Albi and the Tarn Valley in 4 days
Albi's brick cathedral of Sainte-Cécile, often called the largest in the world, hides one of the great sets of Renaissance painting in France under its vault. Thirty kilometres upstream, at Ambialet, the Tarn loops around a ridge of schist and almost meets itself again. The town and the valley fit in the same stay.
The plan, day by day
Day 1
- Morning
Sainte-Cécile Cathedralabout 2 hMore fortress than church, with walls 2.5 metres thick at the base and a 78-metre tower, built from 1282 to around 1480.
- Afternoon
The Toulouse-Lautrec Museum and the Palais de la Berbieabout 2 hOver a thousand works by Toulouse-Lautrec, the largest public collection of his art, in a thirteenth-century bishops' fortress.
- Late afternoon
The Pont-Vieux and the Tarn riverbanksfree · about 30 minA bridge begun in 1035 and still carrying traffic nearly a thousand years later, with the riverbanks below for a walk.
Day 2
- Morning
The Ambialet peninsulafree · about 1 h 30The Tarn swings round a hard schist ridge in a 3-kilometre loop and returns within a few dozen metres of where it started.
- Afternoon
Villeneuve-sur-Tarn and its 25 totemsfree · about 1 hA small village on the left bank of the Tarn, in the commune of Curvalle, worth an hour rather than a drive-through.
Day 3
- Morning
The river beach at Trébas-les-Bainsfree · half a dayA former spa village whose baths ran from 1843 to 1975; today people come for its supervised river beach, with step-free access.
- Late afternoon
Greschny's frescoes in Alban churchfree · about 30 minThe plain church of Notre-Dame d'Alban is painted inside with neo-Byzantine frescoes by Nicolaï Greschny, an Estonian-born icon painter settled nearby.
Day 4
- Morning
Lake Razisse and the Mont-Roc viewpointfree · about 1 hA reservoir formed in 1954 when a dam flooded a bend of the Dadou, set among the woods of the Monts de l'Albigeois.
Where to sleep in Albi and the Tarn Valley
- Hôtel du Parc · €72 a night
- Hôtel Le Rochegude · €78 a night
- Hôtel Les Pasteliers · €76 a night
- Hostellerie du Grand Saint-Antoine · €110 a night
- Grand Hôtel d'Orléans · €98 a night
- Hôtel Chiffre · €100 a night
- Hôtel Alchimy · €165 a night
- Hôtel Lapérouse · €140 a night
- Kassiopée Bed & Spa · €185 a night
Plan this trip
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