About 25km, an easy short drive or train ride from the city.
Discover Local Pyrénées-Orientales & Aude: What to Do Around Mercure Pyrénées-Orientales & Aude
At Mercure, we believe you shouldn't need a guidebook to feel like you belong somewhere. That's the idea behind Discover Local: since 1973, every Mercure hotel has been built around its neighbourhood, not just dropped into it — from the décor on the walls to the flavours on the menu. Step into any Mercure and our teams are on hand with the kind of tips you won't find in a guidebook: the market stall locals queue for, the bar where nobody speaks English, the walk that skips the crowds. They live here. They know. Discover Local isn't a generic city guide — it's a short, honest list of the restaurants, markets and neighbourhoods our own hotel teams actually recommend to guests, updated as the city changes around us. Below, you'll find our picks for Pyrénées-Orientales & Aude, an interactive map to help you find your way, and answers to the questions travellers ask us most. So — where will Discover Local take you?
Pyrénées-Orientales & Aude in 5 picks
Collioure
A small port town about 25km from Perpignan, all cobbled streets and colourful houses, that once drew Matisse and Derain to paint its light. The anchovies here have their own local reputation too.
Céret
A town in the Vallespir valley known for its cherries, celebrated with an annual festival, and for its Modern Art Museum, which honours the artists who passed through here in the early 20th century.
Prades
Gateway to Mont Canigou and host to the Festival Pablo Casals, founded in 1950 by the cellist himself while in exile here. Concerts take place in the Romanesque Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, a 9th-century site with acoustics to match its age.
Château de Peyrepertuse
One of the Cathar castles built into the Corbières ridgeline, its ramparts seeming to grow straight out of the rock. It sits roughly 40km northwest of Perpignan, in the Aude department.
Château de Quéribus
Nicknamed the 'last Cathar bastion,' this fortress held out longer than most against the Crusades and looks out over the Corbières and the Roussillon plain from its perch nearby Peyrepertuse.
FAQ
Yes, the two Cathar castles sit near each other in the Corbières, roughly 40km northwest of Perpignan, so both fit into a single day trip.
It runs every summer at the Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, with the festival marking its origins back to 1950 when Pablo Casals himself founded it.
Where to sleep
See our Mercure hotels across Pyrénées-Orientales & Aude, ideally placed to explore these picks.