Les Lices
On Gingerguide's self-guided Carcassonne audio tour, Les Lices is a stop worth about ~30 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type historic
- Suggested visit ~30 min
- Carcassonne Carcassonne guide
About Les Lices
The grassy corridor between the Cité's two rings of wall, once a deadly killing-ground and now a free walking loop that circles the fortress past its towers.
The lices are the wide corridor of open ground between the inner and outer curtain walls, encircling the Cité. The space was created in the thirteenth century, when the French crown built the second, outer ring of walls to double the earlier Gallo-Roman rampart. Because the inner wall was kept higher than the outer, defenders could fire over the low wall and down into the corridor, trapping any enemy who breached the outer wall between the ramparts, too confined for siege engines.
Divided into the Lices Hautes and the Lices Basses, the corridor follows the walls for the full circuit and is today a grassy walking route, freely accessible unlike the ticketed wall-walk. It offers the closest views of the towers and of the concentric design. Many tower roofs and upper walls seen from here are neo-Gothic additions by Viollet-le-Duc rather than medieval fabric. The lices and walls were inscribed by UNESCO in 1997.
Did you know? The pleasant lawn was a killing-ground: an attacker who breached the outer wall dropped into a narrow corridor between the ramparts, too cramped for siege engines and exposed to fire from both walls.
How much time do you need at Les Lices?
Around ~30 min works well for Les Lices — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at Les Lices?
Yes — Les Lices made the cut as one of 13 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Carcassonne. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Carcassonne
Day 1 of the Carcassonne in 2 days itinerary →
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Hear the story of Les Lices
Preview the Carcassonne tour free in the Gingerguide app.