Tarn-et-Garonne

Moissac Cloister

The Abbey of Saint-Pierre in Moissac dates back to the 7th century, even if legend has it founded by Clovis in 506. Attached to Cluny in 1048 under Abbot Durand de Bredon, it became one of the great monasteries of south-west France, and the cloister, completed in 1100, dates from this period. Its four galleries rest on 116 slender columns, alternately single and paired, which carry 76 capitals, 47 of them historiated: scenes from the Old and New Testaments, lives of saints, animals and plant motifs. At the corners and in the middle of the galleries, pillars bear reliefs of apostles, including one of Abbot Durand. The south portal of the abbey church, carved around 1110-1130, shows in its tympanum the vision of the Apocalypse according to Saint John: Christ in Majesty, the symbols of the Evangelists and the twenty-four crowned Elders holding musical instruments and cups. The whole site has been a World Heritage Site since 1998. In the church, the Cavaillé-Coll organ dates from 1863. Take the audio guide or the 2.30pm guided tour to decipher the capitals.

Musée Ingres Bourdelle

The museum occupies Montauban's former bishop's palace, a 17th-century brick building at the end of the Pont-Vieux, on the foundations of an older castle. Ingres, born in Montauban in 1780, bequeathed much of his studio collection to his home town, and the museum therefore holds some 4,500 of his drawings, making it the largest collection of the artist's work in the world; only part of it is on show at any one time, on rotation, for conservation reasons. You can also see paintings, personal belongings and the famous violin behind the French expression violon d'Ingres, meaning a cherished hobby. Antoine Bourdelle, also born in Montauban, in 1861, is represented by a collection of bronze and plaster sculptures. After a long renovation, the museum reopened in December 2019 with a redesigned layout and underground galleries. It is closed on Mondays. Make the most of your visit with a stroll round Place Nationale and its double brick arcades, a few minutes' walk away.

Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val

Saint-Antonin grew up at the confluence of the Bonnette and the Aveyron, on the border between the Quercy and the Rouergue, around a Benedictine abbey founded in the 8th century and recorded in 817, which was one of the three great abbeys of the Rouergue alongside Conques and Vabres. The town, which had as many as 5,600 inhabitants in 1793, now has just under 2,000. Its medieval centre, with lanes eight centuries old, is lined with pointed arches, timber framing, covered passages and many protected houses. The Romanesque house, a former viscount's palace turned town hall, dates from the 12th century and is one of the oldest civic buildings in France; Viollet-le-Duc restored it from 1846 onwards. Above the town, the cliffs of the Roc d'Anglars are used for climbing, and the commune has three Natura 2000 sites. The Sunday morning market is one of the busiest in the region. On the banks of the Aveyron, several outfits hire out canoes in season.

Châteaux de Bruniquel

Tradition credits the Merovingian queen Brunhilda, around 600, with founding the village and a first castle, on a site already occupied by a fortified Roman camp. On its ruins, the present old castle rose in the 13th century, owned by the Counts of Toulouse and lived in by the Viscounts of Bruniquel. In the 15th century, a rival branch of the family obtained a share of the lands and built its own castle right next door, between 1485 and 1510: the young castle. The two families would quarrel for three centuries. The old castle, lived in until 1980, retains the knights' hall, a state room remodelled in the 17th century and a gallery that overhangs the Aveyron by 90 metres; terraced gardens surround them. Since September 2026, the old castle has been closed for roof repairs, and only the young castle remains open. One room displays prehistoric remains found in the rock shelters at the foot of the cliffs, and another, photos from the 1975 filming of Le Vieux Fusil, with Romy Schneider and Philippe Noiret. The village of Bruniquel, with its stone houses and steep lanes, is worth lingering in after the visit.

Auvillar

Auvillar occupies a rocky promontory on the left bank of the Garonne, between Agen and Montauban. Settled as early as Gallo-Roman times, the site became a medieval stronghold and then a busy river port; the village had more than 2,500 inhabitants in 1821, against fewer than 900 today. Its heart is a triangular square lined with arcaded houses, in the middle of which stands a circular grain hall built in 1830, ringed with columns. The clock tower, from the time of Louis XIV, marks the entrance to the old town; the church of Saint-Pierre, a former Benedictine priory from the 12th to the 14th century, and the 14th-century Sainte-Catherine chapel down by the port round out the heritage. During the Second World War, the village convent hid some forty Jewish children, and two nuns have been recognised as Righteous Among the Nations. Auvillar has been one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France since 1994 and remains a much-anticipated stop for pilgrims on the Via Podiensis. In the evening, the square empties and the low-angled light gilds the façades.

Beaumont-de-Lomagne

Beaumont-de-Lomagne is a bastide founded in 1276 by a paréage agreement between the Cistercian abbey of Grandselve and King Philip III the Bold, represented by the seneschal of Toulouse. The town, population 3,800, has kept its regular plan and, in the centre, a large 14th-century market hall, one of the most remarkable in south-west France, where the market is still held. The church of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption, in southern Gothic style, was begun around 1280. Pierre de Fermat, the magistrate and mathematician whose last theorem was only proved in 1994, was born in Beaumont; his birthplace houses an exhibition space devoted to his life and to mathematics, with activities for children. The Lomagne, between the Garonne and the Gers, is also the home of Lomagne white garlic, which has protected geographical indication and long made the town's fairs famous. The landscapes of hillsides, sunflowers and wheat, sometimes compared to Tuscany, are best explored by car or bike along the back roads.