– is derived from the Cathars’ association with Albi. The Cathars were also numerous in other parts of western Europe, including northern Italy and the Rhineland; but in all these places they were sooner or later ruthlessly crushed by their enemies.
Getting there
It is possible to reach Cathar country by plane and/or train from many parts of Britain in a day.
By air
There are major international airports at Toulouse, Montpellier, Marseille and Barcelona with direct scheduled flights from a number of places in Britain (for example, at the time of writing Easyjet has flights from several British destinations to Barcelona, and from London to Toulouse and Marseille). From each of those airports there are rail connections and motorways giving relatively fast connections to, for example, Carcassonne, Béziers and Perpignan. Rail and road connections from Toulouse south to Foix are also good.
Ryanair has flights from London to Carcassonne, Montpellier, Nîmes (not far from Montpellier) and Perpignan; from Liverpool to Nimes; and from several British cities to Girona. (Girona airport is northeast of Barcelona, and gives easier access than Barcelona airport if you are then driving north to France). Flybe has flights from Birmingham, Southampton and Bristol to Toulouse and, in the summer, from Birmingham and Southampton to Perpignan.
By rail
If you travel all the way from Britain by train, via Eurostar’s Channel Tunnel service to, say, Béziers, try to change trains in Lille rather than Paris. That way you only have to cross to another platform, not to the other side of a city.
The ‘Cathar knights’ – huge modern sculptures by Jacques Tissinier – overlook the A61 motorway near Narbonne. The knights greet many visitors who travel from the north to Cathar castle country.
By road
You can get to Cathar castle country by coach, but London–Perpignan takes around 24hr. For information contact Eurolines (tel: 08705 143219; www.nationalexpress.com).
If you travel by road, you can cross France on autoroutes (motorways) all the way – bear in mind that these are toll roads. They can be extremely busy in school holiday periods, especially in July and August. There are often long hold-ups in high summer on the A7 autoroute between Lyon and Orange, which funnels holiday traffic down the Rhône valley.
General travel information
Information can be obtained from: French Travel Centre (see Appendix 1); French Railways (tel: 0870 8306030; www.raileurope.co.uk); British Airways (tel: 0870 850 9850 within UK; tel: 08 25 82 50 40 within France; www.britishairways.com) and Ryanair (tel: 0871 246 0000 within UK; tel: 08 92 55 56 66 within France; www.ryanair.com).
For SNCF, the national French railway service, contact www.sncf.com. It has an English version and gives times and prices of rail services in France.
The Thomas Cook European Timetable for trains across Europe is worth consulting if much of your travelling to and around Cathar castle country is by rail. A new edition is published every month, and it is widely available in British bookshops for around £10.
Getting around
Main roads and railway lines within Cathar castle country are shown on the location map (see the Overview Maps). There are two main east–west transport axes:
Narbonne–Carcassonne– Toulouse corridor, followed by the A61 autoroute and by good rail and bus services.
Perpignan–Quillan–Foix corridor, followed by a main road, the D117 (single carriageway for most of the way). Bus services run along this corridor, but they are infrequent (more frequent at the eastern end). A summer tourist train service, the Train du Pays Cathare et du Fenouillèdes, operates between Rivesaltes (north of Perpignan) and Axat (just south of Quillan) – see http://www.tpcf.fr.
There are three main north–south transport axes:
Béziers–Narbonne–Perpignan corridor, parallel and close to the Mediterranean coastline; followed by the A9 autoroute and good rail and bus services
Carcassonne–Quillan corridor, along the Aude valley. This is also followed by a main road, the D118 (single carriageway for much of the way). There are reasonably good rail and bus services between Carcassonne and Quillan
Toulouse–Foix–Ax-les-Thermes corridor, along the Ariège valley. The main road through this corridor is the N20 (partly double and partly single carriageway). There are good rail and bus services along the corridor.
The Bassin des Ladres in the centre of Ax-les-Thermes – a good base for exploring much of Cathar castle country. (The pool is fed by a hot spring and has been here since the time of the Cathars; sore feet love it.)
Elsewhere public transport services are scarce. Buses serve several towns and villages away from these main transport corridors, but these are often mainly designed to get children to and from school. They are therefore infrequent and may not run during the school holidays.
Other roads, of intermediate and minor status, wind across the hills and valleys and carry relatively little traffic. They can be pleasant to drive or cycle along if you are not in a hurry, but you do have to be constantly on the alert for fast-moving vehicles that may suddenly come hurtling towards you around the bend just ahead.
Accommodation
Places to stay are plentiful, from simple campsites to swanky hotels. Some advice is given later in this section about how to locate and reserve the sort of accommodation that you want. If in doubt, good starting points for making enquiries and seeking relevant literature are the French Travel Centre in London or a relevant tourist information office in Cathar castle country (see Appendix 1). Many bookshops in Britain also sell guides to accommodation in France.
Most hotels, gîtes, campsites, and so on are open from Easter to October. Many, especially those in or near cities and large towns, are open for all or most of the year. It is highly desirable to check room/bed availability in advance and to reserve accommodation. This is especially so for July and August, when many establishments are fully booked, and for those places near the coast or in internationally renowned tourist sites like Carcassonne. In addition, several establishments in the countryside are closed for all or most of the winter months.
Many establishments, in all price ranges, have not only e-mail addresses, but also websites giving information about their facilities and inviting you to book accommodation online. It will soon be the norm for accommodation providers to offer an online booking facility.
Gîtes d’étape are rather like youth hostels. They are reasonably priced and most towns and sizeable villages have at least one. Many are run as private enterprises, but often they are managed by the local commune. Like youth hostels, they vary a good deal in size, comfort and facilities. You can’t always count on getting meals, but there is usually a café, restaurant or grocer’s nearby. See www.gite-etape.com. The website www.gites-refuges.com is another useful source of information about gîtes and other types of simple accommodation.
There are four youth hostels in the area: Carcassonne, Bugarach, Quillan and Perpignan. The French Youth Hostels association is at 9 rue de Brantome, 75003 Paris; tel: (00 33) (0)1 48 04 70 30; www.fuaj.org.