Carcassonne Salvaza Airport is served only by Ryanair – no other airlines fly there. It handles direct flights to about 10 cities across 6 countries, and there are no domestic flights from within France. The airport sits around 2 miles (3 km) from the town centre, with a bus shuttle service and a taxi rank at the terminal. Click here to Read about the Carcassone Airport Shuttle Bus
The direct routes, by country (most are seasonal, so always check Ryanair’s current schedule):
- United Kingdom: London Stansted, Manchester, Bournemouth, and Nottingham (East Midlands) — the Nottingham route runs seasonally, roughly June to September.
- Ireland: Dublin and Cork.
- Belgium: Brussels Charleroi – seasonal, running roughly April to October.
- Portugal: Porto – seasonal, roughly April to October.
- Italy: Cagliari in Sardinia – seasonal, roughly June to September.
- Morocco: Tangier – seasonal, roughly April to October, and it’s the only intercontinental route into Carcassonne.
The busiest routes are London Stansted, Brussels Charleroi, and Manchester. Typical flight times: London Stansted about 2 hours, Brussels Charleroi about 1h45, Manchester about 2h05, Dublin about 2h15, and Tangier about 2h.
Flying in via a nearby airport
If you’re not coming from one of those cities – and that includes anyone flying long-haul from North America, Asia, etc. – you fly into a larger regional airport and finish the trip by train, bus, or hire car. The easiest alternatives are Toulouse and Perpignan.
In practice:
- Toulouse-Blagnac (TLS) is the one most people use. It’s the big regional hub with far more airlines and destinations, and it’s well connected to Carcassonne by train and the A61 motorway (roughly an hour). This is usually your best bet for connections and frequency. Read how to get to Carcassonne from Toulouse click here.
- Perpignan, Béziers, Montpellier are useful if a budget carrier happens to serve your home city from one of them – all are an easy onward train or drive.
- Barcelona / Girona (Spain) are worth a mention too: they’re further (a 2.5–3 hour drive or train), but they’re major budget gateways, so for some travellers a cheap flight into Spain plus ground transport works out well.
