A famous world guide has placed this French city at the top of its 2025 ranking.
Every year, the famous travel guide Lonely Planet crowns the hottest destinations of the coming year. In its paper guide “Best in Travel”, a reference for travelers around the world, Lonely Planet has drawn up its global ranking of the best cities to visit, evaluated by experts who select destinations according to the criteria of cultural richness, attractions tourism, innovation, sustainability and accessibility. For the year 2025, it is a nice surprise for France, because it is one of its cities which is at the top of the ten cities to absolutely discover.
Located in the heart of the south-west of France, this city “combines an exceptional heritage, a cultural richness, a unique gastronomy” explains Lonely Planet in a press release. It is “known for its pink bricks, its medieval streets, the banks of the Garonne, its mansions recalling the golden age of pastel, and the majestic Place du Capitole”, describes the tourist guide. It is easily visited on foot, by bike or by boat on the Canal du Midi. Did you guess? It’s Toulouse!
For Lonely Planet, its architectural gems like the Saint-Sernin Basilica and the Jacobins, its lively terraces, its taverns, its high-end cuisine – foie gras, duck breast and confit, Toulouse sausage, cassoulet – which can be enjoyed while strolling in the city’s markets, as well as its sites dedicated to scientific culture such as the Cité de l’espace, make this “Paris in miniature” an attractive destination.
But if the “Best in Travel 2025, Top City” edition has put it at the top of its ranking of the best cities to visit, it is also because the pink city is preparing to repeat a grandiose event and that other surprises await him for the coming year. From this Friday, October 25 until October 27, the monumental Urban Opera “Le Gardien du temple – Opus II”, an artistic performance by the Compagnie La Machine, will make nearly a million visitors dream in the streets of Toulouse . This is a most unusual experience and a perfect outing idea for the All Saints’ Day holidays!
Finally, in 2025, the city will celebrate several emblematic anniversaries, which once again underline the cultural attractiveness of the city: “the 500 years of the Capitol keep, headquarters of the Toulouse tourist office, and the 30 years of the collection of the Bemberg Foundation housed in one of the most beautiful Renaissance buildings in the city”, details Lonely Planet.
You will have understood it. Toulouse, this city where life is good, is preparing to shine on the international scene, and it starts now with its great urban Opera. It’s high time to enjoy its captivating lifestyle. As for the expression “Paris in miniature” used by the famous Anglo-Saxon guide, we’ll let you be the judge… There is no doubt that it will create debate between Parisians and southerners!