Toulouse: 6 reasons to fall in love

Toulouse is a city with a thousand faces that is not so keen to reveal all its secrets. Bricks have given the “ville rose” (pink city) its unique character and allow Toulouse to constantly play with the light, and change colours to offer the visitor a palette of charms, alternating between pink, orange and red.

Fine food is of course an integral part of the Toulousain lifestyle! The cuisine of the southwest is a combination of local flavours and an ancestral savoir-faire. As soon as the fine weather arrives, many cafés set out their terraces in the semi-pedestrian streets of the city centre. Restaurants fill up, and people stroll through the streets. A number of districts are very busy, such as Place Wilson, Place Saint- Georges, Place Saint-Pierre and Place de la Trinité. Street musicians arrive in the summer to play their lively tunes. Celebration always rhymes with conviviality here – “convivenca” in Occitan.

Few people are aware of Toulouse’s classical heritage from the Renaissance and its remarkable monuments. The city has indeed the largest number of private mansions from the first half of the 16th century. During this period, the pastel merchants, who had built up vast fortunes, acquired “townhouses” inspired by the splendour of the Italian Renaissance, often crowned with a tower, a symbol of power and a sign of recognition of the city’s major personalities. 

Toulouse’s role in the aeronautics industry began with Pierre-Georges Latécoère, who set up his factory in the city in 1917. In 1927, he founded Aéropostale, using former war planes to take the mail from Toulouse to Dakar and then South America. Today in Toulouse, the satellites that the Ariane rocket releases into orbit are designed and assembled in the workshops at the National Space Research Centre (CNES). The city is now ranked as the world’s 2nd biggest space centre and Europe’s leading aeronautics centre. Home of Airbus, with a large number of cutting-edge industries operating in fields such as IT and space. With collections of legendary aircraft at the Aeroscopia Museum, the remembrance space dedicated to the first pilots of the Aeropostale at l’Envol des pionniers, visits to Airbus assembly lines and stargazing, simulators and immersive shows with cutting edge technology at the Cité de l’espace, Toulouse is a stopping point that lovers of technology and space exploration should not miss!

It is very often sunny here. Take your pleasure where you find it – chatting on the terrace of a café, stumbling upon the charm of a ‘place’ or the cool freshness of a fountain, walking around the shopping streets… Toulouse has been able to preserve both density and diversity in its shopping centre. Covered and open-air markets add to the ambiance, bringing together odours and flavours for the customers’ pleasure. In the “ville rose”, shopping is the pleasure of seeing, hearing, and exchanging – in the widest sense of the word. Away from the fuzz, don’t miss the serenity to be found on the quays of the Garonne and the banks of the Canal du Midi (listed as a “World Heritage” site). 

With 57 flight routes over the world leading to Toulouse, hotels that can provide great deals during summer months and on weekends, if you’re looking for a weekend getaway with cheap last minute flights, take a look at Toulouse! The Ville Rose is as welcoming as its climate: a rendezvous with conviviality and art de vivre awaits you at this destination. The city provides a wide range of tourist activities that can be explored without delay thanks to the Toulouse Tourism pass (numerous free offers and discounts, free public transport including the airport shuttle)...