Toulouse travel guide, in your ear
France's pink-brick southern city on the Garonne: the Place du Capitole, the Romanesque Saint-Sernin and the Jacobins' palm-tree vault, pastel-era mansions, the Canal du Midi, and Europe's aerospace capital with its Cité de l'espace.
- 13 narrated stops
- ~39 minutes of stories
- 6 languages
- Offline ready
What is the Gingerguide Toulouse tour?
Toulouse has 13 narrated sights on Gingerguide's self-guided audio walking tour. Plan about a full day to walk them all. The app is free to download, every city has a free preview, and the tour works offline in six languages.
It is a self-guided audio walking tour of Toulouse, France, inside the Gingerguide travel guide app. The tour maps 13 sights and tells the story of each one in a two to three minute narration with a lifelike AI voice. When the story is not enough, ask the built-in AI guide about the place and keep the conversation going. Everything is available in six languages and works fully offline after a one-time download.
Which audio guide app is best for Toulouse?
It depends on the trip. For Toulouse, Gingerguide gives you all 13 sights on one offline map, narrated in six languages, with an AI guide to ask. Other apps are better for a single human-narrated walk, for museum guides, or for driving. We compared the main options honestly, with sources.
About Toulouse
Toulouse is built almost entirely of pinkish terracotta brick, which is why the French call it 'la Ville Rose', the Pink City. In the low southern sun the whole place seems to glow warm orange. It is France's fourth-largest city, sitting on the river Garonne roughly halfway between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and it wears its size lightly.
The old centre is compact and made for walking. At its heart is the vast Place du Capitole and the long brick façade of the Capitole, the city's town hall and opera house. A few streets away rises the great Romanesque basilica of Saint-Sernin, a stop on the medieval pilgrim road to Santiago, and the Jacobins church, where a single column fans out into a stone 'palm tree' overhead.
Toulouse was once the seat of powerful counts, and later grew rich on pastel, the blue woad dye traded across Renaissance Europe; that money built its ornate brick mansions. It has been a university town for centuries. And in the twentieth century it became the capital of European aerospace: Airbus builds its airliners here, and rockets and satellites are designed nearby.
So the city has two faces. On one side are churches, cloisters and art museums; on the other, the Cité de l'espace with its full-size rocket, and a hall where a giant mechanical Minotaur walks. The Garonne runs through the middle, crossed by the old Pont Neuf, and the UNESCO-listed Canal du Midi begins its long journey to the sea from here.
It is a warm, unhurried place, best taken at a southern pace. Eat cassoulet, try a violet-flavoured sweet, and end the day on the riverbank as the brick turns pink. Wander without a plan and you will keep stumbling on quiet squares and cafés. So pick a bridge over the Garonne, and start walking.
One day in Toulouse
A simple way to walk the highlights, following the route order in the app. Swap anything; Toulouse rewards detours.
Afternoon and evening
Have more than a day? Toulouse in 2 days →
What to see in Toulouse: all 13 stops
Every place below has its own narrated story in the app, and its own answers when you want more. Walk them in any order; the map shows what is around you.
-
Basilique Saint-Sernin
A vast, still-working Romanesque pilgrimage basilica of warm Toulouse brick, raised over the relics of Saint Saturnin and often called the largest surviving Romanesque church anywhere in Europe.
-
Place du Capitole
Toulouse's grand civic square, fronted by the Capitole town hall and its long 1760 Cammas facade, and paved with Raymond Moretti's great Occitan cross at its centre.
-
Couvent des Jacobins
A vast Dominican church of Toulouse pink brick, famous for the palm-like 'palmier' vault fanning across its apse and for the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
-
Cathédrale Saint-Étienne
The Archdiocese's famously mismatched cathedral, where a wide Raymondine nave meets a taller, off-axis, unfinished Gothic choir, a composite of many styles never brought into line.
-
Musée des Augustins
The fine-arts museum of Toulouse, set in a former Augustinian convent and known for its Romanesque sculpture; closed since 2019, it is now reopening in phased stages.
