FRANCE A LA CARTE ____Midi-Pyrenees

The 'MIDI-PYRENEES'

From the peaks of the Pyrenees in the South to the Dordogne valley and the Massif Central in the North: bordered by the lower Garonne valley and Gascony to the West and the Languedoc to the East, the MIDI-PYRENEES region is a broad slice of Southern France. Created out of 8 départements for administrative purposes the Midi-Pyrenees region includes - by chance - a bit of everything (except coastline) that makes France special.

There are high snow-capped mountains with ski resorts, brown bears and vultures, a wild piedmont plateau reeking of history and castle strongholds, fertile plains of rolling fields of corn and sunflower, deep river valleys with stone-built villages clinging to their sides ... and a major french urban centre, Toulouse, with its aerospace industry, 120,000 students and majestic pink-brick architecture and history.

Access couldn't be easier with direct flights into Toulouse from most parts of Europe: all the major airlines are there (BA, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, as well as low-cost easyJet, Flybe and Jet2.

Other airports in the region include Rodez (Ryanair), Carcassonne (Ryanair) and Pau/Lourdes (Ryanair)

Learn about other French regions: Aquitaine, the Pyrenees.

Check out some travel books and maps on France