The centre of it all

The tiny 4 house hamlet of Pradines sits on a hillside above the Viaur River valley. Walking trails throughout the surrounding countryside offer unexpected views of Pradines.

principal tourism websites:

Midi-Pyrenees

Aveyron (click on the "virtual tour" button for video tours of Aveyron)

+++Day Trips and Shopping*

• Albi
  
• Belcastel
• Bruniquel
  
• Cordes-Sur-Ciel
  
• Cahuzac-Sur-Vere
  
• Carde la Viaur
  
• Gorges of the Aveyron
  
• Laguipie
  
• La Fouillade*
  
• Les Cabannes
  
• Najac
  
• Puycelci
  
• Penne
  
• Sauveterre de Rouergue
  
• St. Andre de Najac
  
• Villefranche de Rouergue*
  

Albi

A must! Information is available at the local and online Syndicate d'Initiative (French), located on the parking square in front of the cathedral. Also, check the green Michelin guide. Excellent shopping and dining. Market on Saturday (check day as they change)Banks are open Tuesday to Saturday. Train station
Ste. Cecile Cathedral is thirteenth century and is unusual in that it's built of brick. Wonderful interior - gothic carved stone screen. Don't miss the choir stalls and the painted wooden figures (a small charge to enter). 

The Palace of Berbie next to the cathedral houses a fine Toulouse-Lautrec collection. Don't miss the adjoining formal garden along the river behind the museum.

Belcastel

It made the list of "un des plus beaux villages de France", I'm not sure why it hasn't made our list before. A castle, cobblestone streets, artists' shops, at least one restaurant, an ancient stone bridge over the Aveyron river (hard to believe you can drive on it), and pic-nick tables on the grassy banks. A postcard place if ever there was one.

Bruniquel

Small but worth a visit. Travelling from Laguepie to Bruniquel through the Gorges of the Aveyron is very scenic. Chamber of commerce website.

  

Cordes Sur Ciel

Very historic and well restored. Built by the Count of Toulouse. Parking anytime, anywhere in Cordes is now quite costly!

Many craft shops. Excellent restaurants. The dining room in the hotel "La Grand Ecuyer" is very elegant and serves wonderful gourmet fare (expensive but worth the experience!). Reservations recommended.

La Maison de Grand Faucounier is of particular interest as an example of the medieval period. 

A very good outdoor market every Saturday morning (double-check the day). Market is very popular so it's crowded.  Bank hours change; was open Tuesday-Friday (closed for lunch) and Saturday morning.

Excellent antique shop located below the road leading down from Cordes (follow signs).
Excellent dentist (or there once was).

The official website has a nice slide show of the sights.

Cahuzac-Sur-Vere

(near Gaillac)
Restaurant de la Falaise — good, reasonable
Castelnau de Montmiral — Ancient central square. Interesting restored houses

Garde la Viaur

A medieval town at the bottom of the valley below St. Andre de Najac. You can swim in the river here. There's a simple but good restaurant located by the bridge. The road beyond is quite picturesque also.

Gorges of the Aveyron

official gorges website

Take a drive through the gorge, visiting a series of medieval and fortified towns including (see separate entries):

• St. Antonin Noble-Val
• Penne
• Bruniquel
• Puycelci

There's a Dolman, a sacrificial altar of the Druid period near St. Antonin.

Everyone raves about the Saturday morning market at St. Antonin (we've not been yet) and there is a second-hand English book stall I believe.

Laguepie (15 minutes South of Pradines)

• train station
• meat stores — excellent
  
• bakeries — good
  
• grocery stores — excellent, especially casino
  
• drug store
  
• hardware (best one is across river in St. Martin Laguepie)
  
• variety shops
  
• restaurants — Les Deux Rivieres (eat in bar area) and a small cafe L'Oustal (don't have full name, but easy to find)

On Wednesday mornings there is a small market; where you can buy fresh fish, meats, cheeses, and fruits/vegetables. On the third Wednesday of the month there is a larger market where you can buy clothing and household items. Check to make sure market day hasn't changed.

La Fouillade (closest village for most items)

Exceptional meat store — sells all types of meat and poultry and you can place an order for a particular day. One of the best bakeries in the entire region. Two hairdressers. Very "up to date" drug store with friendly and helpful staff. A laundry (not self-serve). CheckMarket Day — there's a fresh fish truck.

