Camping Le Haut Salat

Thousands of years' worth of history are all around here, like at the vast and fab Cave of Niaux with its well-preserved prehistoric paintings, or the Château de Montségur, the fortress dating back to Cathar times. Also around and highly recommended is a long wander among the old buildings of the pink city of Toulouse, home of the world's first photography museum in the Galerie du Chateau d'Eau water tower, the spectacular Place du Capitole, the Canal du Midi and the biggest Romanesque church in Europe at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Toulouse Cathedral. Other options are seeing the lynxes, wolves, bears and otters at the Pyrénées Animal Park at Argelès-Gazost; the mountain village of El Serrat, and the village of La Cortinada with the twelfth century Sant Martí de la Cortinada church. If you're up for some proper relaxing, steam along to southern Europe's biggest spa centre at Caldea, for indoor and outdoor Jacuzzis, saunas and Turkish baths, all surrounded by spectacular scenery.