Dog-Friendly Parks & Walks in Carcassonne

The towpath of Pierre-Paul Riquet's 17th-century Canal du Midi runs flat and shaded by century-old plane trees right through the centre of Carcassonne, passing the Bassin du Pont Rouge and the train station. Eastbound the towpath reaches Trèbes (13 km) and the Cesse-Canal junction, westbound it climbs to the Écluse de Foucaud and on toward Toulouse. Dogs must stay on a lead because the path is shared with cyclists; surface is hard-packed earth, very paw-friendly. UNESCO World Heritage since 1996.

A 40-hectare lake 5 km east of Carcassonne in the Cabardès foothills, with a 4.5 km lakeshore path under pine and oak, perfect for shaded dog walks year-round. The municipality bans dogs from the three supervised swimming beaches between 1 June and 15 September; outside this window, dogs can enter the water freely on the unsupervised stretches of shoreline. Free parking, no entry fee. Accessible by car or by the seasonal navette Cavayère shuttle from the city centre.

The Aude riverbanks linking the medieval Pont Vieux (the 14th-century pedestrian bridge between La Cité and the Bastide Saint-Louis) to the Square Gambetta and the Bastide gardens. A 1.5 km flat loop along the river, with the most spectacular view of La Cité from the Pont Vieux itself at sunset. Dogs on lead throughout, water access in two places below the Pont Vieux and at the Square André Chénier downstream. Grass strips and stone benches every 100 m.