• Post Office
• One small grocery/hardware store, Cali, which has high quality vegetables and fruits, and the "Timy" supermarket. hours: change from year to year and they're generally closed over lunch.
• There is a small elegant country hotel called Longcol located between Lafouillade and Najac. Follow signs which are posted at intersections. The setting is spectacular and we can highly recommend the dining room (expensive but worth it). Reservations are a must — telephone 05.29.63.36
  On D922 towards Lafouillade, just before bridge over La Serene there's a sign La Moulinet which leads to a farm which has a working mill. It is only open on certain days so make inquiries. Worthwhile!
• Aux Vieux Chenes (restaurant on D922) has been recommended by tenants.
• There is a small Roman bridge at Le Pontal — sign on north side of D922 west of St. Andre de Najac. It's quite charming with a waterfall and the old mill (a private residence).

Les Cabannes

(just outside Cordes) 
Excellent restaurant in the Hostellerie du Parc. Reasonably priced. Outdoor terrace.

Najac

(very historic and picturesque, good dining)

The first view of this 12th century fortemerges as you round a curve in the road. Catch it early in the morning and the fortress appears to float on the clouds. It was a stronghold of the Albigensian Heretics and later captured by the English during the Hundred Years' War. The tour is well worth it, as the guides ham it up.

Farther down the hill, tour the 13th century church that was ordered built by the Pope as a penance for supporting the heretics.

There's a public outdoor swimming pool in the camping ground by the river, enroute to the Belle Rive and train station. This is also where you'll find the Kayak / rafting / cycling centre (call 05.65.29.73.94). There used to be a horseback riding establishment on the road down to the Belle Rive, but not sure if it's still there. Drug store; grocery stores; excellent bakery — Delmur (same owners as one in Lafouillade); antique shop; miscellaneous variety shops; bank machine; small market Sunday mornings; train station.

Restaurants:

• Hotel Bellerive near train station — good, comfortable accommodation, and well-priced (many British patrons!) Telephone: 05.45.74.20 
• An excellent restaurant and hotel is L'Oustal del Barry — Telephone 05.65.29.74.32 on the square where post office is located. 
• La Salandre, rue de Barriou, Telephone 05.65.29.74.09 is very pleasant — good food and very well priced.
• Le Corbeille (south of Najac on road to Laguepie, west side of the Aveyron) but it's not always open and they don't take reservations.
• There's another excellent restaurant at the Village de Vacance at Mergieux near Najac — open on weekends only. Check at the tourist information centre in Najac for name, telephone number and directions.

Puycelci

Restored fortified 13th century hilltop town.

Penne

Small hilltop town on the way to Bruniquel is worth a visit. There is a "lumiere" show during summer evenings.

Sauveterre de Rouergue

Restored medieval village. Arcaded square. One of the most attractive villages in France. There is a market in the central square weekly during high season. Look for the tulipier de Marie Antoinette. I haven't quite figured out the significance, but it does have to do with the famous MA and making knife handles. There is a renowned (apparently) knife store near this huge stump and plaque.

St. Andre de Najac

• Post office
  
• Phone booth
• Tennis court, public — enquire at store to find out where to buy passes.
  

Villefranche de Rouergue

The largest city and economic / political centre of the Aveyron region.

The central square is worth a visit. This is where the weekly open-air market takes place. Thursday in the main square and it extends out to the street on the other side of the cathedral. Once a month there's a special fowl market in conjunction with the regular market.

Excellent food shopping and dining. 

Antique shop in square. Parking lots conveniently located.
Restaurants: Café de l'Univers, and Hotel Laggarigue. A very pleasant restaurant with excellent food is Auberge de Farou, at Farou, just beyond Villefranche en route to Figeac, at junction of D1 and D22.
Huge supermarket "Hyper-U" road to Figeac — follow signs. Excellent fresh fish.

+++Overnight & Multi-day Outings

• Carcassone
  
• Conques
  
• Dordogne region (Sarlat)
  
• Gorges of the Lot (Cahors)
  
• St. Cirq Lapopie
  
• Gorges of the Tarn & Dourbie
  
• Millau
• Naucelle
  
• Roquefort
  
• Toulouse
  
• Viaduc de Viaur
  

Carcassone

Ancient restored fortified town. A UNESCO world heritage site. Official town website.

