places to stay in Carcasone, France?

Hi Nancy, we stayed at the Hotel Montmorency (www.lemontmorency.com) in Carcassonne in May 2014. The hotel is in a great location, right across the road from the medieval city. The "tourists" leave at around 5 p.m. and I think it's worth 1 night to see the city after dark. The photos we took are just magical.

Arles was a nice stop too with the Amphitheatre and Van Gogh sites. We stayed at the Hotel Calendal (www.lecalendal.com).

We enjoyed both cities but thought that Carcassonne was really something special. Hope you have a great trip!

We were in Carcassonne in early June and enjoyed our stay at the Carcassonne Guesthouse. It is conveniently located on the river with a great patio breakfast view of La Cite' which is an easy 15 minute walk from the B&B. Free parking as well. Nice, helpful owner and an upgraded, reasonable B&B. There is nothing like La Cite', a fully restored Medieval city fortress, and it has been designated a World Heritage site. Arles has a lot to offer as well and is the one I would choose if I could only see one as it is located near so many other excellent sights. Both cities are worth the effort to see however. We stayed at the Hotel Calendal with an amazing view of the Roman Arena and I would highly recommend it. If you stay in Arles try to be there for the Saturday market.

We stayed at the Hotel Du Chateau which is the sister hotel of the Montmorcy. It has an even better view of the walled city. It has its own parking lot and and the odd thing is that the hotel is so close to the entrance to the walled city..... but you literally can not see the other tourists because of the way the hotel is situated.While it is a splurge I would not miss eating breakfast right in front of the walled city on their outdoor patio or sitting out there at night with the city all lighted .

We stayed 1 night inside the walls at L'Echappee Belle -- http://www.lechappeebelle.co.uk/index.html. The room we stayed in is not shown in the pictures. It's nothing fancy, but I wanted to stay inside La Cite in a small place. It was lovely being there in the quiet. We got there early enough that we could walk around in the daylight before dinner. After dinner, we went outside the walls to get some of those great pictures of it being lit up.

We ate dinner at Le Trouvere, recommended by the owner of the B&B at the time. It now seems to get very bad reviews, but it was quite good when we were there. I'd check Trip Advisor and click on the map to find restaurants inside the cite if you want to eat inside the walls. There's even one listed as #3 of 226 in Carcassonne, Restaurant la Marquiere, that gets very good reviews.

I love the cooking of this part of France. Be sure to have a cassoulet.