking something somewhere and enjoying. A World is a big place, no reason not to see as much as possible while we can :)

2
Samantha_M•

I totally get it, sometimes when you have been so worn down by life and need to find your soul again, the stress of large cities is just poison and you are in need of more gently places. These times in places that are not famous tourist spots may not earn you bragging rights over your colleagues and friends, instead they will be very personal and meaningful experiences, because you get to discover on your own and follow your own rhythm.

I was in a situation last year of almost burning out in my job after 2 very intense years. So I quit and spent 6 weeks traveling. Have not set one foot in a city, instead I went to Naxos and Santorini islands (off season in April) and then to the U.S. where I hiked in the deserts and canyons. Have a relaxing and inspiring time!

2
lisatrip•

take me there with you... hehehe

2
UndeadOneOP•

No can do!

See the name of subreddit? Solo travel :P

Can't go around breaking rules!

1
lisatrip•

interesting, But rules are made to break!

1
atget•

Cordes sur Ciel shouldn’t be far and it’s so worth the day trip. It’s on a hillside and it’s not easy to climb, but the view from the top is stunning and so are all of the adorable alleyways and streets leading up to it. Highly recommend. Most beautiful town I’ve ever seen.

2
CavalierEternals•

Hey never heard of this city and I'm all about seeing and visiting UNESCO sites, so just want to say, thanks for exposing it to me so I can add it to my list!

2
Fritzkreig•

I stayed in Carcassone for 4-5 days, and loved it. I first rented a very spartan room in a 15th century monastery which was cool. I then camped at the camp ground for a few days, it is in sight of the castle.

I simply enjoyed walking the city, eating artisnal cheese, and drinking wine in the park.

Obviously the castle is pretty cool, and all the Oceitian hitory is pretty neat. I also like the great WW2 museum, where a veteran gave me something like a 2 hour personal tour. They art museums were quite nice. Just walking the canals at dusk, or up into the vinyards to pick flowers is great.

You will have fun, Carcassone is 9/10, would go again!

2
iwalkalone_alt•

Im from Barcelona and I visited Carcassone and Narbonne solo a few months ago. I stayed two nights at Carcassone. The medieval city is a very tourisitic place. Take the guided tour. You can also move to the nearby Narbonne, just 30 minutes by train.

2