Toulouse – Modern Aviation and Medieval Vibes

Toulouse is the destination for aviation enthusiasts and foodies too.
The 4th largest city in France offers aviation history with a medieval atmosphere and fantastic food!

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What to do in Toulouse

Visit the Aviation Museum, wander through the medieval streets, and explore the space station.
When you get hungry, get some duck. That’s a local specialty, a must-try.
And if you feel a need for a little exercise, get on the nearby hiking trails.

That’s pretty much it, the most important things to experience in the aviation city Toulouse.
For the details, continue reading.

Last updated 12/2025

If you prefer to read in Finnish continue here/Jos luet mieluummin suomeksi, jatka tänne:
Ilmailukaupunki Toulousen keskiaikaista tunnelmaa.
Juttu on kirjoitettu alunperin suomeksi Autoliiton Moottori-lehteen.

Toulouse is located in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
On a summer day, the snow-capped Pyrenees can be seen from Le Pont Neuf bridge, built in 1555.
The quarter-kilometer-wide Garonne flows under the bridge.
There are attractive-looking restaurant ferries on the beach, and a hawk flies in the cloudless sky.

Aviation City Toulouse

This city is known for flying.
The aviation history of Toulouse stretches back to the early days of flying.

The city’s first air show was organized on July 30, 1910.
In February of the following year, young pilot Roger Morin became the first person to arrive in Toulouse by air when he steered his Blériot plane there from Pau and circled a few more laps over the city center.

Today, the assembly lines and headquarters of the European aviation giant Airbus are located in the city. This is our reason to be here.
Tanja is visiting the Airbus assembly line to shoot some content for Finnair, as they are expecting soon their next A350XWB delivery.

Next to the Airbus, near the (civil) airport, there is the aviation museum Aeroscopia, which opened in 2015. They have artifacts and airplanes from the time of Morin’s flight.
The museum also offers the possibility to try a flight simulator.

Aeroscopia tickets for adults cost 19 euros, and 15 € for minors.
Entrance to the flight simulator is 19 euros on top.

At Toulouse Aeronautical University ENAC, French air traffic controllers and, for example, Airbus employees are trained. In total, there are no fewer than 500 aviation-related companies in the city.

Space oddity

Since 1997, the city’s major tourist attraction has been Le Cité l’Espace, i.e., the Space City.
A 55-meter-tall replica of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle is a prominent landmark of the area east of Toulouse.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the interactive space city, which is spread over a large area, is from the former Soviet Union. The public can get to know the replica of the Mir space station, which has been used in tests before the station is launched into space. Inside the station, there is, among other things, a very compact sauna. In the replica of the Soyuz launch vehicle, you can try how it feels to sit in the seats of a spaceship.

Both children and adults will also have fun on the moonwalk track, where you can try out what it would be like to walk on the Moon’s surface. The feeling of low gravity is achieved with a harness, and advancing is not at all as easy as you might think.

The space city can be reached either by car or by bus number one from the center of Toulouse. Admission tickets for adults cost 29 euros. Children over the age of five get in for 22.50 euros, younger children for free. You can get a discount on group tickets, as well as on the Toulouse tourist pass.

Modern aviation city Toulouse has Medieval exoticism

Toulouse has been an important city in the past centuries as well. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of independent Occitania and still is, although today the region is of course part of France. The street signs are still also in Occitan.

The city has a large medieval old town with narrow streets and small squares spread out between the Capitole square and the river, along which you can find small boutiques and restaurants.
On the Capitole, you can see newlywed couples coming out of the City Hall.

From the Capitole, walk along Rue Pargaminiéres, lined with restaurants, or walk along Rue Léon Gambetta to La Daurade Square, where river cruises depart.

A splendid souvenir from Toulouse is a blue color obtained from woad, which can be used to dye fabrics. Woad blue was the source of the city’s wealth in the Middle Ages, and it has often been used to paint the window frames and door jambs of houses in the old town.

Toulouse is also called the pink city, and the reason for that can best be seen from above. You can get a free view over the city’s pink rooftops from the roof of Galleries Lafayette, which can be reached by elevator.

Toulouse food has wings too

In France, you can’t forget the food.
Again, in France, each region has its local specialties, and in Toulouse, it is a duck.

Both the bird and its liver can be prepared in different ways.
A good place to enjoy duck is Mon Canard Saint Pierre on Rue Pargaminiéres.
Champagne or pastis are perfect as aperitifs, and local red wine, rosé wine, or mineral water with a meal, in the southern French style.
Other local delicacies include spicy Toulouse sausages and cassoulet, a hearty bean-pork stew.

Jars of cassoulet fill the counter one after the other in the market hall of Toulouse as well. From the outside, the hall does not make an impression, as it is on the ground floor of a large parking garage, but inside, a real cornucopia of French delicacies awaits. For an inland city, the fish counters are also impressive. The seafood is brought from the Atlantic coast and is on counters the morning after it is caught.

If the coolness of the market hall is not enough in the summer, you can seek change and cooling on a river cruise. In addition to the Garonne, many cruises travel along the Canal du Midi, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A narrow canal was built in 1666 to connect the Garonne to the Mediterranean.

Hiking is also popular. There are numerous marked routes in the city area, but from Toulouse, you can also easily reach the Pyrenees, if you are interested in mountain hiking.

French chat leads to a surprise dinner

On the terraces, you might get stuck talking to the locals about the region’s wines or their favorite sport, rugby.
Having a conversation with locals can lead to unexpected consequences. We sat on the terrace for a couple of glasses of wine and at the same time brushed up on our slender French skills. The couple from Moroccan heritage at the neighboring table was amused by this and they started talking with us. We discussed about Languedoc wines and they offered us glasses of their favorite ones.

Suddenly they asked if we would like to go out to dinner with them. They have a table reservation at their friend’s restaurant and they thought that there would be room for two more diners at their table. We accepted the offer, of course.

Les P’tits Fayots is small, but a friend of our new acquaintances, restaurateur Aziz Mokhtar, accommodated us at the table, as supposed. The food was excellent and we sat there for quite a long time even after the official closing time. Of course, there was a dispute about the bill – our friends would have liked to pay it in full!