l'aude - pays cathare

2000 km of sandy beach, 300 sunny days each year, splendid bays, green hills and snow and ice covered mountain tops - Languedoc-Roussillon: fascination of nature.

Grapes in the sunlight, mountaintop castles, strongholds and abbeys tell stories of the exciting history of this land extending from the river Rhône to the Pyrenees. The mild climate is one of its greatest features.

But there is much more to discover than sea and beaches. Sometimes you'll feel like travelling to far planets. Caves full of secrets, rugged gorges, torrents and strange formations of rocks will give wings to the traveller's phantasy in this old tilled land of the departement of the Aude.

Located between the Southern-West edge of the central massive and the Corbieres, the Northern branches of the Pyrenees, the plain of the Aude profits from the warm sun being reflected on the mountain edges. It is seldom raining and this seems to favour the grapes, prooven by quantity but also - in recent years - by quality of the wines produced in this region.

Along the seaside you'll find old fishing villages and modern holiday centres. And in many of the old villages such as Gruissan or Leucate fishing and shellfish breeding are still much more important than tourism. But the tourist is offered everything he or she will probably like: sports, nightlife, glamour, open-air cinemas, endless promenades, sun, beaches and the sea.

But there is much more to be discovered in the countryside: fascinating landscape, breath-taking gorges, ancient abbeys, beautiful villages,the old city of Narbonne, the former capitol of the Roman province «Provinica Gallia Narbonensis» and the two Unesco world heritages of the Departement Aude: Carcassonne, Europe's largest fortress city with 38 towers and - the masterpiece - called Canal du Midi.


The Relief is the characteristic of Languedoc-Roussillon and earmarks the North-South-Axis by rugged gorges and the sources of the big rivers in the « Pays des Gorges ». The Pays de Causses is dominated by karsty, treeless plateaus, where only the goates live; what a difference to the forests of Montagne Noir or Laucane. The hills of the Gascogne and the valley of the Garonne seem to bank up the heat during summer. The foothills impress with endless forests, the unique panorama of the Pyreness and the mountain tops with the everlasting ice and snow.

The East-West direction is influenced by Mediterrenean and Atlantic climate. Not more than 20 frosty days per year in Carcassonne, but up to 40 in the outmost West of the Languedoc-Roussillon.

And the best way to discover all these different landscapes is to use a boat and cross the 300 years old Canal du Midi and the old, unique plane-trees. It is much more exerting to discover the unique South West of France along the legendary Pyrenees wandering route GR 10 from coast to coast, of which parts of it have been opened for bikers, horsemen and mountain-climbers.