The Cathar citadels in 3 days
3 days · 9 châteaux · 157 km
Carcassonne, Peyrepertuse, Quéribus and the fortresses of the Corbières.
These fortresses were not built to be beautiful but to be untakeable, which is what gives them their impossible silhouettes. Expect walking: most are earned at the end of a path, and the order here avoids dropping back down the same valley twice.
Day 1
43 km on the road
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Day 2
42 km on the road
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Day 3
40 km on the road
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The order of stops is chained nearest-first from the starting town, and distances are as the crow flies — allow a third more by road. Only châteaux whose opening to the public we know are included.