What to see in Toulouse Place Capitol City Hall Salto
With over 470,000 inhabitants, Toulouse is the fourth most populated city in France. It is the third most populated city in terms of student population: there are over 100,000 of them! So if you are looking for something lively, this is the place for you. However, its historic centre is relatively small: you can get a good idea of it in one day.
First of all, Toulouse or Tolosa? In principle, in whatsapp number data Spanish it is Tolosa, its name in Occitan, but that translation is rarely used. Also, this way you won't get confused with the Guipuzcoan Tolosa, the one with the beans.
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If you want to know more about France in general while preparing your trip, take a look at our tips for travelling to France . And, so you don't just stay in the Occitan capital, take a look at our itinerary around Toulouse .
Index
The Place du Capitole and the Capitole : the first things to see in Toulouse
The Basilica of St-Sernin : Romanesque brick!
The Jacobin Convent: Toulouse's Gothic jewel
A walk through the historic centre in search of Renaissance palaces and towers
The Pink City of France from above: the Galeries Lafayette viewing platform
A morning or afternoon outside the city centre: the Cité de l'Espace or Aeroscopia
Enjoy the views of the banks of the Garonne and a cassoulet
Map with all the places to see in Toulouse in 1 day
The Place du Capitole and the Capitole : the first things to see in Toulouse
A good starting point for a visit to the historic centre of Toulouse is the Place du Capitole . Here stands the imposing building that gives it its name, the Capitole , home to the town hall and the National Theatre. Don't be fooled by its neoclassical façade, with its eight large columns of pink marble. Although it dates from the 18th century, the courtyard is from the 17th and the garden contains the remains of its oldest, medieval part.
What to see in Toulouse Town Hall Illustrious Room
Make the most of your time in the city: get a Toulouse Pass Tourisme and reserve your place on a free tour of Toulouse .
You should also not miss going inside and visiting its rooms. The most impressive, without a doubt, is the Sala dei Ilustri, decorated in the 19th century and inspired by the Galleria Farnese in Rome. Marble, gilded stucco, frescoes… horror vacui at its finest! Of course, there wasn’t that much money. Of all the columns in the room, only four, those at the entrance in the central part, are made of marble. The rest are made of stucco. The butterflies will tell you…
What to see in Toulouse Town Hall Hall of Illustrious People Butterfly Column
Corner Jump With Me
Almost on the corner of the square, at 8-10 rue Romiguières , stands the hotel Le Grand Balcon . The first aviators of the Aéropostale route, the first intercontinental mail route which crossed the desert, the ocean and the Andes in the 1920s and 1930s, slept here. One of its aviators was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince. What is now a 5-star hotel was then something like a hostel.
The Basilica of St-Sernin : Romanesque brick!
The Basilica of Saint-Sernin is another of the places you have to see in Toulouse . It won't be difficult to find it: its five-storey tower crowned by a spire does not go unnoticed. It took more than 250 years to build the basilica, from 1080 to the 13th century, but it maintained its Romanesque style. The curious thing is that instead of being built in stone, it is built in brick. Well, there is some stone, but not much: there were no quarries in the area. We had never seen a Romanesque church made of bricks!
What to See in Toulouse Basilica San Sernin Tower
Inside there are a few treasures: four 12th-century sarcophagi of the Counts of Toulouse, Romanesque and Gothic frescoes and, in the crypt, many relics. Among them are those of Saint Sernin or Saint Saturnin of Toulouse , the first bishop of Toulouse in the 3rd century. The basilica is dedicated to him.
What to See in Toulouse Basilica San Sernin Interior
Did you know that…?
The basilica was once the church with the most relics after St. Peter's, which made it a key stop on the Camino de Santiago. Today it remains a stop on one of the French routes and, as such, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition, it is the largest Romanesque building in France and the entire West, which is no small feat!
The Jacobin Convent: Toulouse's Gothic jewel
The Capitole is the neoclassical emblem of the Occitan capital and St-Sernin is the Romanesque one. Now, to complete the trio of must-sees in Toulouse, we go to its Gothic jewel: Les Jacobins . To be more exact, the convent complex of the Jacobins, founded in the 13th century by Saint Dominic de Guzman himself, father of the Dominican order.
