The most famous attraction is La Cité, the old city. As soon as you walk through the gates here, you imagine yourself in another era. The place where the old centre was built has been inhabited for thousands of years. The first traces of habitation date back to the time before Christ, and since then the piece of land has been in the hands of the Romans, the Visigoths and the Franks. Each of these rulers fortified the town by building walls, ditches and towers.

In the 13th century, Carcassonne became part of the French kingdom. From then on, the city formed the main French defence against the King of Aragon, who was advancing from Spain. This is also when La Cité began to take its current form, with its distinctive double wall, that imposing entrance gate Porte Narbonnaise and the many defensive towers.

When a final peace was signed between France and Spain in the mid-17th century, Carcassonne slowly fell into disrepair as no more money was invested in maintenance and fortifications. The new Canal de Midi, a canal running from Bordeaux to Montpellier (connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean) did not pass Carcassonne, preventing the town from benefiting from the economic revival brought about by the canal.

In the 19th century, the state of the old centre was so bad that the French government decided that it should be demolished. However, this led to much resistance among the French population and, as a result, it was decided that La Cité would be renovated. In 1879, this renovation was completed, and since then the city grew into one of the country's biggest tourist attractions.

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