2023 Occitania – Andorra – Catalonia Road Trip

September 2023. Oriol and I are flying to Toulouse for a road trip in Occitania and (French) Catalonia. We include the Principality of Andorra, which I can finally tick off the bucket list, and Llívia, Spain‘s exclave in France. Besides Toulouse we visit Mont-Louis, Villefranche-de-Conflent, Perpignan and Carcassonne.

This road trip came about because I had been nagging Oriol’s ears off for going to Andorra for years. And we planned a week around this. As we didn’t really know the region, we chose to combine it with present-day Occitania, which includes North(ern) or French Catalonia.

In total we, or rather Oriol, didn’t drive that much. Yes, we filled up in Andorra but in total we used less than a full tank of diesel.

Although the region was new to me, going to the south of France is always familiar. Good food, lovely terraces for a drink, picturesque and quaint towns. It never disappoints. Obviously we were helped by beautiful weather, which enhances everything.

Still not recovered?

What did disappoint, were the hotels. Eurostars Andorra had a great price-quality ratio, Novotel Toulouse Purpan Aéroport was served its purpose more than decently, but Dali Hôtel Perpignan and Neméa Appart’Hôtel Toulouse Concorde had their fair share of issues.

Is COVID-19 still an excuse? Am I expecting too much? Is the French star rating system too generous? Because Némea certainly is one star overrated. And as it was our last hotel, it felt like a downer.

Anyway, it didn’t spoil our holiday.

Flags of Toulouse (and historically Occitania), Andorra and Catalonia.

Regionalism

Outside France, the country is often presented as centralistic. Paris first, then the rest. But the country is much more diverse. Certainly in Occitania and Catalonia where bilingualism is present, you see there’s more than one France.

Usually, regionalism in France is linked to Brittany or Basque Country, but we felt it in Catalonia and Occitania as well.