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Arrival and information
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The train station,
gare Matabiau
, and
gare routiA?re
(tel 05.61.61.67.67), stand side by side in boulevard Pierre-SA©mard on the bank of the tree-lined and imaginatively planted Canal du Midi. This is where you'll find yourself if you arrive by train, bus or air, for the
airport shuttle
(every 20min; 20min journey; 23F/3.36) puts you down at the bus station (with stops also in allA©es Jean-JaurA?s and at place Jeanne-d'Arc). It is also the best spot to aim for if you are in a car: leave the
boulevard pA©riphA©rique
at exit 15.
To reach the city centre from the train station takes just five minutes by mA©tro to stop Capitole (8F/1.22, covering one hour's transport by mA©tro and Semvat city buses within the city centre), or twenty minutes on foot. Turn left out of the station, cross the canal and head straight down allA©es Jean-JaurA?s, through place Wilson and on into place du Capitole, the city's main square. Just before it lie the shady and much-frequented gardens of the square Charles-de-Gaulle, where the main tourist office (May-Sept Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 10am-1pm & 2-6.30pm; rest of year Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-12.30pm & 2-6pm, Sun 10am-12.30pm & 2-5pm; tel 05.61.11.02.22, www.Mairie-Toulouse.fr ) is housed in a sixteenth-century tower that has been restored to look like a castle keep; the Capitole mA©tro stop is right outside.
The best guide to
what's on
in and around the city - and usually there is a lot, from opera to cinema - is the weekly listings magazines
Toulouse Hebdo
(3F/0.46) and
Flash
(6F/0.92). More highbrow interests are covered in the free monthly
Toulouse Culture
, available from the tourist office, among other places. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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France,
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