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Sightseeing Overview
Toulouse has plenty to offer the visitor. There are museums and galleries to satisfy most tastes and interests, beautiful architecture on every street corner and plenty of parks and green spaces to relax in (over 160 in central Toulouse alone). A walk along the banks of the Canal du Midi is a popular pastime with tourists and locals alike, and the Cité de l’Espace, Toulouse flagship attraction, will delight young and old alike. 

Tourist Information
bold" CLASS="Apple-style-span">Office de Tourisme Toulouse
Donjon du Capitole, place Charles de Gaulle
Tel: (05) 6111 0222.
Website: www.toulouse-tourisme.com

Passes
The Toulouse en liberté pass is valid for a year and offers up to 50% discount in museums, as well as further reductions for accommodation, shopping, tours, etc. One version of the card also offers discounts for accommodation.

Key Attractions:

Le Musée des Augustins
This fine arts museum, housed in a beautifully restored Gothic monastery, features a superb collection of paintings and sculptures dating from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century. The Romanesque and southern Gothic sculptures in particular are well worth a look.  

21 rue de Metz 
Tel: (05) 6122 2182.
Website: www.augustins.org
Admission charge. 

Les Abattoirs 
Closed in 1989, these former abattoirs (slaughterhouses) on the right bank are now home to a huge cultural center that includes a popular modern art museum. Over 6,000 sq m of space are dedicated to permanent and temporary exhibitions, a bookshop, a library and an auditorium.  

76 allées Charles-de-Fitte
Tel: (05) 6248 5800.
Website: www.lesabattoirs.org 
Admission charge; free first Sun each month.  

Cité de l’Espace
Combining fun and education, this theme park dedicated to the exploration of space features an array of interactive exhibits and experiments. Here you can climb aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, see a replica of the MIR space station, or one of the Ariane 5 launch rocket. The latest addition to the park, Astralia, includes an IMAX cinema, a huge planetarium and a stellarium. 

Avenue Jean Gonord
Tel: 0820 377 223.
Website: www.cite-espace.com
Admission charge. 

The Capitole
This magnificent building, with its remarkable façade featuring eight pink marble columns, now houses the Town Hall and the Théâtre National du Capitole. The Cour Henri IV is where the Duc de Montmorency was executed in 1632 and the Salle des Illustres, a fantasy of gilt mouldings and painted cartouches, is almost as extravagant as the original that inspired it, the Galleria Farnese in Rome.  

Place du Capitole
Tel: (05) 6122 3412.
Free admission.  

St Sernin Basilica
The sheer size and beauty of this Romanesque basilica, considered to be the biggest in the western world, never fails to surprise. Inside the 11th century brick masterpiece, a crypt holds a treasure trove of reliquaries including that of St Saturnin, the martyred bishop of the city, to whom the building is dedicated. This monument is an essential stop on the St James Way pilgrimage. 

Place Saint-Sernin
Tel: (05) 6121 8045.
Free admission.  

Further Distractions:

Musée Saint Raymond
This fascinating museum showcases everyday life in Tolosa (as Toulouse was then known) under the Roman Empire. There is an exceptional collection of marble sculptures from Antiquity, with the most important series of Roman busts ever discovered in France, as well as archaeological remains excavated on site, a collection of sarcophaguses and a necropolis dating back to the fourth century. 

Place Saint-Sernin
Tel: (05) 6122 3144. 

Musée d’Histoire Naturelle
Reopening in October 2007, this well loved museum will be bigger (twice as big in fact) and better than before. Check the website for more information.  

35 allées Jules Guesde
Tel: (05) 6227 4545.
Website: www.museum.toulouse.fr 

Jardin japonais Compans Caffarelli
This Japanese garden, created in 1981, is an oasis of greenery in the heart of the city, and a delightful place to spend a summer afternoon.  

Boulevard Lascrosses
Tel: (05) 6227 4848.

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France Attraction Guides:
Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile Arenes d'Arles (Roman Amphitheater in Arles) Bayeux Tapestry (Tapisserie de Bayeux) Cave of Lascaux (Grotte de Lascaux) Chartres Cathedral (Cathedrale de Chartres) Chenonceau Castle (Chateau de Chenonceau) Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie Claude Monet's House and Water Garden (Maison de Claude Monet et Le Jardin d'eau) D-Day Beaches (Plages du Debarquement de la Bataille de Normandie) Disneyland Resort Paris Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) Louvre (Musee du Louvre) Mont Saint-Michel Abbey (Abbaye du Mont Saint-Michel)	Musee d'Orsay (Orsay Museum) Palace of Versailles (Chateau de Versailles) Parc Asterix Paris Notre-Dame Cathedral (Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris) Pere Lachaise Cemetery (Cimitiere du Pere Lachaise) Planete Futuroscope Popes' Palace (Palais des Papes) Regional Nature Park of the Volcanoes of Auvergne (Parc Naturel Regional des Volcans d'Auvergne) Rocamadour Sacre Coeur Basilica, Montmartre (Basilique du Sacre Coeur de Montmartre) St Benezet Bridge (Pont St-Benezet) The Walled Town of Carcassonne (Cite de Carcassonne)