Tarn-et-Garonne in 4 days

Completed in 1100, according to an inscription on one pillar, it is among the oldest carved Romanesque cloisters, with 76 capitals, many telling Bible stories.

A village on a bluff above the Garonne, one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France, with arcaded houses around a rare circular grain hall.

A bastide founded in 1276, keeping its grid plan, its vast 14th-century market hall and a brick church begun around 1280.

In Montauban's former bishop's palace, reopened in 2019: Ingres's own bequest of drawings, Bourdelle's sculpture, and the violin behind the French phrase for a hobby.

With Septfonds, a straw hat centre since the 19th century, where family firms still make boaters and wide-brimmed hats; factory shops show the wooden moulds.

Between Saint-Antonin and Bruniquel, the river cuts through limestone cliffs and oak woods, passing below the ruined castle of Penne, with climbers and canoeists.

A medieval town of lanes and half-timbered houses below the Roc d'Anglars, whose 12th-century Romanesque house is among France's oldest civic buildings.

Two castles share one courtyard above the Aveyron: the Old Castle, 13th century, and the Young Castle, built 1485 to 1510.