The Occitanie region email

Yes, I fully acknowledge this title doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as most of my other emails. Normally it’s an exciting city we all known about! The Occitanie region? You’re thinking: Come on Tahlia! But where I get tripped up is that we weren’t exploring Provence (only really brushing along the edges) and “Southern France” just felt like a huge cop out. So we’re going specific! Toulouse is the capital of the Occitanie region and it is big enough and fabulous enough to warrant it’s own email. Please head over here for my recommendations for Toulouse! For this email I am going to share my highlights of the smaller cities and towns we visited on a four night road trip from Toulouse.

Exploring the Occitanie region was honestly magical. You will need a rental car but the roads are bigger and easier than most of Italy, Montenegro or Croatia. So if you’ve survived those countries you are more than ready! Occitanie was my favourite type of travel – nothing is an highlight, and everything is a highlight. Which means that everything you do will be great but if you miss something – you’re not missing a big bucket list tick moment. You can head home early for an afternoon snooze or a bag of cherries on your balcony – because both those things are what exploring the South of France is all about. Slow it down a little and spend time exploring Occitanie!

To visit this pocked of the world, you’re likely to fly into Toulouse. We landed late on a Friday night and instead of dealing with the chaos of getting into the city we headed to an airport hotel instead. This made for a better night’s sleep and an easy Saturday morning visit to the airport car rental ahead of starting our trip!

I found this trip really difficult to plan as when you’re googling options in the South of France big names like Marseille, Saint-Tropez and Nice dominate the airwaves and unfortunately they were just a little further than we had time for. We also agreed that we did want to explore that pocket, but that it was best visited from the Marseille airport (and potentially depart from Nice airport to save yourself the back track). I hope this post will help you consider your options for exploring this truly beautiful pocket of the world.

Our road trip through the Occitanie region reminded us of our honeymoon in Puglia, where there are no “must visits” but everything is beautiful and you’ll find lovely things to see. What that does for me is take a lot of pressure off – it doesn’t matter if you miss a town or a sight as there will be more to see! Having said that – please don’t miss Arles…!

Montpellier

This was our first stop from the Toulouse airport and is whilst it is one of the largest cities in France, you want to be based in the relatively condensed historical city centre. Montpellier is a city for slow strolling with highlights including the Place de la Comédie, Montpellier Cathedral and Les Halles Castellane. The city is very romantic so make sure you head out for a pre or post dinner stroll.

It was outrageously hot on our day in Montpellier so we didn’t brave the longer walk to Jardin des Plantes de Montpellier but they do come recommended. It is apparently one of the oldest botanical gardens in France.

Multiple blogs raved about Le Petit Jardin restaurant. Whilst the location is beautiful in a garden courtyard, both the food and the service left much to be desired… Our meal felt like a comedy of errors.

I absolutely loved our accommodation – we stayed at Hotel du Palais which was very charming and super central. If you stay with Hotel du Palais, drinks around the corner at Comptoir de L’Arc where great.

Nîmes

The Occitanie region of France is filled with Roman ruins and Jono is a big fan of looking at old Roman things. However, with arenas in both Nîmes and Arles we needed to pick one. After excessive googling, it seems the Arena in Nîmes was better preserved and had more information so we went with this one. This was the most helpful article on working out which to choose.

The Arena was constructed around 70 AD for Roman gladiator fights, then used as a fortification settlement in the Middle Ages and finally converted into a bullring in 1863. We got the audio guide and spent a good hour exploring the Arena. We opted for the three sites ticket so we could visit the La Maison Carrée and the Tour Magne. I wouldn’t suggest buying the three sites tickets as you really only need to go into the Arena, the other two are more than good enough from the outside. And to be honest, you could skip the Tour Magne entirely.

After exploring the Arena, head up the Canal de la Fontaine for a lovely shaded walk to the Jardin de La Fontaine. This is a beautiful 18th century park with a large Roman fountain.

(Fun fact: Denim was actually invented in Nîmes. That’s how denim got it’s name: de Nîmes means “from Nîmes.”)

Avignon

Avignon was our key base in Occitanie where we stayed for two nights at Le Petit Avignon. The accommodation was central, well priced, beautiful and came with a big communal kitchen. We found it was easy to get to neighbouring towns on our itinerary from Avignon and I would definitely visit again.

