Capitole and the centre
First-timersAround the main square: the town hall, the shops, the metro and most of the beds.
Toulouse city guide
Things To Do In Toulouse
The pink city: terracotta brick instead of limestone, a hundred and thirty thousand students, aerospace factories on the edge, and the best value of any major French city.
8
Hostels in the city
7.6
Average, from 6,901 reviews
130,000
Students, in a city of half a million
1681
The Canal du Midi completed
€4
A glass of wine in most bars
Brick, students and aeroplanes
Toulouse is built from terracotta brick rather than stone, because the Garonne valley has clay and no quarries, and the whole city glows pink and orange in late light. La Ville Rose is not a marketing line, it is a description.
It has about a hundred and thirty thousand students, one of the largest concentrations in Europe, which sets the price of everything downwards and fills the bars on a Tuesday.
It is also where Europe builds aeroplanes. Airbus assembles the A320 and A350 here, and the factory tours are the reason a certain kind of visitor comes at all.
The Canal du Midi, finished in 1681 and UNESCO-listed, starts in the city and runs to the Mediterranean, shaded by plane trees the whole way.
Basilique Saint-Sernin is the largest surviving Romanesque church in Europe and a stop on the pilgrim route to Santiago. Two days.
Where to stay
A flat brick centre on a river bend, walkable end to end in half an hour.
Saint-Cyprien
Local and cheaperAcross the Garonne: a working neighbourhood with markets, good cheap food and a bridge into the centre.
Carmes and Saint-Étienne
Quiet and handsomeSouth-east: brick mansions, antique shops, the daily Carmes market and calmer streets.
Saint-Pierre and the quays
NightlifeNorth-west on the river: the student bar quarter, loud every night in term, right on the water.
Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 5 top-rated hostels. Map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Things to do
Things to do in Toulouse
Basilique Saint-Sernin is the largest surviving Romanesque church in Europe, built from the eleventh century as a stop on the Santiago pilgrim route, and it is free to enter. The scale inside is the thing.
The Couvent des Jacobins holds the relics of Thomas Aquinas under a single column whose vaulting fans out like a palm tree, and it is one of the most beautiful interiors in France. About €5.
For aerospace: the Airbus factory tour, roughly €20 to €40 depending on which tour, takes you into the assembly lines and must be booked weeks ahead with photo ID. Cité de l'Espace, about €26, is the space museum on the edge of the city with real launch hardware.
Walk the Canal du Midi from the city out — it runs under plane trees for kilometres and is free.
Then sit on the Place du Capitole or the quays at sunset, when the brick turns properly pink.
Free things
Free things to do in Toulouse
Saint-Sernin is free, and so are the city's other churches including the strange brick cathedral with two mismatched halves.
The Place du Capitole and the town hall's painted halls are free to walk into when not in use.
The Canal du Midi towpath runs from the centre out of the city under plane trees, free and flat, and is the best walk or cycle here.
The quays along the Garonne and the Prairie des Filtres, a riverside meadow, are free and are where the city sits in summer.
Several municipal museums have free permanent collections, and the Jardin des Plantes and the Japanese garden cost nothing.
Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Toulouse
South-western cooking, which means duck in most forms. Cassoulet — white beans, sausage, duck confit, baked slowly — is the regional dish and costs €16 to €24. It is very heavy and a lunch rather than a dinner proposition.
Saucisse de Toulouse, a coarse pork sausage, turns up everywhere including in the cassoulet.
Marché Victor Hugo is the covered market, and the restaurants on its first floor serve lunch from the stalls below at €15 to €22 — the best-value good meal in the city.
The student population keeps prices down: a lunch formule is €12 to €17 and plenty of places do less.
A glass of wine is about €4 and a beer €4 to €6, among the cheapest in urban France.
Nightlife
Going out in Toulouse
One of the best student nights in France, and one of the cheapest.
Saint-Pierre on the river is the epicentre — a square and a quay lined with bars, packed every night in term, with the Garonne and the old bridge in front of it.
Place Saint-Georges and the Carmes streets have the more grown-up bars, and Saint-Cyprien across the river has the neighbourhood ones.
A beer is €4 to €6 and cocktails €7 to €11, and student nights push it lower still.
Rugby is the civic religion here rather than football, and Stade Toulousain matchdays fill the bars from early afternoon.
The metro runs to about midnight, later at weekends.
Getting around
Getting around Toulouse
Metro, tram and bus run on one ticket at about €1.80, with day tickets available. Two metro lines cover the centre.
The city is flat and the centre is walkable in half an hour end to end.
The airport is 30 minutes by tram for about €9.
Trains reach Bordeaux in two hours and Paris in four and a half by TGV — flying is often quicker and sometimes cheaper from here, which is unusual in France.
Carcassonne is an hour by train, the Pyrenees about two, and the Canal du Midi runs east towards the Mediterranean with a cycle path alongside it the whole way.
Costs
What Toulouse costs
The best value of any major French city. Dorms are €18 to €32, a lunch formule €12 to €17, and a beer €4 to €6.
A day is €40 to €75.
The student population is why, and term time from September to June is when the cheap options are all open.
Saint-Sernin, the canal and the riverside cost nothing. The spends are the Airbus tour at €20 to €40 and Cité de l'Espace at about €26, and both are worth it if aerospace is your reason for coming.
