UKH

After what seems months of rain, I decided to book a flight to Carcassonne for a week ( as it was the cheapest) with my 11 year old son.

I don't really have much knowledge of the area. I would consider driving up to 2 hours or staying local.

City/town breaks or the countryside are all considerations. 

I used to visit the Verdon a lot when I was younger, but that's about 4 hour drive. That would have been a good option for climbing, hiking and canoeing etc. Is thee anywhere similar closer?

What about towns or cities? anywhere you'd recommend that would keep an 11 year old happy. 

The Spanish border doesn't seem too far either.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Cheers 

In reply to frictionlabs:

Carcassonne itself is worth a visit, the Pyrenees are not far away

In reply to frictionlabs:

What are you looking for, places for sightseeing, places to climb, places to walk? Will you be taking climbing gear?

In reply to frictionlabs:

Carcassonne lake has swimming, a small "beach", pedalos, canoes and that kind of thing as well as go ape type Arial course.  Your not far from the Pyrenees - ariege in particular is close with plenty outdoors stuff to do - sections of GRs and other long distance tracks you can do.  There's a wolf park and bouldering down orgiex / orlu and another go ape type course.  Heaps of accessible climbing esp with a car.  Lots of castles to go look at, with bloody histories (montsegur in particular) if that interests your 11yr old. 

Lac de montbel is nice but likely not worth a dedicated drive. 

Pech de bugarach is a good day out and has good "end of the world" cult stories attached to it.  Nice semi scramble ground to get up.

Narbonne and med coast is within the 2hr radius too.

Cheers,

Stu

In reply to frictionlabs:

We flew to Carcossone a few years ago - i think the flights were about £9 - and drove to Andorra.

Climbed Coma Pedrosa staying in a lovely mountain hut on the way up. Lovely scenery - pretty cheap. Not sure what the mountains are like at this time of year though - or whether the huts are open.

In reply to frictionlabs:

I presume you'll be going very soon, i.e. early Spring?

In which case the higher mountains are unlikely to be of great interest. There may well still be ski pistes open in Andorra but it's unlikely to be great so late in the season.

As others have mentioned, the valley climbing in Ariège will have everything you want and will be lovely this time of year. It's based largely around Tarascon-sur-Ariège, which is about 90 mins drive from Carcassonne.

Carcassonne castle ("cité") is worth visiting. The scale of it is impressive but I feel they could do more in terms of bringing history to life, as the presentation is fairly dry and uninspiring compared to some similar places I've seen in recent years.

A top tip would be to head to the edge of Toulouse, to the "Cité de l'éspace", which is a brilliant space museum (with an original Mir space station!) and is fascinating for adults and children alike.

In reply to frictionlabs:

Perpignan is good for a visit - there's crags nearby, some nice towns on the coast and, weather permitting, Mt Canigou is a great objective.

In reply to frictionlabs:

https://www.grimper.com/site-escalade-pierre-lys

About an hour south of Carcassonne. Big routes, maybe not suitable for the lad.

Also: Le Cardou and St Salvayre, near Couiza (45 mins from Carcassonne). Le Cardou has a  'Kids' Sector'.

Guidebook available in Quillan library last time I was there. Or from Decathlon in Carcassonne.

Nice crag at Belcaire too. And a nice little climbing wall.

In reply to frictionlabs:

Visit a Cathar castle

In reply to pete osullivan:

Chateau de peyrepertuse is amazing, well worth a visit.

In reply to RX-78:the village of minerve is also amazing, we stayed there for a weekend. Cool gorge and can walk through the cave through which the river runs.

In reply to frictionlabs:

You're not far from Targasonne either, which is lots of easy access, short walk in bouldering. Guidebook should be available from the campsite, as are pads I believe. Could tie that in with a drive through Andorra.