Things to do in Toulouse

Toulouse is built of terracotta brick, which is why it is called the pink city. The colour shifts through the day and goes properly red at sunset. The Garonne cuts the whole thing in half.

What the brick holds

The old centre is small and dense, and the best of it is religious or civic.

• The Capitole. The eighteenth-century town hall, eight columns wide, facing the largest square in the city.
• Saint-Sernin. The largest surviving Romanesque church in Europe, raised for pilgrims walking to Santiago.
• The Jacobins. Thomas Aquinas lies here, under a vault whose ribs fan out from a single column.
• The pastel mansions. Town houses paid for by merchants who grew rich on blue dye in the sixteenth century.
• Pont Neuf and Saint-Cyprien. The old bridge and the quarter on the far bank, which is where people eat.

Water, air and the days out

Two things made the city rich, and neither is tourism. The Canal du Midi starts here on its way to the Mediterranean. Aerospace came later and stayed.

• Cite de l'Espace. A space park east of the centre, with a full-size Ariane 5 standing outside it.
• Aeroscopia. The aviation museum out by the airport, where the retired Concorde and A380 sit.
• Albi. An hour northeast, and its fortress cathedral is the largest brick building in the world.
• On foot. A private guided walk turns the brick into a story; the cheap version is a phone-led treasure hunt through the old town.

Practical

• Heat. Summer afternoons pass 35C and the streets empty out. Spring and autumn are long and mild, and winter is grey rather than cold.
• Getting about. Two metro lines cross at Jean Jaures, and Capitole on line A drops you in the middle. Most of what you want is walkable anyway.
• Money. A glass of wine is three or four euros and a set lunch about fifteen. Cassoulet, the bean and duck dish, makes a heavy evening rather than a light one.
• Tipping. Service sits inside the price, and rounding up covers it.
• Booking. Factory and space-centre visits want identity documents and advance booking, sometimes weeks of it in high season.