Free Walking Tour Toulouse: Capitole to the Garonne

Your Toulouse Walking Tour from Square to River, Stop by Stop

1. 1

   Place du Capitole

   

   This is the square Toulouse built to show itself off. Under your feet lies pink granite, and set into it is a large Cross of Toulouse, laid in 1995 by the artist Raymond Moretti. Two years later he completed the series of paintings that decorate the arcades, so when you walk under them, look up. The long monumental facade facing the square is the Capitole itself, the old "common house" of the city's consuls, the capitouls.

   The idea of a grand royal square goes back to the end of the 17th century, but clearing the space only began in the early 18th. The capitouls used the project to put their own power on display: the facade of their town hall went up at the same time, and the best Toulouse artists of the day worked on it. From then on this was the heart of the city, used as a market, a stage for festivals and, during the French Revolution, the place of the guillotine.

   The square got its present look in the first half of the 19th century, when the south, north and west sides were built in neoclassical style between 1809 and 1852 to plans by the city architect Jacques-Pascal Virebent. Grand cafés, restaurants and hotels such as the Bibent and the Florida spread their terraces along it. In the second half of the 20th century cars took over, and when the underground car park was dug, the remains of a Roman gate turned up and were destroyed for good. The metro arrived in 1993, the square was renovated and handed back to pedestrians.

   The square has been a protected site since 1943, so what you see today is meant to stay. From here it's 820 metres, about 11 minutes, to Saint-Sernin; on the way you pass the Musée Saint-Raymond.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Place du Capitole on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Basilique Saint-Sernin

   

   Saint-Sernin is the most important Catholic building in Toulouse and one of the largest surviving Romanesque churches in Europe, in the same league as the cathedrals of Speyer and Santiago de Compostela. It stands in the middle of the square that shares its name, and it was built at the end of the 11th century for one purpose: to house the relics of Saturnin, or Sernin in Occitan, the first bishop of Toulouse.

   His story ties this walk together. Around the middle of the 3rd century Saturnin is said to have led the first Christian community of Roman Tolosa. On 29 November 250, according to tradition, pagans confronted him at the foot of the Capitolium, where Place Étienne-Esquirol is today. He refused to sacrifice to Jupiter, was tied to a bull and dragged along the main Roman street to the spot where the church of Notre-Dame du Taur now stands. Two young women, the "saintes Puelles", buried him there.

   In the 4th century Bishop Hilaire "discovered" the body, and in the early 5th century the bishops Silve and Exupère built a sanctuary for it. In the Middle Ages this became one of the great pilgrimage centres of the West, just as Toulouse grew into an important stop on the Way of St James. A community of canons, in place by the 9th century at the latest, turned it into a powerful abbey, rich from the gifts of locals and pilgrims and from its many estates, with vassals of its own and powerful lords as protectors.

   The crypt and ambulatory are the paid part of the visit. If the pilgrim story has hooked you, give yourself about half an hour here. Then comes the longest leg of the route: 1100 metres, around 15 minutes, to the Musée des Augustins.

   Hours

   Crypt/ambulatory: weekdays 10:00–17:30 (June–September until 18:30), Sundays 13:00–17:00

   Website

   basilique-saint-sernin.fr ↗

   Location

   Basilique Saint-Sernin on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Musée des Augustins

   

   The Musée des Augustins is currently closed, so this is a stop to take in from outside. What you're looking at is a Gothic convent: building began in 1310, after Pope Clement V authorised it in a document dated 28 January of that year, and until the French Revolution it housed the city's Augustinian friars.

   Its second life began quickly. The convent was secularised in 1793 and opened to the public as a museum on 27 August 1795, by decree of the National Convention and very shortly after the Louvre. That makes it one of the oldest museums in France. At first it also housed a provisional museum of the Midi and the city's fine arts school, and in 1801 it became one of fifteen museums founded in the provinces by decree of the interior minister Jean-Antoine Chaptal.

   The collection runs from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century: paintings from all over France and sculpture rooted in the region, with a particularly rich group of Romanesque pieces. Many came from Toulouse's demolished religious buildings, Saint-Sernin among them, which links this stop directly to the church you've just left. The archaeologist Alexandre Du Mège rebuilt the cloister to hold these medieval works, and today it shelters a reconstructed medieval garden.

   In the 19th century several medieval parts, notably the refectory, were pulled down, and Viollet-le-Duc and his pupil Darcy designed new galleries; the work lasted from 1873 to 1901, when the museum reopened. From here it's only 480 metres, about 7 minutes, to the cathedral.

   Status

   Currently closed

   Website

   augustins.org ↗

   Location

   Musée des Augustins on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Cathédrale Saint-Étienne

   

   Saint-Étienne is the seat of the Archbishop of Toulouse and has been a listed historic monument since 1862. It's free to enter, and twenty minutes inside are well spent, because this building is a patchwork of centuries you can read in the stone.

   Tradition says it rises on the foundations of a 3rd-century chapel built by Saint Saturnin, the martyr you met at Saint-Sernin, and that Bishop Exuperius rebuilt it some 150 years later. A first cathedral is recorded at the start of the 5th century, but nothing of it survives. A Romanesque cathedral followed from about 1078, begun most likely by Bishop Isarn and continued by his successor Amiel. It was smaller than today's church, probably about twenty metres wide and 85 metres long, with a massive west front and two towers. Some of its classical sculpture, such as a votive altar, is now shown in the Musée Saint-Raymond.

   Between 1210 and 1220, helped by large donations, the nave was largely rebuilt on top of the older remains. Its style is often called "Raymondine", after Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, and it was the first important example of southern French Gothic. Most of what you see dates from that time. Look for what survives of the Romanesque church: the south wall of the choir and the partitions on the north and south sides of the present nave.

