Southern France question

[ioana]

My friend and I are thinking about going to Barcelona in September and I was wondering if there are any French cities that are fairly close we should try and visit. I know Toulouse is pretty close, but I'm not sure that's the best choice. Any suggestions?

[JJH]

I think Toulouse is about 4 hours by car. Another choice might be to continue along the coast to Nimes which would also be about 4 hours. From Nimes, if you had time, you could continue to Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseilles, etc. Either direction would be great. Or you could explore Spain a bit more.

[skatak]

Toulouse is great !

[Erica Lee]

I've never been to Toulouse, so I can't make a direct comparison, but Nimes, Arles, Avignon are all great places to visit. Nimes and Arles are both known for their ancient Roman architecture. Nimes' roman arena is still used to this day for bull fighting, concerts (they held a skating show too!) and it is pretty spectacular. There's also the Maison Carree, which is an ancient temple and very neat. It was under refurbishment when I was there in May... not sure when they'll be done.

Avignon is a walled city. There's the Palais des Papes, which is neat to tour. My favourite just may have been the beautiful park & look out area up behind (ish) the palace.

[Rob]

When we took the train from Nice to Barcelona, we didn't have time to stop, but I read about an interesting-sounding town called Perpignan near the France/Spain border. It sounded more Catalan than French in nature, but it might be a pleasant excursion from Barcelona.

Loved Aix and Avignon. The Pont du Gard is something to see - you can reach it from Avignon.