Area around Toulouse suggestions

Albi--visit Saturday morning during their market. Take a boat ride on the River Tarn, visit Sainte-Cécile Cathedral claimed to be the largest brick building in the world, tour the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum. Carcassone--fortified French town (can be crowded on weekends and is very touristy), Sarlat-la-Caneda, Moissac--Romanesque Church and Abbey. Pont-du-Gard is over four hours away but you will never see anything like it anywhere else. It is amazing. Lots to see and do in the area. Enjoy your trip!

Montmaurin for its Gallo-Roman villa; the Montagne Noire, a hilly area north of Carcassonne with pretty little towns; Lourdes; and, heading south, Luchon, Foix, le Mas d'Azil.
You really are spoiled for choice around Toulouse. Drive in any direction and you'll find beautiful landscapes.

The Michelin green guide, which you may be able to find in English at Barnes and Noble, Amazon or in Toulouse, is the most detailed with sights to see in the immediate area of Toulouse. You want the one titled Midi-Pyrenees (French spelling) but very similar title in English. The Michelin guide for France won't be detailed enough for this one area. Another gift you could give is the most detailed map available in a local Toulouse bookstore or news shop, so they can ride around tiny backroads.

One favorite place, in addition to others already mentioned, is Cordes-sur-Ciel.

Where would you suggest that I look for the Michelin green guide in Toulouse in English or would I be better ordering it before I go? I leave in 12 days, so this is very last minute. Planning on leaving any guide book, tourist information with my sister when I leave there, so she has some information on the local area. Thanks for all your helpful replies.

Researching further, you won't be able to get the exact guide book in English. It's been revised, titled now "Pyrenees Toulouse Gers". On both the Michelin and Amazon websites, this specific one is available only in French. Our 16 year old copy is in French.

After answering you, we looked up the editions, hoping for an electronic version (not available either). We, too, are getting ready for a return visit to Toulouse. We'll just use our old one.

However, it's quite likely you will see an English-language Michelin Green Guide Book in a bookstore or newspaper shop (Maison de la Presse) in Toulouse; if so, grab it. It may cover a different geographic area, but as long as Toulouse and the surrounding areas are in it, it should work. You will find other English-language local guide books in bookstores in Toulouse. One of the largest bookstores is the FNAC.

Sorry about my original suggestion.

I am stopping in London before I go to Toulouse. So probably stop in at Foyles or one of the other bookstores and see what they offer. Makes more sense to me. Appreciate the ideas and suggestions of places to go and things to see that you gave me.

I am also a fan of Michelin green guides and I am sure that Bets is more up to date than I am. I have a bunch of Michelin green guides, some in English and some in French, mostly 30+ years old (but still useful).

The situation with English green guides is mysterious. I looked at the Amazon UK site and they had a green guide called Pyrenees-Rousillon copyright 2013, in English. But some of the reviews complained that this version didn't have the details in older, French versions. So, I would not recommend that you buy without looking at it first. If you don't have time to look at Foyle's, I think you will have luck in Toulouse. Bookstores are more common in France than in they are here. You will walk by bookstores as you are walking around and even small newsstands often have Michelin maps and guides ( esp. near tourist sites).

Hope you have a great trip!

I looked at the map on the back cover of that one, eef, on the Amazon site. It stops to the west of Toulouse, closer to Carcassonne. I'm sure one green guide in English has to cover Toulouse--but which one?

If you are at all interested in religious pilgrimage sites, then you are only a couple of hours from Lourdes, at the foot of the Pyrenees. We have visited twice and it's truly something to see. If you are there around sunset there is a nightly processional by candlelight. It's worth the trip!

We have a Michelin Blue Guide titled Midi-Pyrénées: Albi, Toulouse, Conques, Moissac. It doesn't have the depth of individual site coverage but is more of an overall tour guide.

We too are big fans of Albi, Cordes-sur-Ciel and Rocamadour.

Bets, thanks for straightening me out! :) It does seem like Toulouse has to be covered by the green guides, but maybe it's just in French ones.

Mona--I thought the Blue Guides were published by Hachette, way back when, not Michelin. Those books were really detail oriented, etc. There still are Blue Guides but published in England.

I decided that to make my sister enjoy her time in France that I would get her a copy of Rick Steves 2016 France Guidebook, so am taking that along and giving it to her before I leave as something that she can use.

@ Bets, you are more correct than me. The Blue Guides are published in London. My Midi-Pyrenees one says Norton was the US publisher and Black was the original UK publisher. I love reading through these guides. You can almost look up and see archeological details in the detailed descriptions, ahhhh.

@ lostnorweigan I hope you have a wonderful time discovering this region with your sister!