   From the cathedral it's 730 metres, about 10 minutes, to the Fondation Bemberg.

   Hours

   Mon–Sat: 08:00–19:00 | Sun: 09:00–19:00

   Price

   Free

   Website

   paroissescathedraletoulouse.fr ↗

   Location

   Cathédrale Saint-Étienne on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Fondation Bemberg

   

   The Fondation Bemberg occupies the Hôtel d'Assézat and shows the private collection of Georges Bemberg, a wealthy Argentine art lover. In 1994 he lent it to the city of Toulouse for 99 years so that as many people as possible could see it: around 1,100 works, paintings, sculptures and art objects, old and modern. About three quarters are on display in the rooms of the mansion.

   Painting and drawing are the core. The highlight is a unique group of more than thirty canvases by Pierre Bonnard, alongside works by major painters of the European schools from the 15th to the 20th century. Beyond the galleries, the foundation also runs cultural activities on art history.

   This is the one stop on the route where you should plan real time. Admission is charged, and if you like painting, an hour here is worth it; if museums aren't your thing, enjoy the mansion from outside and keep walking. Either way the Garonne is close now: 290 metres, about 4 minutes, to the Pont Neuf.

   Hours

   August–April: Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00, Mondays closed. May–July: daily 10:00–18:00 (also open Mondays)

   Price

   12 EUR full price / 10 EUR reduced / 8 EUR children (permanent exhibition)

   Website

   fondation-bemberg.fr ↗

   Location

   Fondation Bemberg on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Pont Neuf

   

   Despite its name, the "New Bridge" is the oldest bridge in Toulouse to cross the Garonne. It once formed an entrance to the city, marked on the left bank by a triumphal arch carrying an equestrian statue of King Louis XIII; the arch was demolished in 1860.

   The capitouls were already thinking about a great bridge at the end of the 15th century, but it was King Francis I who pushed it through, seeing its strategic value against the Spain of Charles V. In 1541 he allowed a special tax on the region, studies began in 1542 and construction the year after. The job took nearly a century: the bridge came into use in 1632 and was inaugurated by Louis XIV in 1659. Local master builders started it; the Parisian architect Jacques Lemercier finished it.

   Take a moment to look at the piers. Like the Pont Neuf in Paris, this belongs to a new generation of bridges free of the houses and shops that cluttered medieval decks. Lemercier blended Roman ideas, the stacked cutwaters that split the current and the openings through the piers, with Italian Renaissance models: round openings like those of the Ponte Sisto in Rome and flattened arches like the Ponte Santa Trinita in Florence, which keep the slope across the bridge gentle.

   The last leg is another 290 metres, about 4 minutes, onto the Quai de la Daurade.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Pont Neuf on Google Maps ↗

7. 7

   Quai de la Daurade

   

   The Quai de la Daurade starts at the end of the Pont Neuf and follows the Garonne for 182 metres, sixteen metres wide and about ten metres above the water. It's a calm place to finish: a shared zone where cars are limited to 20 km/h, with a cycle lane along its whole length, so keep an eye out for bikes as you stroll.

   Walking along it, you pass the buildings of the former Daurade priory, now the École des Beaux-Arts, and then the Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Daurade, whose forecourt is named Parvis Rémy-Peyranne. The quay ends at the Place de la Daurade.

   The name comes from that Benedictine priory. The quay was partly laid out on land that once belonged to it, in particular the Counts' cemetery and the gardens that ran down to the river. So the end of the walk brings you back to the same thread as the start: a city shaped by its churches, its consuls and the Garonne. If you want to return to the Capitole, the GPS navigation takes you there.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Quai de la Daurade on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Toulouse

Short on time or more into one theme than the other? These two halves of the route each work on their own.

Churches and the medieval city

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4

For anyone drawn to saints, pilgrims and Romanesque stone. From the Capitole to the cathedral is 33 minutes of walking; the only admission is Saint-Sernin's crypt and ambulatory, the cathedral is free. Allow about 1 hour 45 minutes.

Art and the river

Stops: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

For art lovers who want to finish on the Garonne. Start at the closed Augustins, walk 25 minutes in total to the quay, and spend your time in the Bemberg collection, the one paid stop on this half. Allow a little over two hours with an hour inside the museum.

How Long Does This Toulouse Tour Take with Museums?

The full route covers 3.7 km with 51 minutes of pure walking. The longest leg is the 1100 metres from Saint-Sernin to the Augustins, about 15 minutes; everything after the cathedral is short, and the last two legs are only 290 metres each.

With half an hour at Saint-Sernin including the crypt, twenty minutes in the cathedral and short pauses at the square, the bridge and the quay, you're looking at about 2 hours 20 minutes. Add an hour for the Bemberg collection and it becomes roughly 3 hours 20 minutes. The church half takes about 1 hour 45 minutes, the art and river half a little over two hours.

Before You Set Off from the Capitole

• Start: Place du Capitole is the recommended start, but you can join at any stop; the order here is simply the one that flows best.
• Finish: You end on the Quai de la Daurade by the Garonne. If you want to return to the Capitole, the GPS navigation in your browser leads you back.
• Time of day: Walk during the day if you want to see Saint-Sernin's crypt and the Bemberg collection, and check their opening days before you go. The square, the bridge and the quay are free to visit whenever you like.
• Admission: Saint-Sernin's crypt and ambulatory and the Bemberg collection charge admission; you'll find the price at the ticket desk. The Musée des Augustins is currently closed. Everything else on the route is free.

Common Questions about Walking Toulouse