A tiny window of opportunity flashed open in my hectic summer schedule. As always, I grabbed it with both hands. Let’s head to France, I suggested. Flights to Carcassonne looked very reasonable, so I sorted them first. Now – where to base ourselves. I contacted a good friend in central Europe for his recommendations. “Have you tried Googling Carcassonne?” he asks. Within a day, I had booked a beautiful old-style French apartment with a terrace on AirBnB.

It’s not a huge town – population of under 50,000 – but the standout feature is obviously the old fortified town. Be under no illusions; in peak season, the fortified town is stuffed with tourists. So heed the advice of visiting early in the morning or later in the evening. You’ll enjoy it much more if you have a child to factor in, as we did. You’ll also avoid the worst of the summer heat – average summer temperatures can reach 28°C.

We visited the fortified town twice. The first time was the evening we arrived. It had been an early start for us and, with the early flight arrival, we had to wait for our apartment to be readied. But that meant we were able to enjoy the last of the flower, fruit and vegetable market which takes place at Place Carnot, Bastide Saint Louis (Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday 7am-1pm). Some beautiful sights, smells and scenes to be enjoyed here.

There is so much to this sleepy old French town. It would be an insult to call it quaint – that gives the impression that there’s nothing to do here. And the reality is the complete opposite. We are a young family with a four-year-old boy and we found plenty to occupy our time in the few days we were there.

La Bastide

We stayed centrally in La Bastide. There’s a myriad of streets, cafés, bars and restaurants to discover walking from one end of La Bastide to the other. We stumbled across Square Gambetta quite by accident that first evening. We were headed from our apartment on Rue Frédéric Mistral, down through Place Carnot to get a flavour of the place once the market had been cleared, and on out by Rue Aimé Ramond towards the Pont Vieux pedestrian bridge.

I’m glad to say that we stopped off on our way – despite the tiredness and hunger that had set in – as it was a wonderful sight to behold in the evening sun.

I like how France has stayed old school. A lot of places do not open on Sundays. So the day after we arrived, we returned to Square Gambetta.

We had prepared well and bought picnic-style food (there is a decent Carrefour supermarket just off Place Carnot). Our four-year-old had an absolute ball playing in the fountains that operate until 7pm each evening. There’s also a carousel for the little ones to enjoy, a handy coffee and snack kiosk and plenty of places to sit in sunshine and in shade.

Old city

The old city (Cité de Carcassonne) looks resplendent in daylight and at night. As mentioned already, we visited on the first night of our stay to try out some of the restaurants.

I just had to try the local cassoulet (a rich, slow-cooked casserole made mostly with white beans and pork meat – although you can get goat meat and others) and I’m delighted that I did. It was absolutely delicious. We ate at Restaurant Fruit Bistro, as it was in an open square. The food was good and prices were reasonable considering we were in a prime tourist area.

We returned to the area in daylight on the last day of our trip. We opted out of the jousting (July and August; 3pm and 4.45pm; €10/adult, €5/child), but if you’re looking for an easy way to entertain the kids, it’s meant to be worth the effort of queueing early for tickets and getting seats near the front.

We just wandered round the old cobbled streets, taking in the beauty of our surroundings and admiring the many old buildings still contained within the walls. Speaking of which, there is also a guided tour of the walls. Again, not something we chose to do this time with the four-year-old.

We eventually took shelter from the heat in Le Bar à Vins de la Cité and enjoyed a few drinks in the shelter of some towering trees.

Day trips

We did two day trips on our short break. The first of these was just a quick half hour by train south from Carcassonne. Tickets were very cheap (although we struggled to find the reported €1 tickets we’d heard about) and it was more for the fun of getting our son on to a train.

Limoux is a town of just under 10,000 inhabitants. It was very quiet when we arrived in peak siesta time, so we just made our way into the centre of the town. We found a pleasant square (similar to Place Carnot in Carcassonne) and we ate a good pizza lunch at Le Concept on Place de la Republique.

We killed the remaining hour of our trip just people-watching in the square with a glass of wine. Had we known there was an evening market on, we’d have bought tickets for a later train home. So unfortunately we missed that just as they were starting to set up.

Collioure

I’ve had the good fortune to visit Nice three times in my life. I’ve always gone back. I love it. I love the vibe. I love the promenade. I love the restaurants and bars. It was my favourite place to visit in France. Until we took the bold step to spend €140 on train tickets to take us from Carcassonne to a place on the Mediterranean called Collioure, a sun-drenched, history-lover’s, wine-bar-frequenter’s, beach-worshipper’s dream.

It was an early start for us, catching our train at Carcassonne just after 7am. It was so early, in fact, that there was a slight chill in the air! But by the time the midday sun was beating down on us as we ate outdoors at Brasserie Le Saint Elme, there was no doubt in my mind that I’d found a new French favourite.

We bypassed all the tourist things (including the amazing castle and walls) – we had travelled for one thing and one thing only.

The beach. We lay on our towels in the sun-soaked sand and we just chilled. I was even brave enough to try a dip in the Med (I’m not a confident sea swimmer but it was just calling to me). We had enjoyed breakfast at La Frégate on Avenue Camille Pelletan after a short walk down from the train station. The market below us was already in full swing at that stage, not long after 9am.

We walked along the sea front, skirting the commanding walls of the Château royal de Collioure (something we’ll definitely come back to see). In hindsight, we should have booked a night here and made more of the outing. But there’s always next time. And if you’re ever lucky enough to visit this gem on the Mediterranean, you’ll know that there will definitely be a next time.

Read more about Carcassonne - and other destinations - on Brian Murphy’s travel blog at www.brianstraveblog.blogspot.ie.