Château de Puilaurens

A Cathar castle above Axat

One of the best-preserved Cathar castles, at 697 metres. A ten-minute walk up from the car park.

The history of the Cathars

Puilaurens was a refuge for Cathars during the crusade and became a royal fortress around 1250.

UNESCO World Heritage

Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc

World Heritage since: 2026

Eight fortresses that the French kings built or rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries after the Albigensian Crusade, to hold the border with the Kingdom of Aragon: the castle in Carcassonne and seven sentinels on rocky ridges – Aguilar, Lastours, Montségur, Peyrepertuse, Puilaurens, Quéribus and Termes. They are often called Cathar castles, but the walls you see today are mostly the king's, built after the fall of the Cathars. World Heritage since July 2026.

Visit: All the castles charge an entrance fee and sit on steep summits – allow a 15–45 minute walk uphill in sun and wind. Peyrepertuse and Quéribus may close when the tramontane is blowing hard.

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42.8050° N, 2.2990° E

Trails passing here

Sentier Cathare – the Cathar Trailapprox. 250 km · 12 days

Road trips passing here

The Cathar loopFoix → Carcassonne via the castles