Let's set off to discover the Bruniquel castles, an essential stopover when visiting the Aveyron gorges!

We're not going to lie, castles are awesome! We notice them from the road, they overlook Aveyron and we obviously want to see them up close. Come on, let's go! Arriving at the village you have to go up to the top to reach the castles, and yes it's worth it! But you have two castles for the price of one, the old castle founded in the XNUMXth century, property of the counts of Toulouse and the young castle which was built at the end of the XNUMXth century by Maffre de Comminges.

Old castle

So why 2 castles? Because of a family feud! One of the viscounts of Bruniquel left a will in which he partly disinherited his son in favor of a cousin called Maffre de Comminges and bequeathed him the eastern part of the castle lands. He built his own castle there, the Château Jeune, and from there followed 3 centuries of discord between the 2 families, we let you imagine the atmosphere between the 2 neighbors...

Beyond their architectural and historical interest, the castles offer visitors an exhibition on prehistory, we also retrace the discovery of the Bruniquel cave, the cradle of humanity and in a completely different register a room is dedicated to the cult film “the old gun” because the castles served as the setting for the film in 1975. For an even more immersive experience, don’t hesitate to take the audio guide, Guillaume de Tudèle the (kind) ghost of the castles will be your guide!

Practical information

The castles are open from March to November
Adult guided tour: €6 / Guided audio tour: €5.50 / Adult self-guided tour: €5
Guided tour for children (children under 16 years old) and group: €4.50
Guided tour *group of children (child under 16 years old): €2.50
Self-guided visit for children (children under 16) and groups: €3
Free for children under 5

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