Toulouse: City Guide

To anyone with even a passing interest in rugby, the name Toulouse will always ring a bell. Set deep in the rural south west, close to the Spanish border, La Ville Rose (The Pink City) is France's most personal rugby destination, a city which positively hums on match day.

Since Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's pioneering mail flights in the 1920s, Toulouse has also been at the heart of France's aviation industry. Today it is home to Airbus and the European space industry. With 120,000 students, Toulouse is considered France's liveliest city, its medieval centre crammed with great bars, restaurants and hotels.

Location: Toulouse is the capital of the Midi-Pyrénées région (province), the largest région in France. It is also the préfecture (capital) of the Haute-Garonne département (county).

Tourist attractions: Standing on either side of the Garonne, Toulouse's historical treasures include a well preserved Roman Amphitheatre and the striking Saint-Sernin Basilica, which dates back to 1050 and is thought of as the finest example of Romanesque architecture in Europe.

Modern day Toulouse is closely associated with aviation and the Hotel du Grand Balcon was the home-away-from-home for many famous Aeropostale pilots, a pioneering French aviation cmpany. Inside the hotel is a small exhibition dedicated to Antoine de Saint-Exupery's literary creation, Le Petit Prince.

Plane-making giant Airbus has a large base just outside Toulouse and tours of the production line for the new A380, or super jumbo, can be easily booked. Visitors who like to dream even bigger can check out the home of European space exploration at Cite de l'Espace.

Art lovers should keep their eyes peeled for decadent works of graffiti around town, whereas more traditional paintings can be found in the Les Abbatoirs Museum and the Les Augustins Monastery.

No trip to Toulouse would be complete without sampling the local gastronomic specialities of Toulouse sausage and cassoulet, a bean and pork stew that can be sampled in many restaurants.

Post-match hostelries: Like any city of its size, Toulouse has its fair share of bars and cafes sprinkled around the city centre.

Typically, the areas with the best nightlife are Place St. Pierre, Les Carmes and Boulevard Strasbourg. The recently expanded Metro system can get you from A to B quite easily

Two of the most popular rugby bars in the city are Irish. They are Trevor Brennan's DeDanu on the Canal Du Midi and the Killarney Bar in St. Michel. The George & Dragon and the Frog & Rosbif are also worth a visit.

Dedanu
9 rue du Pont Guihemery. Metro: Francois Verdier

Killarney
Rue Alfred Dumerill. Metro: Palais de Justice

Accomodation:

Luxury:

Crowne Plaza
7, place du Capitole. 31000 Toulouse. 05 61 61 19 19

Grand Hotel de l'Opéra
1, place du Capitole. 31000 Toulouse. 05 61 21 82 66

Mid-Range:

The Holiday Inn - Centre 13, place Wilson. 31000 Toulouse. 05 61 10 70 70

Hotel Novotel- Centre 5, place Alphonse Jourdain. 31000 Toulouse. 05 61 21 74 74

Budget Hotels:

L'Ours Blanc - Wilson
2, rue Victor Hugo. 31000 Toulouse. 05 61 21 62 40

Wilson Square Hotel
12, rue d'Austerlitz. 31000 Toulouse. 05 61 21 67 57

• Bordeaux
• Cardiff
• Edinburgh
• Lens
• Lyon
• Marseilles
• Montpellier
• Nantes
• Paris
• Saint-Denis
• Saint-Etienne
• Toulouse

Follow the progress of all 20 teams with our printable wallchart of fixtures and groups.

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