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Even off-season, France’s southernmost – and sunniest – city simmers with warmth, loud-flavoured food and wine, rugby and Med culture. And the whole is shot through with the Catalan contention that every night is worth celebrating. In winter, fly to Carcassonne with Ryanair (ryanair.com) then its an hour’s drive or train ride. Direct flights from April.

power when Perpignan was powerful. Look out for sculptor Aristide Maillol’s big, famous nude La Méditerranée in the Town Hall courtyard. Around the corner, the gigantic brickbuilt Castillet (4) was the city’s main medieval gate. Stroll to the St Jean Baptiste cathedral (5), the Campo Santo cloistered cemetery and, in the next-door Chapelle du Dévot-Christ, a harrowing 14th-century wooden statue of Christ.