Fly-drive touring holiday exploring the valleys, fortresses and mountains of South-West France

10 nights and 11 days
The regions of Tarn and Languedoc-Roussillon in South-West France offer beautiful countryside as well as hill top villages and fortresses.

Suggested itinerary for this touring holiday:
From the rose-hued city of Toulouse, where your flight touches down, drive to Albi in the Tarn to explore the vineyards of Gaillac, the village of Cordes and the Gothic and Romanesque architectural sites of the area. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Albi is a mediaeval gem, where narrow streets and half-timbered houses juxtapose the imposing Sainte-Cécile cathedral and Berbie Palace, home to over 1,000 works by the city’s most famous inhabitant, Toulouse-Lautrec. Next, drive south over the rising landscapes of the Montagne Noire to Carcassonne, where your tranquil hotel sits just a few kilometres outside the citadel walls and offers the perfect base for independent exploration of the surrounding area. From here, your touring holiday proposes a route south through Cathar country before reaching the neat vines of the Corbières and Côtes du Roussillon vineyards, which you can witness from your hire car. Our final hotel in the foothills of the Pyrenees, overlooking the Vallespir Valley, just a stone’s throw from the artist havens of Céret and Collioure, beloved by Picasso and Matisse respectively. You are also within an easy distance from Figueres, which is just over the border in northern Catalonia and is dominated by its imposing Dalí Museum. And of course, the Mediterranean coastal villages along the Côte Vermeille and the Costa Brava just the other side of the French-Spanish frontier are but a short drive away.

Driving times for this touring holiday:
Toulouse to Albi: 1 hour
Albi to Carcassonne: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Carcassonne to Le Boulou: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Le Boulou to Toulouse: 2 hours, 15 minutes

For this touring holiday, we include:
•Three nights’ bed and breakfast at La Reserve in Albi
•Three nights’ bed and breakfast Le Domaine d’Auriac in Carcassonne
•Four nights’ bed and breakfast at the Relais des Chartreuses in Le Boulou, near Perpignan
•Scheduled return flights with British Airways London to Toulouse and hire of a group A car

From £1716 per person, fly-drive.