Toulouse is all too often overlooked, it is one of the most historic and fascinating cities of France. It has got a romantic nickname as the “Pink City” because most buildings in the city used pinkish coloured bricks, giving the cityscape a look that you can’t compare with any other city.
You can start with a simple walk through the city and along the Canal du Midi or along the Garonne river from St Pierre bridge and Pont-neuf during the evening. The architectural heritage is astonishingly large and well preserved.
You can also discover the fine art collection of Italian renaissance artists, and Flemish and Dutch masters like Rubens, van Dyck, van Goyen, Cuyp and Jordaens all from the 1400s until the 1700s. This fine collection is located in a beautiful monument dating to the early-1300s and exemplifying the southern Gothic style.
Airbus offers tours of their facilities in French and English. The tour takes about 60 minutes and includes a guide who will tell you some background about the company, the screening of a promotional and historical video, and a look at the A380 production line.
The Cité de l'Espace (space city in English) is another of Toulouse's "aviation" attractions. However you must be aware that it is not exactly a museum but a sort of scientific theme park without rides. There are some replicas of spacecraft and other exhibits, many of the latter interactive in some minor way. There's also a small planetarium.
How to get around
Toulouse has a small center, and you can reach most interesting places in the downtown area comfortably on foot.
The train station in Toulouse is centrally located. Trains to Paris take 5-7.5 hours, trains to Bordeaux take 2 hours, and trains to Marseille take 4 hours. There is also the bus and metro terminal at the railway station.
Regular scheduled domestic and international flights arrive at Blagnac airport, 11 km west of downtown Toulouse. Air France operates flights to/from Paris flight time of approximately 30 minutes