"...the historic town of Carcassonne is an excellent example of a medieval fortified town whose massive defences were constructed on walls dating from Late Antiquity. It is of exceptional importance by virtue of the restoration work carried out in the second half of the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc, which had a profound influence on subsequent developments in conservation principles and practice."

Conques

A stopover for pilgrims on the way to the tomb of St. James at Santiago.

Summer music festival.

Dordogne region (Sarlat)

• Town of Sarlat. 
• Dordogne region's website 

Gorges of the Lot (Cahors, Pech Merle caves)

Cahors is worth a visit. Visit Chateaux Latuc near Cahors. The beautiful 11th century bridge is still in use today. Visit the Pech Merle caves. Read about the caves and their paintings at these websites: virtual tour of the caves includes current rates, hours of operation, and reservation info for high season other Lot caves an online museum of cave paintings

St. Cirq Lapopie

restored village, worth a visit. Hotel de la Pelassarin is recommended.
Figeac is an interesting city and the archeological museum has an excellent Egyptian collection.

Gorges of the Tarn & Dourbie

(near Millau) Tarn website
The Gorges of the Tarn are considered to be the Grand Canyon of France because of their spectacular scenery. While in the area, visit thesubterranean caves of Aven Armand, the largest in France and considered to be among the most spectacular in Europe.
Visit Montpellier-le-Vieux, noted for the strange rock formations. It was considered holy ground for many centuries. 
We can recommend the Chateau d'Ayres near Meyreuis, and the Chateau de le Caze near Ste. Enemie, both exceptional hotels with fine dining.

Millau

official town tourism site -- apparently a town renowned for its leader gloves (how specific!), and more recently for the huge bridge that spans the gorge (see below). But it sticks out in my mind as the traffic jam on the way to a site alone worth travelling to France for: Aven Armand. 

It's as if the cave were a giant goldfish bowl in which you dropped a crystal growing kit. Boy do the French know how to put on a light show. Amazing presentation. Not at all claustrophobic. Be sure to walk by the hole on the surface. If your sheep started disappearing in there, you'd take a look too.

I scrolled through the 360* tour on the website, but it's hard to make out what you're seeing. Nothing on screen can do justice to the scale.

Also worth visiting since you're there: Montpellier-le-Vieux Take the cute little train through the site if you're not up to walking. Doesn't hold a candle to our Canadian Shield, but it's interesting that the French think it's "wild."

Not sure how the new bridge affects the paragliders we saw soaring up and down the valley, but it will sure ease congestion in the Tarn valley. Setting a world record for height, the masts are higher than the Eiffel Tower,  it's quite a source of pride to the French.

Naucelle

Visit the Chateau du Bosc near Naucelle, the historic country home of the Lautrec family, now a private museum open to the public. It's about a 45 minute drive from Pradines (35km south of Rodez).

Roquefort

Visit the Roquefort caves where one can see how the cheese is produced. Interesting walled town in the area — La Couvoirtade.

Toulouse

St. Sernin Cathedral, besides being a beautiful example of gothic architecture, it was one of the main centres of the Albigensian Heresy. Les Jacobins church, with its cloister is worth seeing, and St. Etienne church as well. Museums: P. Dupuy and one located near St. Sernin (Medieval and Roman). Renaissance palaces are scattered throughout — marked by street signs — "Hotel" but they're not hotels.
Hotel Le President is well priced, quiet and comfortable not far from thetrain station. There are many excellent restaurants in all price ranges. Walk along the river under the trees and explore nearby streets. 
Bistro style dining — Le Bon Vivre — 15 bis, place Wilson.
Visit the ruins of Peyrusse-la-Roc, one of the oldest fortified sites in France. The date of construction is not certain, but it is recorded as having been captured in 767 AD. It is an outstanding example of a Gallo Roman defense structure.

Viaduc de Viaur

(for hikers)
There is an 11th century church L'Eglise Las Planques near the town of Tanus. The hike is one hour to and from. The site overlooks the Viaur River and is quite isolated.