Visitors are not allowed to drive a vehicle within the walls of the citadel, so my hotel, the Best Western Le Donjon, provided a valet service for a small extra fee. Upon high recommendation, I had reserved a room within the walls of the citadel, which was surprisingly affordable and very convenient given the lack of time I had dedicated in my schedule for this beautiful location. Google map of La Cité, Carcassonne, France, with added landmarks and story reference points.Īfter having spent the morning at the Dali Theatre-Museum in Spain, I arrived in La Cité around 3:00 PM. If your vacation to France is your first trip to Europe, then I recommend spending at least two nights in La Cité. I had only planned to stay one night in La Cité due to my whirl-wind tour schedule and having received a couple of “overly-touristy” reviews from friends, but once there I regretted my short-stay decision. ![]() Additionally, in hindsight, I was glad that I started with this site after all of the castles and medieval villages I toured throughout my trip otherwise, I may not have appreciated the site with its tourism concentration and its somewhat sparsely-decorated castle. Not only did it make slightly more logistical sense to have this as the first main attraction of the French tour (to avoid back-tracking), it also served as a great introduction to French heritage sites. Although it could have been at the beginning or the end of my trip, La Cité in Carcassonne was my first stop after crossing the Spanish-French border. UNESCO plaque for La Cité, Carcassonne, France.Įntering France from Spain at the furthest south-east corner, my two-week tour of France was planned in a circular fashion to see as much of it as possible. In 1997 it was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. After several power battles and transfers, leading to the walls being broken down and rebuilt repeatedly, the fortress was preserved, with final restoration work completed at the end of the 19th century. Then the Romans came in the third century A.D. The original fortification of Carcassonne, La Cité, started as a Gaulish settlement 2,500 years ago. One town in particular, Carcassonne, has gone to the extreme in preserving their medieval village: La Cité. ![]() And thanks for the historical preservation laws of France, there are likewise several small towns and villages that make you feel like you have stepped back centuries in time. ![]() Unless you are in France for a year-long vacation, there are just too many castles in France to visit in just one trip. The entrance to La Cité, Carcassonne, France, in the evening.
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