Perpignan & Collioure

The capital of French Catalonia, where the Palace of the Kings of Majorca overlooks the old town, with Collioure, the little port beloved of the Fauvists, to the south and a UNESCO-listed walled village and the Little Yellow Train to the west.

Perpignan is the capital of the Pyrénées-Orientales department and the cultural heart of Northern Catalonia (Roussillon), just 30 km from the Spanish border; road signs are often in both French and Catalan. The city has the Palace of the Kings of Majorca, the red-brick Castillet gate, the Cathedral of Saint-Jean and the Musée Hyacinthe Rigaud, and the old town is easily explored on foot. Thirty kilometres south is the Côte Vermeille: Collioure, birthplace of Fauvism, with its bell tower and castle, the fishing port of Port-Vendres, the Cap Béar lighthouse and the Banyuls marine reserve; to the north and east are the Fortress of Salses and the long beaches of Argelès and Canet. Heading west up the Têt valley you reach the UNESCO-listed walled village of Villefranche-de-Conflent, the Little Yellow Train, the Canigou massif and Romanesque mountain abbeys, while to the northwest are the Gorges de Galamus and the Tautavel Museum of Prehistory (Cathar castles such as Peyrepertuse and Quéribus are covered under the Carcassonne destination, but can also be reached by car from here). The climate is typically Mediterranean and sunny; May–Jun and Sep–Oct are the best times to visit, while Jul–Aug brings crowds to the coast and high accommodation prices. Getting there: the TGV from Paris takes about 5 hours and high-speed trains from Barcelona about 1.5 hours, and Perpignan has a small airport; trains serve the coastal towns, but the mountains and castles require a car. Allow 3–4 days: 1 day for Perpignan's old town, 1 day for Collioure and the Côte Vermeille, 1 day for Villefranche and the Little Yellow Train, plus an optional drive to Canigou or the gorges.

Top sights

• Palace of the Kings of Majorca – The mainland palace of the short-lived 13th-century Kingdom of Majorca. Its Gothic two-storey chapel and towers offer views over all of Per…
• Le Castillet – The red-brick city gate landmark of Perpignan. The only surviving gate of the medieval city walls, it houses a Catalan folk museum.
• Collioure – A small Mediterranean port and birthplace of Fauvism, with colorful houses, a seaside bell tower and a castle that together make it one of…
• Villefranche-de-Conflent – A walled town designed under Vauban, one of the “Fortifications of Vauban” World Heritage sites, and the starting point of the Yellow Train.
• Le Train Jaune – France’s highest-altitude narrow-gauge electric railway. It crosses viaducts and suspension bridges on its way from Villefranche to the Cer…
• Perpignan Cathedral – A 14th–16th-century cathedral in the southern Gothic style, with an exterior of alternating cobblestones and red brick and an interior with…
• Campo Santo of Perpignan – One of the few surviving medieval cloister cemeteries in France, surrounded by marble arcades, and used for exhibitions and open-air concer…
• Musée Hyacinthe Rigaud – Perpignan's municipal art museum, centered on the works of Hyacinthe Rigaud, court painter to Louis XIV, and also holding works by Picasso…
• Notre-Dame-des-Anges, Collioure – The landmark domed bell-tower church on the seafront at Collioure, whose tower was once a lighthouse and is among the most frequently paint…
• Château Royal de Collioure – A seaside castle standing in the middle of the harbor, expanded over the centuries by the Templars, the kings of Majorca and Vauban.
• Fort Saint-Elme – A star-shaped fortress built in the 16th century by Charles V, perched on the hilltop between Collioure and Port-Vendres, with excellent vi…
• Port-Vendres – A deep-water fishing port next to Collioure, with colorful fishing boats, seafood restaurants and a 19th-century obelisk, and fewer tourist…
• Cap Béar – A headland and lighthouse on the vermilion coast, with a cliff path offering views of the entire stretch from Collioure to the Spanish bord…
• Cerbère-Banyuls Marine Reserve & Underwater Trail – France's earliest marine nature reserve, where you can snorkel along a buoyed underwater trail in summer and see Mediterranean fish and sea…
• Argelès-sur-Mer Beach – One of the most popular beaches in Roussillon, with a long sandy stretch to the north and the Racou beach to the south, where the rocky ver…
• Canet-Plage – The beach closest to Perpignan, about 12 km from the city center, with a long sandy shore, a yacht harbor and an aquarium.
• Elne Cathedral & Cloister – An 11th-century Romanesque cathedral with an exquisitely carved cloister, a masterpiece of Roussillon's Romanesque art.
• Fort de Salses – A transitional 15th-century fortress built by the Spanish, with thick walls partly sunk into the ground to meet the age of artillery, and r…
• Fort Libéria – A hilltop fortress overlooking the town of Villefranche-de-Conflent, designed by Vauban, reached from town by a 1,000-step underground stai…
• Canalettes Caves – Stalactite caves next to Villefranche-de-Conflent, filled with snow-white crystal formations and helictites, with concerts held inside in s…
• Abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou – An 11th-century Romanesque monastery built on a cliff on the flank of Mount Canigou, reached by a roughly 40-minute hike uphill.
• Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa – A pre-Romanesque monastery dating to before the 10th century, with rare horseshoe arches and an imposing bell tower, and part of its cloist…
• Pic du Canigou – The sacred mountain of the Catalans, rising to 2,784 meters, visible from the Mediterranean coast and climbable on foot in summer.
• Céret Museum of Modern Art – A modern art museum in the small town that was the cradle of Cubism, with works by Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and Soutine.
• Orgues d'Ille-sur-Têt – Columns of soil eroded by rain into shapes like organ pipes, forming a miniature version of an American Western canyon.
• Serrabone Priory – A small Romanesque priory hidden in the mountains, famous for a pulpit carved from pink marble, a masterpiece of Roussillon's Romanesque sc…
• Tautavel Prehistory Museum – A European prehistory center displaying the remains and living scenes of 'Tautavel Man,' who lived about 450,000 years ago, located in wine…
• Gorges de Galamus – A deep, narrow gorge carved by the Agly River, with a cliff road and the Saint-Antoine hermitage built into the rock face, both breathtakin…
• Château de Peyrepertuse – The ruins of a Cathar castle perched on an 800-meter limestone ridge, grand in scale and known as the 'Carcassonne of the sky.'
• Château de Quéribus – The last Cathar stronghold, built on the summit of a 728-meter solitary peak, where the castle and cliff merge, with views over the Roussil…

Where to eat

• La Galinette – One-star Michelin restaurant in Perpignan where the chef grows two hectares of organic produce, with creative cooking c…
• La Balette – Collioure's only Michelin one-star restaurant, with a terrace overlooking the bay and creative cooking built on local R…
• Manat – Michelin Bib Gourmand bistro run by a French-Japanese couple, serving sharing plates that combine Catalan ingredients w…
• Casa Sansa – Claims to date back to 1846, a classic spot in Perpignan's old town for Catalan home cooking.
• Le Neptune – Panoramic terrace restaurant overlooking Collioure Bay, where you can watch the Château Royal lit up at night; known fo…
• Le Trémail – Affordable seafood eatery in Collioure's old town, serving local anchovies, grilled sardines and fisherman's stew.

Itineraries

• Languedoc Castles to Roussillon Coast – Head south from Montpellier to Perpignan, connecting canals, Cathar castles, and the small port of Collioure.
• Barcelona to Nice South France Panorama – Cross the French Mediterranean coast, connecting cities by train and renting a car for the Provence segment.