France’s ‘pink city’ - what makes Toulouse a great study destination

Toulouse, the capital of the French region of “Midi-Pyrénées”, is one of the most colourful cities in the south of France, where the weather is nice all year round.

It’s an attractive, historical university town but is actually also well-know for state-of-the-art technology – one of the city’s main attractions is La Cité de L’espace, a technological and educative theme park based on astronautics.

Culture and gastronomy

Toulouse’s 440 000 inhabitants are proud of the unique culture of the “Occitanie” territory, also called the Oc Country (Occitan: lo País d’Òc). The common culture of Occitanie is found throughout the whole of southern France, and is made up of Spanish, Italian and French influences. L’Occitanie reveals all its beauty through the people, the language, the monuments and obviously, the food!

It is a highly cultural city, with lots of museums exhibiting, for instance, the Cathare heritage of Toulouse. And many art exhibitions, festivals and concerts take place throughout the year in the city. In addition, big markets are organised every week, offering a wide range of typical food of the region, including bread, sausages, fresh fruits or vegetables.

When it comes to gastronomy, Toulouse offers lots of delicious typical meals. We could mention the Cassoulet, the confit of duck, Toulouse’s sausages, mushrooms, products issued from the Violette flower (candies, jam…) etc. The typical dessert is the Fenetra, a marzipan, apricot and lemon cake. The typical beverage is Armagnac, the oldest eau de vie of the South west.

Architecture and historical sites

The particularity of the town is that every building is built with pink/red bricks, whose shade varies with the sun! Moreover “La Ville Rose”, as it is commonly known, has plenty of monuments which are classified by UNESCO, such as the Canal du Midi or the St Sernin Church. The main square is La Place du Capitole where the symbol of Occitanie, a twelve point cross, is engraved on the floor with a birth sign at each corner.

People and lifestyle

There are more than 100 000 students in Toulouse, which makes it the 3rd largest university town in France. It is a very lively and warm city by night, where bars and streets are often busy all night long, mainly when the weather is mild. During the day the “Toulousains” like to saunter around the town centre streets, or along the beautiful river – La Garonne. They also love sitting at a table outside a café, or in one of the many squares.

Perhaps due to the balmy climate of the region, the art of living in Toulouse is different from all other cities in France. The melodic accent goes hand to hand with the happy nature of the Toulousains, who are well-known in France to be friendly, frank and warm-blooded people.

Those who are native of Toulouse often consider it as a town that belongs to their heart, and as a result they would never want to leave. An example is famous French singer Claude Nougaro, who was born in Toulouse and who used to sing for his beloved city…

Cactus offers general, individual and combined French courses in Toulouse, as well as a French and cookery course.