Avignon was the former home of Roman Catholicism (I know! Europe is wild!) back in the 1300s so their key draw card is the Palais des Papes. The huge Gothic palace is beautiful and we spent time wondering around the outside. Based on google, the interior is empty but you use a “histopad” to show you what the rooms used to look like. We’ve had the privilege of visiting a lot of historical fully furnished places and this just didn’t feel worth the admissions price for us.

The whole town is magical and I think more so in the evenings. Avignon definitely made a brilliant base for peaceful wondering in the evenings once the bulk of the tour groups left.

We also enjoyed two great restaurants. One very fancy – Pollen, a Michelin star spot with multiple delicious courses. And the other, La Brasserie De L’horloge, in the beautiful clock tower square which was more of a casual bistro. Whilst they were both great if I could only pick one, it would be La Brasserie De L’horloge! Whilst Pollen was fancy and special it didn’t wow us for the price. La Brasserie De L’horloge was perfection – friendly service, affordable house wine in 1 litre carafes, beautiful outdoor views and great simple food. I would highly recommend the lamb chops or bravette steak for mains. And definitely save room for their perfect chocolate mousse – not too sweet, not too dark, just perfect.

Le Sentier des Ocres

Beautiful former ochre quarry with walking paths through orange hills. It’s a relatively easy 30 minute round loop. I loved the beautiful colours and unique topography of the quarry. We understood there is a slightly longer trail at 50 minutes but this is only an extension of the 30 minute trail and the best parts of the walk are right at the start of both loops.

Hot tip: Do not wear white! Especially your poor white sneakers! Your shoes and clothes that touch the ochre will get stained.

Gordes + a side trip

Oof talk about a swing and a miss. This was the little town I was most excited about. I was promised a charming art filled cobbled lane tour straight from the pages of a children’s storybook. Instead it is heaving with tourists arriving on buses being sold copy paste touristy art. We really tried, we walked this town flat to try and find something charming and lovely. This is a huge skip on my list.

But all is not lost! Because you’ll want to be in this pocket of the Occitanie region for both Le Sentier des Ocres covered above and a little side trip to L’Abbaye de Senanque. If you’ve ever seen a photo with a field of lavender in front of an ancient monastery, you’re likely looking at a photo of L’Abbaye de Senanque, which is just 10 minutes outside of shitty Gordes.

I loved the chance to visit the lavender fields on a slightly smaller scale. We didn’t pay to go into Senanque Abbey as it didn’t seem worth it. But I enjoyed the chance to walk around the fields, take beautiful photos and marvel at the sheer number of butterflies in the lavender! People talk about the beauty of the lavender fields but no one tells you about all the butterflies!!

Carcassonne

The old town of Carcassonne was very much a quick stop for us before heading back to Toulouse. It is super super touristy. It kind of like walking around a movie set plus a whole bunch of people selling knight paraphernalia. If you’re tight on time, I’d skip Carcassonne. If you’re looking for a chance to stretch your legs, it’ll work. Be careful to put in “Carcassonne old town”, or your GPS will take you to the busy metropolitan city of Carcassone!

Arles – my highlight of the Occitanie region

THIS was probably my highlight of the Occitanie region. Honestly, absolutely magical! I feel a little emotional which is utterly ridiculous, I know. 2025 has been a big year of creative exploring for me and walking through a town that van Gogh loved, exploring his art and the sites that inspired it was very special.

So, Arles – you have two drawer cards here. One being the Arena but of course you’ve followed my lead by exploring the one in Nîmes. So really you only need a quick stroll by! The other is to explore the van Gogh trail. Vincent van Gogh only spent a year in Arles but created hundreds of artworks during his time here inspired both by the natural beauty and the charming pastel houses all through Arles. This was also the place where he lost his mind, cut off his ear and ended up in hospital. So not all charming…

There are a handful of free self guided tours to explore van Goghs spots. My favourite was by The Creative Adventurer who had lots of detailed information. I am a nerd, so yes I printed the guide out and really enjoyed having the pictures printed out to compare to the actual places. You’ll see brass plaques on the floor with van Gogh walking and whilst this is helpful for finding the right route there isn’t information at all sites so best to come prepared.

The first stop on the tour was The Alyscamps which was magical, and spooky and we had it completely to ourselves. This is a pay for entry stop but is well worth it in my books. Definitely make sure to wander all the way through and explore the church ruins at the back. Spooky!

The charming independent art shops I was desperately looking for in Gordes were plentiful in Arles. So definitely make sure to give yourself plenty of time to pop in and out of independent shops and boutiques along the trail. A true gem and one not to miss!