705km (438 miles) SW of Paris; 245km (152 miles) SE of Bordeaux; 97km (60 miles) W of Carcassonne
As the old capital of Languedoc and France's fourth-largest city, Toulouse (known as la ville en rose, or the city in pink) is the major city of the southwest, and the gateway to the Pyrenees mountain range. It is an ancient city with a stormy history: Once it was the capital of the Visigoths and later the center of the comtes de Toulouse (counts of Toulouse). The city has 20 historic pipe organs, more than any other city in France, and hosts an annual international organ festival.
Complimenting this distinguished history, Toulouse is also a city of the future and the high-tech center of the aerospace industry in France. It is home to two huge aircraft makers -- Airbus and Aérospatiale -- and the National Center for Space Research has been headquartered here for more than 3 decades. The first regularly scheduled airline flights from France took off from the local airport in the 1920s. Today long-range passenger planes of the Airbus consortium, the most important rivals in the world to Boeing, are assembled in a gargantuan hangar in the suburb of Colombiers. In 1997, Toulouse launched an air and space museum. The extraordinarily high population of students, some 110,000 out of a population of more than 800,000, also contributes to the pulse of the city.
Toulouse Travel Experiences
-
Lazing about Toulouse
My trip to Toulouse was not a tourist trip, but rather a social trip to visit my friend Sarah who had been studying abroad there since th... Continue reading »
-
Day 44: Toulouse
Toulouse, France today is warm, about 28oC and sunny. With our map we walk to the Saint Serin Basilica. The lanes and avenues twist and c... Continue reading »
-
Day 45: Cite de L’Espace
Waking to discover that we slept in, and we had less than one hour to check out put us in a flat panic packing and dressing, loading the... Continue reading »
-
La petite ville
Que dire de Toulouse dont la pluspart des gens ne conaissent que la saucisse? Dans un premier temps on pourrait parler de la taille... Continue reading »
Popular Toulouse Hotels
- Crowne Plaza Toulouse
- Crowne Plaza Hotel TOULOUSE
- Novotel Toulouse Centre Compans Caffarelli
- Hotel Des Ambassadeurs
- PHOENICIA
- Appart city Toulouse Hippodrome
- Pullman Toulouse Aéroport
- Kyriad Toulouse Centre
- Kyriad Toulouse Centre
- Comfort hotel Le Clocher de Rodez Toulouse centre
