Carcassonne, France: Holiday review

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Long Weekend in Carcassonne
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Review by: Anonymous

Weather

It was just coming to the end of the season in September but the weather was still warm during the day but at night time a jacket was required which is only to be expected at this time of year.

Holiday

I never go back to the same place twice but I have to say I have fallen in love with Carcassonne.

We discovered the city during a holiday on the canal and returned the year after to stay within the walled city.

Every night we went and had aperitifs under the olive trees.

I loved the fact that there is no traffic within the walled city, apart from the odd taxi and you could really stroll and take in the atmosphere, day and night.

There are many restaurants but the menu's are basically the same.
This does not mean the food was bad just not a lot of choice and you can only have so many versions of the local dish cassoulet, which I have to add is yummy.

Recommend Carcassonne to others?

Yes
Our stopovers in Carcassonne
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Review by: Noel Edgar

Weather

Rather changeable in Carcassonne. Hot on arrival on August 22nd, some rain that evening, hot the next day. Very hot indeed on our return on August 30th, then cool and overcast in the evening and early the next day before our return flight. Everywhere else during the week, in Perpignan and further south, it was hot to very hot. However the lower humidity in most places for most of the time makes this much more bearable than lower temperatures in the UK.

Holiday

We spent two nights in Carcassonne, en route to a holiday home further south near the Spanish border. We decided to fly by Ryanair from the East Midlands to Carcassonne rather than from Birmingham to Perpignan, because the flight days fitted better. We stopped over for one night at each end. If we were to do this again, we would probably take the ferry and drive down from Ostend. Despite the distance, this would avoid the weight limits on the plane, excess baggage charges, queueing, security checks etc. and hassle of picking up and returning the hire car. The hire car lots (for Avis, Europcar, Budget and no doubt others) at the airport are rather chaotic. The car was covered in vandal scratches, had several nasty scrapes, and we had to go back to the office to report these so that we were not charged for them. On our return, it was difficult to work out how to get into the parking lot (through an unpaved road round the back, it turned out) or find where to park when we had. All the Europcar spaces were full (before 9:00 on Sunday morning) and we had to leave our car in the one remaining space in the Budget section.) It's also worth knowing that UK credit and debit cards do not work in the 24 hour automatic service stations, although they are accepted everywhere else. Many of the roads off the dual carriageways run into mountainous areas and are terrifyingly narrow and winding, often with unguarded sheer drops! This was worst when driving to Andorra, which we do not recommend doing - take a coach excursion instead!

Recommend Carcassonne to others?

Yes