I’m rounding off my 2022 France series with a final post, and it’s my favourite.

Bastille Day is the common name for the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called the Fête Nationale Française. Bastille day symbolises the start of the French revolution, and the ultimate downfall of the Monarchy. It’s a national holiday in France and is celebrated widely across the country.

One of the most amazing places to be for Bastille Day fireworks is the medieval city of Carcassonne, in the south of France. Visiting for the fireworks is one of my favourite European travel experiences – they were so special and I’d recommend going to anyone considering it.

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Visiting Carcassonne

Carcassonne is an amazing medieval town, with a stunning castle and lots of fun things to do – you can read my post HERE to find out more. You can fly directly in to Carcassonne airport from airports across the UK and Europe via Ryanair flights – though the airport is small so flights aren’t that regular.

If you want to visit for Bastille Day, I recommend coming a day or two before July 14th. It gets completely packed on the actual day so if you want to see the city, come beforehand. As a guide, Carcassonne’s normal population is c45,000 but on Bastille day it swells to over 600,000!

Many areas of the castle and town are also closed on the day itself in preparation for the fireworks, so if you really want to explore everything be sure to be there a couple of days prior.

Also be sure to book your accommodation well in advance. We booked a city centre hotel with a balcony to enable us to watch the fireworks (Hotel de la Cite), but they cancelled on us 4 weeks before we were due to travel as a famous celebrity booked out the hotel. I was furious, but very luckily managed to find a cottage outside of the city called Les Pimprenelles which was lovely.

Make sure you also book reservations for food ahead of time if you need to – we had to self cater on the day as no restaurants were available for lunch or dinner.

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Where to watch the fireworks

The best place to watch the fireworks is from the Pont Neuf Bridge, followed closely in priority by the view from the Pont Vieux Bridge.  As of 2:30pm in the afternoon on Bastille Day, good spots on both bridges were still available. As it was 40C (104F) temperatures and no shade on the day, we weren’t prepared to stand in the boiling heat for 8+ hours to get the prime spots – and by 3pm, the bridges were full.

If you *really* want the prime spots, I also recommend taking a chair – standing for that long isn’t fun. As tourists we don’t often pack chairs in our hand luggage so I think this option is more for people who travel to Carcassonne by car.

With the prime spots out, we decided to venture a little further afield. There are a number of parks and spots along the river between the bridges (see picture below) which are nice and you could lay a blanket (just remember to pack one!), but again we weren’t willing to set up in the heat and all the spaces in the shade were gone by 3pm.

So it was time to find another spot. We ruled out watching from inside the city walls as you wouldn’t get the full view of the fireworks and there would be a lot of smoke – but you could book a table at a central restaurant balcony and watch from there I think.

We think we found a gem though. At first we walked up the night before Bastille Day to scope out the ‘Carcassonne Castle Panorama Viewpoint’ as per google maps, just off the D6161 – but there were already cars and camper vans parked up and we decided it was so far away the view wasn’t that great anyway.

BUT, we did find a little road, just off the Chemin des Ourtets leading up hill between houses which brings you out at a vineyard at the top of the hill with the most beautiful views. There was literally no-one there as at 4pm on the day. We headed back at 8pm and there were a couple of cars but still plenty of space, and eventually at 9pm we went back up and got a prime spot right at the front. We laid out a blanket and waited an hour for the show.

By 10pm, we had people standing behind us, but it didn’t matter and the area was still pretty quiet compared to others. We found ourselves next to a group of French people singing medieval songs which added an interesting dimension to the evening – it was actually quite nice and thankfully they stopped once the fireworks began (!)

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The Main Event

Wow. The best fireworks I have ever seen in my life. They start at 10.30pm, last about 30 minutes and are beyond incredible. Photos can’t possibly do them justice, and I alternated between snapping away and just watching in complete and total awe.

There were dazzling, magical white fireworks which sparked and glistened like diamonds. There were huge bangs of colours hanging in the sky and illuminating the castle in green, red, blue and yellow. There were fireworks which fizzed, those which whirled and those which thudded. At points the ground trembled under our feet and we were utterly whisked away in the beauty of it all.

I’ll never forget watching them – alongside my parents and my husband. My parents went to Carcassonne on their honeymoon 38 years ago but missed the fireworks by a day. This visit was for them to complete their honeymoon, and I’m so glad I got to enjoy it with them. I doubt I’ll ever see fireworks like it again and I am so privileged to have been able to see them.

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Other Bastille Day tips

• Pack some small pruners or sturdy scissors – if you’re sitting on the ground there will be rogue vegetation around you might want to be able to cut
• Wear insect repellant as the mosquitoes can be very hungry
• Take a large, thick blanket to sit on, as the minimum you will be waiting if you want a good spot is a couple of hours and you’ll want to sit down
• If you’re waiting all day, be sure to take a sunhat and suncream as the area can get so hot and there isn’t that much shade
• Bring some snacks and some wine, especially if you’re waiting for a few hours over dinner – the whole atmosphere in the city is a laid back party vibe so make the most of it
• Pick a spot and stick to it. Scope out your ideal spots the day before. Set a limit on how long you’re willing to sit in each spot to get it. Then you’re not faffing about on the day trying to find somewhere. We had a plan A, B and C and a maximum time we would wait which meant we didn’t dither about (too much) on the day.

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So, did you enjoy the fireworks? I can’t recommend this experience enough, it was a really special trip and one which will stay with me for life. Stay safe and happy travelling everyone!