Carcassonne stretches in the plains of the Aude Valley, at the crossing of two important thoroughfares plied from earliest times - one runs west to east linking the Atlantic with the Mediterranean, the other runs north to south from the Cevennes to the Pyrenees.
The old walled-city - known as La Cité - embodying 2000 years of french history and the «Bastide Saint-Louis» founded in the 13th century were quite separate parts, but nowadays they are closely bound to represent Carcassonne.