-
Hôtel d'Assézat
A grand sixteenth-century Renaissance mansion built on Toulouse's woad-dye fortunes, its courtyard stacking three classical orders; today it houses the Fondation Bemberg art collection, reopened in 2024.
-
Musée Saint-Raymond
Toulouse's archaeology museum, standing beside the Basilica of Saint-Sernin, best known for the Roman sculptures from the villa of Chiragan, including a long gallery of imperial portraits.
-
Pont Neuf
Its name means New Bridge, yet locals will tell you it is the oldest bridge still standing in Toulouse, a brick and stone crossing of the Garonne finished in 1632.
-
Garonne Riverbanks
The Garonne's quais frame the classic view of the Pink City, from the domed Hôpital de La Grave to the riverside basilica of the Daurade and a popular sunset.
-
Canal du Midi
Pierre-Paul Riquet's 17th-century canal reaches the Mediterranean and won UNESCO status in 1996. Its famous plane-tree canopy is slowly being felled and replanted as a canker disease spreads.
-
Jardin des Plantes
A green pause in central Toulouse, this former botanical garden became a public park in 1887. Expect an 1877 cascade, a Wallace fountain, sculptures and the neighbouring natural history museum.
-
Cité de l'espace
Toulouse's space-science park opened in 1997, with a full-scale Ariane 5 rocket replica, a walk-through Mir station model, planetariums and an IMAX dome for a hands-on tour of spaceflight.
-
La Halle de la Machine
On the old Montaudran airfield, this hall stages giant mechanical creatures built by the company La Machine. Its centrepiece is Astérion, a walking Minotaur about 14 metres tall, unveiled in 2018.
Three things most visitors miss
Basilique Saint-Sernin
Pope Urban II consecrated the high altar in 1096, though the church around it was nowhere near finished; construction then carried on, east to west, well into the following century.
Place du Capitole
The name is deliberate borrowing: a town clerk, Pierre Salmon, coined 'Capitole' in 1522 to echo Rome's Capitol, dressing up the local capitouls, the merchant magistrates who governed Toulouse, in classical robes.
Couvent des Jacobins
The apse ceiling is the star: a single slender column erupts into 22 stone ribs that spread across the vault like palm fronds, which is why it has always been called the 'palmier.'
Toulouse tour: questions and answers
How many days do you need in Toulouse?
To see Gingerguide's 13 narrated highlights of Toulouse on foot, plan about a full day. The tour is self-guided, so you set the pace: cover the whole route in a day or spread it across a trip. Each sight has a two to three minute story, roughly 39 minutes of audio in total.
What are the top things to see in Toulouse?
Gingerguide narrates 13 sights in Toulouse, starting with Basilique Saint-Sernin, Place du Capitole, Couvent des Jacobins, Cathédrale Saint-Étienne. Each one has its own audio story on a live map, and you can ask the built-in AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Do I need a tour guide in Toulouse?
Not a human one. Gingerguide covers Toulouse with 13 narrated sights, so you get the stories a guide would tell, at your own pace and on your own route. And if a story leaves you with a question, you can ask the built-in AI guide and discuss the place right there, the way you would with a guide.
How many stops does the Toulouse audio tour have?
The Toulouse guide covers 13 sights. Each one has a researched story of roughly three minutes, about 39 minutes of listening in total. You choose the order and the pace; the tour is self-guided.
Does the Toulouse tour work offline?
Yes. You can download Toulouse in the app, audio, photos, and offline map tiles included. After the download, the full tour works without an internet connection.
Which languages does the Toulouse guide support?
Every Toulouse narration is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Turkish, and Chinese. You can switch the language in the app at any time.
Is the Toulouse audio guide free?
The Gingerguide app is free to download, and Toulouse includes a free preview: you can see all 13 sights on the map at no cost. A premium subscription unlocks the full stories, audio narration, and the offline download.
Hear Toulouse tell its own story.
Preview all 13 Toulouse stops free in the Gingerguide app.
Updated: