abbaye de fontfroide

The Abbaye de Fontfroide is a gem: very well preserved (and continuously renovated!), with a well maintained rose garden (they even have their own rose species!) and a proper tour that changes depending on the season. The abbey is located in the French countryside (a.k.a. the Middle of Nowhere) and has an interesting history, both because of its former function as an abbey and because it was the house of the artist and collector Gustave Fayet.You can just visit the abbey or pay a bit extra to also visit the abbey's garden. Upon reservation, the small Fayet museum is also accessible and when you think you've seen it all, there's still the hiking route up to a giant cross that overlooks the area.

Nestled at the base of Cathar country, the Abbaye is a wonderful tribute to monastic life. This complex forces you to take a few minutes to discover quiet contemplation. Simple in design and structure the building and grounds yet exude a grandeur that can't be easily put into words. As you wander thru the property you easily picture the monks in prayer and in chant. There is also a full service restaurant on site and a "Cave" where you can purchase wines produced on property. One note - this Abbaye is not directly in Narbonne but approximately 15-18 kilometers north of city center.

Visited here on a south of France road trip and it was definitely worth the stop. The buildings of the Abbaye are all in excellent condition and it has a lovely restaurant and wine cellar. You can go on a guided tour but we found it better to explore at our own pace. The buildings are all extremely well preserved and the grounds are lovely and in particular the terraced gardens. If you are in the area it is a must visit.

Thanks a lot Gillian E ! The "Fête des Plantes" is organized every year in May, normally during the first week-end. You can find the program of this event on our website. Best regards,

With over 100k visitors a year pick your day to visit this wonderful Abbaye. The site is very well preserved and presented, the buildings themselves are well worth the entrance fee and the beautiful gardens are an added bonus. Very good on-site restaurant as well.

Unlike most abbeys this is not in ruins but kept up beautifully maybe because it is privately owned. The owner gave us a tour with the history of the Abbey.

Visited here having seen it marked on our map and we are grateful we did. It was worth every cent of the 10 Euro entry fee, per person. The leaflet we were given to self-guide us around the abbey was very informative and brought the place to life. The abbey is obviously well cared for and is undergoing various restorations. This is definitely worth a detour!

If you have spent any time at all in the Aude/Cathar region of France, you know that there are a multitude of abbeys and castle ruins to visit. Each starts to look like the previous after a while. Fontfroide was another of these- ancient by American standards but well reconstructed and accessible, but still no real furnishings from the period. One thing that set Fontfroide above some of the others historical sites we visited in the area was the translated brochure that was available for our tour. For each room we visited, it had a small picture of the abbey and the room was highlighted so you knew you were in the correct area. There are also some very interesting stained glass windows. They were constructed of broken pieces of church windows from northern France that were destroyed during World War I.

The abbey is the first place I visited after arriving in Barcelona earlier that day. It's in a beautiful secluded location and perfect for a contemplative visit. The courtyards and garden were lovely as was the architecture and associated history of the abbey. With making a stop if you are en route to Carcassonne or in the vicinity.

This a spectacular example of the rich Cathey trail buildings which are a feature of the South of France, encompassing the rich history that these buildings offer, open for a free roam around its grounds is a departure from the normal conducted tour around the building and grounds, the main purpose of our visit on this occasion was to view the fabulous display of orchids on show in the upper room, but you can also chat to producers and choose from a wide variety of orchids offered for sale.I refer to these as building as opposed to castles, which seems to be the phrase used to describe Cathay Castles,, in this case Fontfroide was a monestry with all the trappings you would expect.See the exquisite cut glass windows in the church and the enclosed garden in the centre of the building, because the rose garden at the back features the new Fontfoide rose introduced in 2013, along with more established roses, also the pomegranate trees adorned with fruit ready for picking, but not by visitors.The family who own this jewel have continued to improve and develop the building and grounds.Sadly, when we visited with family 12 months ago the welcome fell short, when we were dragged around the site by a guide who spoke entirely in French and ignored us leaving us so we were disappointed by the lack of attention and information, particularly when the audio translation equipment did not work properly.However on this visit we were pleased to see that there were staff who spoke English and leaflets printed in various languages including English.Whilst we didn't expect to be spoken to entirely in our native language it is clear that to do so opens up this attraction to a wider public visitor to the benefit of all. There is a shop which sells the Abbaye Fontfroide wine and various books and other gift type items.There is a full restaurant although I cannot give an overview of the menu , the restaurant seemed well patronised and popular. Car parking is outside the building compound and is spacious.The Abbaye is situated in some spectacular scenery which is worth exploring after your visit.An entry fee is charged, on the orchid weekend the fee was 6 €50 each but for conducted tours expect to pay more.

The name of this Abbaye suggests Cold Water, which used to run under the Abbaye, but the welcome is nothing like that. What a spectacular place and worth a visit when in the area. The Abbaye has been lovingly maintained. It just looks loved. The owners try so hard with the upkeep of the property and gardens. It is quite a commercial establishment, but then how else do they get the money to preserve local history. Over 100,000 visitors a year really helps. My advise is to put this on your itinerary and finish up with a delicacies lunch in the perfect unpretentious restaurant, drinking their own wine.

The Abbaye is a lovely, atmospheric place and well worth wandering round for a few hours. We weren't offered a tour, but having read the reviews here we were happy with a self-guided map and took our time to wander round. We were out in the rose garden when the heavens opened and we were treated to a huge downpour which turned the paths into streams and was very challenging to the ancient guttering and downspouts! We took refuge in the restaurant having decided to treat ourselves to what we were hoping was a delicious meal. The food didn't disappoint, but the service certainly did. We ordered a beer and glass of wine to accompany the set menu, but our drinks never arrived. We eventually managed to get another waitress to take the order again, by which time we'd virtually finished our main course. We enjoyed our dessert, but then made the mistake of ordering coffee. We waited at least 20 minutes, which gave us plenty of time to watch how other people were being treated. There seemed to be quite a divide between attentive service and complete disarray - one poor family (French, so not just saving the poor service for foreign tourists) had some extremely patient young children, but one child's meal didn't arrive until everyone else had finished. We eventually had to re-order the coffee - we actually just wanted to leave, but as it had already been added to our bill didn't want to have the argument that we'd never had it. Our French is reasonable, but probably not up to arguing over service. Sadly, I can remember that we liked the food, but can't remember what we had because it was so overshadowed by shoddy service. It's probably worth saying that it was quite busy, but not exceptionally so - even if they had been very busy it's still no excuse for forgetting peoples' orders.

Do not miss this Abbaye if you are in the surrounding of Narbonne. It a place well kept and the tour is well documented. During summer there is a lot of musical presentations, worth to assist. A min point is the restaurant, very basic.Rita

Wonderful to visit the Abbaye de Fontfroid. A great way to spend a day and enjoy an afternoon lunch in the amazingly delicious restaurant.

Dear Judi_and_Duane, thanks for your post ! We are pleased to know you enjoyed your 'trip' to the abbey and the restaurant ! Best regards,