Toulouse, dubbed ‘Ville Rose’ because of its pink buildings, sits astride the Garonne river and the historic Canal du Midi, midway between the Med and the Atlantic. The heart of the town is the vast, arcaded place du Capitole, where the impressive, grandiose Capitole building forms the seat of local government. It is worth popping in, if only to see the floor-to-ceiling 19th-century paintings, including Henri Martin’s elaborate depiction of Toulousain life at the time. Inside, the Théâtre du Capitole (05 61 63 13 13, www.theatre-du-capitole.org) has recently reopened following extensive refurbishment, which has brought the opulent gilt mouldings and painted cartouches back to their former glory.

Turn up rue du Taur to see the city’s finest building, the Basilique St-Sernin, built over the course of three centuries. Romanesque, with a wedding-cake spire, it was once a stop for pilgrims and so over time it accumulated an array of holy relics, most of which are on display.

South-west of the basilica is medieval Toulouse, which is dotted with a rich assortment of historic churches, including the Gothic Les Jacobins on rue Lakanal, where the Dominican order was founded, and the Notre-Dame-de-la-Daurade, a hotchpotch of styles presided over by a black Madonna.

The Hôtel de Bernuy, on rue Gambetta, and the Hôtel d’Assézat (place d’Assézat, 05 61 12 06 89, www.fondation-bemberg.fr, closed Mon) are both lovely 15th-century merchants’ houses; the latter contains gems by Monet, Matisse, Pissarro and Bonnard.

Across the Pont Neuf, modern art has a stylish home in Les Abattoirs (76 allée Charles de Fitte, 05 62 48 58 00, www.lesabattoirs.org, closed Mon). The show-stopper here is Picasso’s La Dépouille du Minotaure, a stage curtain from 1936. Revolving exhibitions of Pharaonic and Chinese artefacts take place all summer at the Musée Georges Labit (17 rue de Japon, 05 61 22 21 84, closed Tue, free 1st Sun of mth).

Three miles from the centre, the enormous Cité de l’Espace (avenue Jean Gonord, 08 20 37 72 23, www.cite-espace.com) is an impressive celebration of the city’s position at the centre of the European Space Programme. 2005 saw the unveiling of ‘Astralea’, featuring a state-of-the-art planetarium and a sleek, modern cinema complex with a huge screen (buy tickets in advance from the main desk), as well as interactive exhibits and life-sized replicas of Ariane 5 and the Mir space station.

• Tourist information: Donjon du Capitole (05 61 11 02 22, www.ot-toulouse.fr).