It was amazing, just don’t go on Sunday.
Do you ever feel exhausted of having a long week of classes in Toulouse? Or do you feel like you need a quick getaway from reality, but have no clue where to go?
Well, I would like to share with all of you Narbonne-Plage. This is the perfect sport for a one day beach getaway with friends. It really has everything students are searching for: beach, sun and cheap food. Imagine after a long week of assignments going to soak into the cold Mediterranean Sea, eating paninis in front of the beach with an ice cold Coke.
Where is Narbonne ?
Narbonne is located in the southern coast of France, between Perpignan and Montpellier. This amazing destiny is close to Toulouse, the bus ride will take about 1h45, and by train 1h15, so it’s ideal for a quick day trip. Down below you will be able to see a screenshot of the location of Narbonne in comparison with Toulouse.
How to get to Narbonne from Toulouse
There are 3 options in order to get from Toulouse to Narbonne. The first option is by car. Now, this option is ideal if you have your own car. Otherwise, renting a car just to visit Narbonne its honestly not worth it. The car will stay the majority of the day parked.
That’s why, for those like me who don’t have a car, I would recommend getting to Narbonne by bus or train. As I said before, both the bus and the train ride will take less than 2 hours to Narbonne, and both of them are not expensive.
In my case, the round trip by train was 4€ because throughout the month of September the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) made special offers for close destinations like Narbonne. However, the price of transportation should be maximum 10€ per trip.
Special tip : for some reason it was cheaper for us to book the outbound and inbound trips separately. If we booked them together the total price was 20€, meanwhile booking them separately gave us a total of 4€. So try booking them both ways to compare and get the best prices.
CAUTION: Narbonne is not Narbonne-Plage
Now, the bus/train will take you from Toulouse to the town of Narbonne. In this town, as in many other european places, you can visit cathedrals and admire the beautiful architecture. However, what I recommend is going the beach (Narbonne-Plage), which is 30 minutes away from Narbonne.
When we first got to Narbonne, we didn’t know the beach was so far away. There are buses that constantly go from the city to the beach, and you can buy your ticket at any tabac store you see. In each bus stop you can see the time schedule for these buses depending on the day of the week. HOWEVER, I do not recommend going on a Sunday. There is rarely any bus, and you will end up paying for a 30 Uber ride to the beach (there is only one Uber driver in town by the way). So try going any day different from Sunday.
What to do in Narbonne-Plage?
Here is a list of the best activities you can do in Narbonne-Plage
- Go to Aquajet (waterpark)
- Play beach volleyball
- Eat delicious paninis (8€) in La Gringoterie
- Swim in the cold ocean
- Get a tan, the sun is usually pretty intense. I still have mine and that was 3 weeks ago.
- There is usually a flee market by the beach where locals sell little souvenirs
