GETTING THERE: Toulouse is about a 1 1/2-hour flight from Paris. Easy Jet (www.easyjet.com) offers fares starting at about $80 each way. From Washington, Air France, Alitalia and British Airways, among others, offer connecting service to Toulouse from about $640 round trip. By train, Toulouse is about six hours from Paris. Second-class fares start at about $75 one way. For schedules, rates and reservations: SNCF, www.voyages-sncf.com.
GETTING AROUND: Everything in the city center is within walking distance. For quick crosstown jaunts, the local Metro costs about $1.70 per ride. Or rent a bike for about $2.60 per day. You can cruise Toulouse by glass-roofed bateau mouche with Toulouse Croisieres (7 Port St. Sauveur, www.toulouse-croisieres.com); fares run about $6 to $10.50.
WHERE TO STAY: Hotel des Beaux-Arts (1 Place du Pont Neuf, 011-33-5-3445-4242, www.hoteldesbeauxarts.com) is a small, charming hotel overlooking the Garonne. Doubles run $100 to $218. For well-renovated rooms at bargain prices, try Ours Blanc Centre (2 Rue Porte Sardane, 011-33 -5-6121-2597, www.hotel-oursblanc.com), housed in three buildings near Place Wilson and the Victor Hugo Market; doubles about $85.
For more unusual accommodations, sleep and dine on a canal barge five miles outside of town at the chambresd'hotes -- rooms with fixed-price meals -- La Peniche Soleiado (Ramonville-Saint-Agne, 011-33-6-8627-8319); dinner about $32 per person, plus wine.
WHERE TO EAT: Upstairs in the Victor Hugo Market is a row of simple lunch restaurants that are a Toulouse institution. For cassoulet, duck and other regional cuisine, try Le Magret; for fish with Spanish-influenced touches, try Chez Attila. Lunch runs about $20, including wine. The restaurants in the Hotel Grand de l'Opera (1 Place du Capitole) serve Southwestern French specialties; dinner about $45 per person, plus wine.
For an intimate old bistro setting, La Belle Equipe (22 Rue des Polinaires) offers lunch for about $14 and dinner for about $38, plus wine. L'Autre Salon de The (28 Rue Pharaon) is a tearoom where the dish of the day is about $12. Stop by the classic wine bar Le Pere Louis (45 Rue des Tourneurs) and order what the people next to you are drinking.
WHAT TO DO: Any trip to Toulouse should include visits to St. Sernin Basilica and the Capitole (now Town Hall). Both sit on plazas that bear their names. Admission is free.
Toulouse has several museums specializing in classical to modern art and local traditions. Chief among them is the Musee des Augustins (21 Rue de Metz, 011-33 -5-6122-2182, www.augustins.org), featuring Romanesque sculpture, French and local paintings, and concerts. Admission is about $3.
Families with children shouldn't miss Toulouse's aerospace attractions outside the city center. The Cite de l'Espace (Ave. Jean Gonord, 011-33-5-6271-6480, www.cite-espace.com) features multilingual interactive exhibits and space travel simulations, a planetarium and a park of scale-model space vehicles. Admission is about $18 ($28.50 in July and August).
Take a 90-minute guided tour of Airbus's assembly plant Taxiway (10 Ave. Guynemer, Colomiers, 011-33-5-6118-0601, www.taxiway.fr). Reservations and personal ID or passport required; admission is $10 to $12.
INFORMATION: The Toulouse Tourist Office (011-33-5-6111-0222, www.ot-toulouse.fr), in the dungeon of the old capitol, makes reservations for some of the city's cultural sites, concerts and more. For information on the Midi-Pyrenees region: Midi-Pyrenees Regional Committee of Tourism, www.tourisme-midi-pyrenees.com. French Tourist Office, 410-286-8310, www.franceguide.com.
-- Robert V. Camuto
