Tours in Toulouse

Toulouse is built of terracotta brick, which is why it is called the pink city and why it changes colour through the day, going properly red at sunset. The Capitole, the eighteenth-century town hall with its eight columns, faces the largest square; behind it the basilica of Saint-Sernin is the biggest surviving Romanesque church in Europe, built for pilgrims walking to Santiago; and the Jacobins convent nearby holds the relics of Thomas Aquinas under a vault whose ribs fan out from a single column. The Garonne cuts the city in half, with the Pont Neuf crossing it and the Saint-Cyprien bank on the far side, and the Canal du Midi begins here on its way to the Mediterranean. Toulouse is also the aerospace capital of Europe, which accounts for the Cite de l'Espace and the Aeroscopia hangars out by the airport.

The centre is compact and made for walking, and a guide is what turns the brick into a story — the Romanesque churches, the pastel-trade mansions built by merchants who grew rich on blue dye, the student quarter around the university that has been here since 1229. Self-guided phone routes cover the old town as a treasure hunt and cost a few euros. Beyond that, the city is a base: Albi with its fortress cathedral, the Canal du Midi for a day on bicycles, the Airbus assembly line for anyone who wants to see an A350 being built, and Cathar country to the south.

Practical. Toulouse is the warmest large city in France in summer and can pass 35C in July and August, when the afternoon empties out; spring and autumn are long and mild, and winter is grey rather than cold. The metro has two lines and runs to the edge of the centre, but most of what you want is walkable. A glass of wine costs three or four euros, a set lunch around fifteen, and cassoulet — the local bean and duck dish — is a heavy evening rather than a light one. Service is included, tipping is rounding up. Airbus and space-centre visits need identity documents and booking ahead, sometimes weeks in high season.