Toulouse was named by Lonely Planet in its list of the best cities<\/a> to visit in the world for 2025.<\/p>\n![\"Garonne](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_Garonne-river-and-Dome-de-la-Grave-in-Toulouse-France.jpg\")
The city has been described as Paris in minature (Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Named alongside destinations including Osaka in Japan and Pittsburgh in the USA, Toulouse was praised for \u201coverflowing with art galleries in repurposed industrial spaces, excellent food and scenic river and canal banks\u201d.<\/p>\n
The city is often described as Paris in miniature because it packs in all the cultural sights you\u2019d expect of a capital city in a compact format.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s no Eiffel Tower or Arc De Triomphe, it still has dozens of gems up its sleeve, including the beautiful Garonne River, which could be a double of the famous Seine.<\/p>\n
Not everything in Toulouse is in miniature, however; at 223 miles long the Canal du Midi – which flows past the city – is far longer than Paris\u2019 Canal Saint-Martin (a mere 2.86 miles long).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s considered one of the greatest civil engineering projects of the 17th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In fact the city has not just one but three UNESCO accolades.<\/p>\n
![\"Basilica](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_France-Haute-Garonne-Toulouse-Old-town-Basilica-of-Saint-Sernin.jpg\")
Toulouse has been called the Pink City due to the pink hue of its buildings (Image: Getty Images\/Westend61)<\/p>\n
Lonely Planet recommends catching live music at one of the city\u2019s beloved venues, including Le Saint des Seins, Le Taquin or Th\u00e9\u00e2tre du Capitole; and celebrate Toulouse\u2019s status as a UNESCO City of Music.<\/p>\n
Another \u2018must\u2019 is a visit to the Basilique St-Sernin, a magnificent 11th-century brick and stone basilica that’s one of the largest Romanesque buildings in the western world and the city\u2019s second UNESCO World Heritage site.<\/p>\n
The neoclassical Capitole – the city hall – shouldn\u2019t be missed by architecture fans either.<\/p>\n
The publication points out that this year the Mus\u00e9e des Augustins is reopening. It\u2019s one of the oldest museums in the city located in a 14th-century cloistered convent and features a collection of sculpture and paintings spanning from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of many museums scattered across the city, many in unique locations. Les Abattoirs is a museum of modern and contemporary art housed in a former slaughterhouse, while Galerie Le Chateau is a photography gallery inside a renovated water tower.<\/p>\n
No trip to France is complete without indulging in some local cuisine, and Lonely Planet suggests picking up some local produce from the Victor Hugo market for a picnic.<\/p>\n
Or tuck into some cassoulet in the on-site eatery, a signature Toulouse dish made with beans, pork and Toulouse sausages.<\/p>\n
For more of the latest What’s On news, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s the latest destination added by Ryanair to their Manchester networkToulouse was named by Lonely Planet as one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,2406,2314],"class_list":{"0":"post-16030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-holidays","12":"tag-manchester-airport"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114329734782939102","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_View-at-Cathedral-of-Saint-Cecilia-of-Albi-France-Early-in-the-day-and-evening.jpg\")
Toulouse was named by Lonely Planet as one of the best cities to visit in 2025 (Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n