Photo spot in Toulouse
Place du Capitole
A hundred and twenty metres of pink-and-white façade on one side, arcades on the other, and a bronze Occitan cross set into the paving between them.
About Place du Capitole
Get directionsThe Capitole has been the city hall of Toulouse for eight centuries, and its long eighteenth-century front — pink brick, white stone, eight columns of Pyrenean marble — closes the biggest open square in the centre. Everything else on the square is arcades and café terraces, which makes the façade the only thing to point a camera at.
The paving is the other half of the picture. Raymond Moretti's Occitan cross is laid into the stone in bronze, big enough that people photograph it from the arcade steps; standing on it with the façade behind gives the frame that says Toulouse without a caption.
Come at opening time. By eleven the terraces have colonised a third of the square and the light has gone flat; at seven or eight in the morning the paving is empty and the brick still holds its colour. Late evening works too, once the façade is lit and the square turns into a crossing rather than a room.
Best time to shoot
Seven to nine in the morning, or late evening once the façade is lit
Tips
Market stalls occupy part of the square on some mornings and events close it entirely a few times a year, so check the city calendar before building a session around it.
Other spots in Toulouse
The Pont Neuf and the Garonne banks
Brick arches pierced by round flood openings, a wide river and the whole pink skyline behind — the frame that earns the city its nickname.
Basilique Saint-Sernin
The largest Romanesque church still standing in Europe, with a five-tier octagonal bell tower rising straight out of the brick.
The Canal du Midi at Port Saint-Sauveur
Three hundred years of still green water, plane trees leaning over both banks and barges moored end to end in the middle of the city.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know Place du Capitole — free of charge.