Moving to Toulouse

Aeronautics

Airbus, ATR, Liebherr-Aerospace, Safran, Collins Aerospace, Latécoère

Airbus's headquarters and its final assembly lines for the A320, A330 and A350 families are at Blagnac, and the supplier ecosystem around them is the single largest private employer base in the region.

Space

CNES, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, ONERA

The CNES Toulouse Space Centre is the largest space centre in Europe, and the satellite manufacturing and operations cluster around it is the deepest in the EU — much of it on cleared programmes.

Research & higher education

Université de Toulouse, ISAE-SUPAERO, ENAC, INSA, CNRS, INRAE

One of France's largest student populations outside Paris, with the national civil aviation and aerospace engineering schools both here, which is why the local engineering labour supply is so specialised.

Meteorology & earth observation

Météo-France, CNRM, Mercator Ocean International, Magellium

Météo-France's research centre and much of France's climate and ocean modelling capacity sit here alongside the satellite industry, an unusual and genuinely coupled concentration.

Health & oncology

CHU de Toulouse, Oncopole, Pierre Fabre, Evotec, Sanofi legacy sites

The Oncopole campus was built on the site of the AZF fertiliser plant destroyed in the 2001 explosion, and is now a combined hospital, research and biotech cluster in the south of the city.

Software & embedded systems

Sopra Steria, Capgemini, Thales Services, Continental, Actia, Sigfox legacy

A large digital sector, but weighted heavily toward embedded, safety-critical and industrial software serving aerospace and automotive rather than consumer products.

Landmark · City centre

The vast brick square in front of the city hall, with the zodiac cross set into the paving and cafés down one side.

Local tip: Go up into the Capitole itself — the Salle des Illustres upstairs is free, open on weekdays and almost empty, and most people who live here have never been in.

Landmark · North of the centre

The largest surviving Romanesque church in Europe, an eleventh-century pilgrimage basilica in brick and stone.

Local tip: The Sunday morning flea market that wraps around the basilica is the best in the city for old tools, books and records. Come for the market, then go inside while the organ is being played.

Neighborhood · South-east of the centre

The handsome, expensive quarter of narrow streets, private mansions and the covered Carmes market.

Local tip: Eat at the counters inside the Marché des Carmes at lunchtime rather than in the restaurants outside it. Half a dozen stallholders serve plates to the people who work in the neighbourhood, and it is the best value meal in central Toulouse.

Culture · East, Montaudran side

A space museum with a full-size Ariane 5 outside and real flight hardware in — the public face of Europe's largest space cluster.

Local tip: The planetarium and the Soyuz capsule are the reasons to go, and an annual pass costs barely more than two visits. If you have children this is the single best value in the city.

Nature · Around the centre

A seventeenth-century UNESCO-listed canal running through the city, and the big riverside meadow on the Garonne opposite the old town.

Local tip: The Prairie des Filtres at sunset is where the whole city ends up in summer, watching the brick facades across the river turn orange. Bring something to sit on, because the grass is watered in the evenings.

Nature · Oncopole to Rangueil

A three-kilometre cable car crossing the Garonne and the hill of Pech David, built as public transport rather than as an attraction.

Local tip: It is on the ordinary Tisséo fare, so a normal ticket buys you the best view in Toulouse — over the whole city to the Pyrenees on a clear winter morning. Almost no visitor knows it exists.