Why go
Understanding these areas makes a day on foot easier to plan. The Cité is compact and enclosed by walls; Trivalle and Pont Vieux link it to the Aude crossing. Bastide Saint-Louis opens into straighter streets and the central square, giving a clear contrast with the fortified hill.
The full story
The upper Cité sits on a raised, fortified site, where dense lanes run inside the medieval walls. It is the part most visitors first recognize, but its plan does not describe the rest of Carcassonne. Between the heights and the lower town, Trivalle provides a connecting quarter. Pont Vieux crosses the Aude, making the change in level and urban form easy to see. Across the river, Bastide Saint-Louis follows a regular plan. Its streets meet at right angles and lead toward Place Carnot, rather than turning through the irregular spaces of the Cité. Broad boulevards trace the edge of the former lower-town defenses. A useful walk follows that contrast: spend time within the walls, cross the river, then use Place Carnot to orient yourself in the bastide. The route explains the city’s two centers more clearly than visiting either in isolation.