Carcassonne

The Cité ramparts, the Pont Vieux and the lower town in one day

Carcassonne can be seen properly between morning opening and nightfall. Enter the Cité by the Porte Narbonnaise at opening and walk the rampart circuit of the Château Comtal, then see the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire. Leave by the Porte d'Aude for the Pont Vieux and lunch in the Bastide Saint-Louis, and come back after dark for the floodlit walls.

Morning. Be at the Porte Narbonnaise when the Château Comtal opens, before the coaches arrive from the coast. The castle rooms are largely empty, so spend your energy on the rampart circuit, which threads along the inner wall and gives views south to the Pyrenees when the air is clear. Afterwards wander the lices, the grassy corridor between the inner and outer walls, which is where the summer jousts take place.

Midday. Look into the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire and Saint-Celse for its Gothic windows and sandstone Romanesque nave, then leave the walls by the Porte d'Aude and drop down the path to the Pont Vieux. Lunch is better value in the bastide than on Place Marcou.

Afternoon. Walk the grid of the Bastide Saint-Louis: Place Carnot with its Neptune fountain, the Cathedral of Saint-Michel and the leafy Square Gambetta. If you have energy left, follow the Canal du Midi towpath east from the station for half an hour.

Evening. Cross to the far bank of the Aude for sunset, then climb back up Rue Trivalle. After dark the floodlit walls and quiet lanes feel like a different place from the one you saw at noon.

Cassoulet, local wine and the Place Carnot market in Carcassonne

Cassoulet is the dish to order in Carcassonne, baked over white beans with duck confit and Toulouse sausage, and the bastide bistros near Les Halles cook it with more care than the Cité restaurants. Place Carnot has a market on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. Drink Corbières, Minervois or Limoux's sparkling Blanquette.

The cassoulet argument in this corner of France is serious. Castelnaudary, half an hour west on the train, calls itself the capital of the dish, but Carcassonne has its own version, traditionally with mutton or partridge alongside the duck confit and Toulouse sausage, all baked slowly over white beans in a glazed earthenware cassole. Expect it to be heavy, served in the dish, and best ordered at lunch when you can walk it off. In the Cité, the restaurants around Place Marcou all list it, but the bistros of the bastide and the streets near Les Halles cook it with more care and charge less.

Shop on Place Carnot, where a produce market sets up on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings: goat's cheese from the Montagne Noire, olives, charcuterie and seasonal fruit. Les Halles, a few streets away, has butchers and cheese counters under one roof on most mornings.

Wine is the other reason to linger. Corbières to the south and Minervois to the north-east supply sturdy reds that suit cassoulet, while Malepère and Cabardès, closer to town, sit where Atlantic and Mediterranean grapes meet. Further south, Limoux makes sparkling Blanquette, which local producers say predates champagne. Taste a few by the glass at a wine bar near the Cité before dinner, then buy the bottle you liked.

Summer jousting, 14 July fireworks and Carcassonne's seasons

Come in September if you can: highs sit near 25C and the crowds thin out. July and August are the driest months at about 29C and the busiest, with medieval tournaments twice a day and the Festival de Carcassonne. The 14 July fireworks over the ramparts are the biggest night of the year, and April and November are wet.

The weather here sits between Atlantic and Mediterranean influences, and it shows. July and August average highs of about 29C with only 30 to 40 mm of rain, which makes them the driest months and also the most crowded. Spring is damper than people expect: April brings around 71 mm, and November is just as wet. January is mild by northern standards, with highs near 10C and nights around 4C, though the Cité on its hill catches the wind from the Montagne Noire.

Summer is when the Cité stages its set pieces. Medieval tournaments run in the lices between the walls twice a day through July and August, and the Festival de Carcassonne fills July with concerts and theatre, many staged in the open-air theatre inside the walls. The biggest night of the year is 14 July, when fireworks are set off over the ramparts and the whole fortress looks as if it is on fire; crowds gather along the Aude banks from early evening, so pick a spot by the Pont Vieux well in advance.

September is the best compromise: highs near 25C, the vines turning, schools back in session and the restaurants of the Cité still open. In the dead of winter several shops and cafés inside the walls close and the castle shortens its hours, but the lanes are yours, and the Cité Ciné film festival brings some life in January.