Toulouse

Saint-Sernin, the Jacobins and the Cité de l'espace in two days

Two days cover Toulouse. Day one goes from Place du Capitole to Saint-Sernin and the Saint-Raymond museum, then the Couvent des Jacobins and sunset on the Garonne quays by the Pont Neuf. Day two starts at Les Halles Victor Hugo, then the Cité de l'espace, a Canal du Midi bike ride or Aeroscopia.

Start on Place du Capitole, then walk up Rue du Taur to Saint-Sernin and the Saint-Raymond museum beside it. After lunch, cross to the Couvent des Jacobins for the palm-tree vault and the cloister, and finish on the Garonne quays near the Pont Neuf, where the steps fill up at sunset. Eat around Place Saint-Georges or in Carmes.

On day two, go early to Les Halles Victor Hugo, browse the stalls and take an early lunch upstairs. Spend the afternoon at the Cité de l'espace on the eastern edge of town, reached by bus, with its rockets and planetarium. If you prefer something slower, hire a bike instead and ride the Canal du Midi towpath under the plane trees. Plane spotters can swap either for Aeroscopia at Blagnac, home to two Concordes.

Cassoulet, duck and violet sweets in Toulouse

Cassoulet is the dish to eat in Toulouse: white beans baked with saucisse de Toulouse, duck confit and pork rind, best ordered at lunch around Place du Capitole, Place Saint-Georges or Carmes. Duck fills the rest of the menu, Les Halles Victor Hugo has market restaurants upstairs, and violet sweets make the local present.

Cassoulet is the dish to plan a day around. White beans bake slowly with saucisse de Toulouse, a coarse pork sausage, plus duck confit and pork rind until a crust forms on top, and it is heavy enough that most locals eat it at lunch. Order it in the brasseries around Place du Capitole and Place Saint-Georges or in the Carmes quarter, and do not plan much walking afterwards.

Duck runs through the rest of the menu, with confit de canard, magret and foie gras on most set lunches. Les Halles Victor Hugo shows where it all comes from. The ground floor is a covered market of butchers, cheesemongers and oyster counters, open Tuesday to Sunday mornings, and upstairs a row of small restaurants cooks the market's produce at lunch until about 15:00. Arrive before 12:30 or expect to queue.

Violets are the local sweet tooth. Crystallised flowers, violet sweets and liqueur fill the confiseries of the old centre and make an easy present to carry home. For a cheap late meal, the Turkish and kebab places on Rue Pargaminières, near the university, feed students until the small hours.

Toulouse weather by season, plus day trips to Albi and Carcassonne

Toulouse is easiest to explore in June and September, at around 25 to 26°C. July and August reach 28 to 29°C, May is the wettest month, and January averages 10°C by day. Rugby fills weekends from late summer to spring, and Albi and Carcassonne are each about an hour by train from Matabiau.

Winter here is milder than the grey skies suggest: January averages 10C by day and 3C at night. May is the wettest month, at about 74 mm. July and August average highs of 28 to 29C, heatwaves push well past that, and much of the city leaves on holiday while the lawns of the Prairie des Filtres fill after dark. June and September, at around 25 to 26C, are the easiest months for long days on foot.

Rugby sets the rhythm from late summer to spring. Stade Toulousain, the most decorated club in France, play at Stade Ernest-Wallon, and on match weekends the bars around the Capitole are full by early evening. In February the Fête de la Violette brings growers and violet confectioners to Place du Capitole.

Trains from Matabiau make two easy day trips of about an hour each. Albi, to the north-east, has the fortress-like brick cathedral of Sainte-Cécile and the Toulouse-Lautrec museum in the old bishops' palace. Carcassonne, to the south-east, is a walled medieval Cité on its hill; arrive by 10:00 and leave the ramparts before the tour coaches peak. Cyclists can pick up the Canal du Midi towpath from the city itself and ride east under the plane trees.