Paris is four and a half hours away by train, so flying in is often the sensible approach.
Safety
Staying safe in Toulouse
Toulouse is a safe city and the crime affecting visitors is petty theft.
Pickpocketing happens on the metro, around Matabiau station and in the Capitole crowds.
The station area and parts of Arnaud-Bernard are scruffier at night without being dangerous, and Saint-Pierre gets extremely drunk at weekends in term.
The Garonne is fast and has strong currents, and the quays at Saint-Pierre are open to the water directly beside the bars. It is not a river to be near after drinking.
Summers are genuinely hot, regularly above 35°C in July and August, and the brick holds the heat well into the evening. Emergency number is 112.
Day trips from Toulouse
A walled city, a canal and the Pyrenees.
Carcassonne
A double-walled medieval citadel, heavily restored in the nineteenth century and unlike anything else in France. Go early or late.
Albi
A brick cathedral city on the Tarn, UNESCO-listed, with the Toulouse-Lautrec museum in the bishop's palace.
Canal du Midi by bike
The towpath runs east from the city under plane trees, flat and shaded the whole way.
The Pyrenees
Mountains, caves and castles, with hiking in summer and skiing in winter.
What's on
What is on while you are there
Rugby all winter, and a violet festival in February.
Staff pick
26 Nov – 28 Dec
Toulouse Christmas Market
Set against the rosy-hued architecture of Toulouse, France’s famed ‘pink city,’ the Toulouse Christmas Market transforms Place du Capitole into a festive wonderland each…
Staff pick
30 May – 20 Oct
Swan Lake
Swan Lake is a classical ballet in two acts performed by the Paris Ballet Theater company. The story follows Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette,…
Staff pick
7–18 October
Toulouse les Orgues
Toulouse les Orgues is a renowned international festival celebrating the rich tradition and artistry of organ music. Each year, the event brings together acclaimed…
1 October
Djadja & Dinaz
Djadja & Dinaz have established themselves as a key duo in French rap since their start in 2014, with certified albums and millions of…
5 October
Placebo
Placebo celebrates 30 years of music with a European and UK tour in 2026, performing songs from their first two albums, including rare tracks…
8–11 October
Mecanik Paradize
Mecanik Paradize 2026 is a music festival held outdoors at the Halle de La Machine in Toulouse. The event spans three evenings and one…
30 October
Orelsan
Orelsan returns with a brand new tour full of surprises and an even stronger, unexpected show. The 2026 tour promises to be a major…
9 November
Gims
GIMS will perform live at Zénith Toulouse Métropole in Toulouse on November 9, 2026. The concert starts at 8:00 PM and showcases his popular…
Hostels
Where to stay in Toulouse
A small scene at the lowest big-city prices in France, mostly central. Live from Hostelworld.
When to go
April to June and September to October. July and August are very hot and the students are gone.
Jan
Mild and wet. Cheapest beds, students in, bars full
Feb
Grey and quiet outdoors, busy indoors
Mar
Warming. The canal and quays come back
Apr
Very good. Warm days and everything open
May
Excellent. Terraces and long evenings
Jun
The best month. Students still in until late June
Jul
Hot, above 35°C often. Students gone and many places shut
Aug
Hotter and quieter still. The least good month
Sep
Superb. Term restarts and the city refills
Oct
Very good value and still warm
Nov
Wet and grey. Rugby season in full swing
Dec
Mild and wet. Christmas market on the Capitole
Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets:
quiet
busy
peak
Average highs. The student calendar matters more here than the weather: from July to early September the city loses a third of its population and a lot of its cheap places close with them.
What your trip will cost
Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in euros.
The cheapest major city in France. The Airbus tour and Cité de l'Espace sit outside these figures at €20 to €40 each.
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- Beds—
- Food and drink—
- Getting around—
- Doing things—
Toulouse travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
Why is it called the pink city?
Because it is built from terracotta brick rather than stone — the Garonne valley has clay and no quarries. The whole centre turns pink and orange in late afternoon light, and the effect is genuinely striking rather than a marketing claim.
Can I tour the Airbus factory?
Yes, and it is the reason a lot of people come. Tours run roughly €20 to €40 depending on which one, they must be booked weeks ahead, photo ID is required, and children under six are not admitted.
Is Toulouse cheap?
The best value of any major French city. Dorms €18 to €32, beer €4 to €6, a glass of wine about €4, and a day around €40 to €75. A hundred and thirty thousand students are why.
What should I eat?
Cassoulet — white beans, sausage and duck confit baked slowly — at €16 to €24, and treat it as lunch because it is extremely heavy. The first-floor restaurants above Marché Victor Hugo serve the best-value good meal in the city at €15 to €22.
Is Carcassonne worth the trip?
Yes, an hour by train for about €18. It is a double-walled medieval citadel, heavily restored in the nineteenth century, and it is unlike anything else in France. Go early or late — the middle of the day in summer is unpleasant.
When should I avoid?
July and August. It is regularly above 35°C, the brick holds the heat into the night, and the students are gone along with a lot of the cheap places that make the city good.
What is there beyond the university?
Aerospace, mostly — Airbus assembles the A320 and A350 here and Cité de l'Espace is on the edge of town. Plus Saint-Sernin, the largest Romanesque church in Europe, and the Canal du Midi running out of the city towards the Mediterranean.
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