Experience the best of Narbonne

Narbonne was the first Roman colony in Gaul, founded in 118 BC, and the capital of a Roman province. A stretch of the Via Domitia, the old Roman road, is preserved in the main square, beside the Archbishops' Palace. Beneath the streets, the Horreum is a network of Roman underground storage galleries. The cathedral of Saint-Just-et-Saint-Pasteur has only its soaring Gothic choir, since the nave was never built.

The Canal de la Robine runs through the middle, crossed by the Pont des Marchands, a bridge lined with shops. Les Halles, a covered market of iron and glass dating from 1901, is the heart of the town. Gruissan, a village built in circles around a ruined tower, and the beaches of Narbonne-Plage lie on the coast, and the Cistercian abbey of Fontfroide sits in the hills to the south-west.

The market sells oysters from the coastal lagoons, olives, cheeses and cured meats, and the wines of La Clape, Corbières and Fitou fill the glasses. A dry, strong wind often sweeps the plain. Autumn, during the grape harvest, is the town's most atmospheric season.