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City walk Occitanie — Carcassonne, France

The Cité de Carcassonne: Double Ramparts and a Contested Restoration

A day inside the most famous walled town in France — 52 towers, the Château Comtal, and an argument about what 'medieval' means.

The Cité de Carcassonne: Double Ramparts and a Contested Restoration
Photo: Chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0
Duration
1 day
Distance
4 km
Walking time (est.)
1 h
Difficulty
Easy
Best season
April–June and September–October

Walking

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    Getting there and back

    Start
    Porte Narbonnaise
    Finish
    Bastide Saint-Louis (lower town)

    One-way: plan your trip back

    Directions to the start Back from the finish

    The Cité de Carcassonne is a medieval citadel on a hill above the river Aude, in the Aude department of Occitania. About three kilometres of double surrounding walls, punctuated by 52 towers, ring a small town that still has residents, restaurants and a basilica inside it. UNESCO listed it in 1997 as an exceptional testimony to the planning of a medieval fortified town.

    But walk it with your eyes open. The Cité you see is substantially the work of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who began restoring the ruin in 1853, and his interpretation has been contested ever since. The pointed slate roofs on the towers — the silhouette that sells every postcard — are his invention. Critics have long pointed out that slate belongs to northern France, not to this climate or these local building traditions, where terracotta tile was the norm. That does not make the Cité fake; it makes it two monuments at once, medieval and 19th-century, standing in the same stones. Work continued after his death in 1879 under his pupil Paul Boeswillwald and later the architect Nodet.

    Getting there. Carcassonne is on the main Toulouse–Narbonne rail line, and the station sits in the lower town. From there it is roughly a 25–30 minute walk to the Cité, across the Pont Vieux and up the hill — which is also the best way to arrive.

    Permits & tickets. Entering the Cité and its streets is free. The Château Comtal and the walkway along the ramparts are a paid ticket, bought on the spot or booked ahead. The basilica is free.

    Good to know:

    Elevation profile

    Highest point
    151 m Day 1
    Lowest point
    103 m Day 1
    Total descent
    39 m

    Point at the profile, or focus it and use the arrow keys, to see that spot on the map.

    Terrain heights along a straight line between each day’s stops, not along the footpath, so a pass or a switchback the path takes can be missing. Descent and walking times use the same line.

    Elevation data: Terrain Tiles (Mapzen, AWS Open Data)

    Day by day

    DayDistanceAscentDescent (est.)Walking time (est.)
    Day 1 Hardest dayThe citadel and the town below it
    Distance4 kmAscentNot recordedDescent (est.)39 mWalking time (est.)1 h

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    Day 1

    The citadel and the town below it

    Porte Narbonnaise → Bastide Saint-Louis (lower town) 4 km 1 h
    Navigate this day

    A loop of the walled citadel, then down across the Pont Vieux into the lower town.

    Drinking water

    Water
    Drinking water 30 m from stop 1
    Drinking water 20 m from stop 2
    Drinking water 270 m from stop 2
    Drinking water 190 m from stop 3
    Drinking water 140 m from stop 4

    Places mapped by volunteers on OpenStreetMap; opening times and taps change, so check before relying on one. © OpenStreetMap contributors

    Segments

    1. The double ramparts and 52 towers 1 km Map

      Porte Narbonnaise → Château Comtal gate

      Cobbled streets and stone ramps

      Enter through the Porte Narbonnaise and get the shape of the place before anything else: about three kilometres of double surrounding walls with 52 towers set into them, an inner ring and an outer ring with a gap between. The oldest fabric is Roman — the original defences had somewhere between about 34 and 40 towers, spaced roughly 18 to 30 metres apart — and the rest is medieval and 19th-century, layered on top. Look up at the pointed slate roofs as you go; you will hear about them shortly. About 45 minutes.

    2. Château Comtal 0.4 km Map

      Château Comtal gate → Château Comtal ramparts walkway

      Castle stairs and wall walkways

      A castle inside a castle: the fortress of the viscounts, built at the beginning of the 12th century and then heavily strengthened between about 1240 and 1250 with round towers, a barbican and a moat — a lord defending himself from his own town as much as from anyone outside it. The ticket includes the walkway along a stretch of the ramparts, which is the single best thing here: you finally see the double walls from above, and the countryside beyond. Allow about 90 minutes.

    3. Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus
      Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus 0.3 km Map

      Château Comtal → Place Saint-Nazaire

      Cobbled streets

      The minor basilica at the southern end of the Cité, a national monument in the Gothic-Romanesque tradition. Construction was authorised in 1096 by the Trencavel viscount with a papal blessing, and the seam shows: a heavy Romanesque nave running into a Gothic choir and transept full of stained glass, some of the oldest in the south of France. It is free, cool, and mercifully quiet. About 30 minutes.

      About this place

      The Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus is a Roman Catholic minor basilica located in the citadel of Carcassonne, France. It is a national monument, and is in the Gothic-Romanesque architectural tradition.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT · CC BY 3.0
    4. The lices, between the walls 1.2 km Map

      Place Saint-Nazaire → Porte d'Aude

      Grass and gravel between the ramparts

      Walk the lices — the corridor of open ground between the inner and outer walls, once the killing ground for anyone who got through the first ring, later squatted by houses that Viollet-le-Duc's restorers cleared away. It is free to walk and it is where the Cité stops being a postcard: you are down at the base of the masonry, and you can read the joins between Roman courses, medieval work and 19th-century repair with your own eyes. This is also the best place to judge the restoration for yourself. About 45 minutes.

    5. Pont Vieux and the lower town
      Pont Vieux and the lower town 1.1 km Map

      Porte d'Aude → Bastide Saint-Louis

      Steep lane, stone bridge, city streets

      Drop down the hill and cross the river Aude on the Pont Vieux, the medieval bridge that carried everyone between the citadel and the settlements below. Stop halfway across and turn round — this is the view of the Cité, the whole hill and its towers at once, and it costs nothing. On the far bank is the Bastide Saint-Louis, the gridded lower town where Carcassonne actually lives: a market square, plane trees, and prices that are not aimed at tourists. About 60 minutes.

      About this place

      Carcassonne is a French city in the department of Aude, region of Occitania. It is the prefecture of the department.

      Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0

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