It’s September! Whole France talks about “La Rentrée”. Time for kids to go back to school, parents to get back to their routine life and students to arrive for a new semester in Toulouse. Toulouse has a lot to offer and here are some tips to make your first days and weeks in the pink city easier. Enjoy your time in Toulouse!
A first impression about your new city
Getting around in Toulouse
The public transport system Tisséo
Toulouse has two metro lines (line A and B), as well as two tram lines (T1 and T2 – T2 going to the airport). There are more and more fast bus lines that take passengers faster to the outskirts of Toulouse. Find all different plans here.
Tisséo offers a great your journey easily with the tool offered on their website or directly via the app.
Tip: If you are under 25 and a student/apprentice/etc., benefit from the cheap monthly Tisseo ticket for only €10. Just go to the Tisseo information centre, get your Tisseo card done for €8 (please bring your ID card and a passport picture).
Bikes to hire for little money around town
VélôToulouse
VélôToulouse is a great way to go around town. You may have seen the red bikes sitting at stations around Toulouse. They are easy to use, they are stations everywhere and it’s not expensive to use. For only 20€ a year, you can use them as often as you want, with 30min free each ride. A got way to get home during the night when the last metro is long gone.
Tip: You can charge the fee on your tisséo card online on their website and you are ready to go.
INDIGO weel
This new bike scheme INDIGO weel that appeared in Toulouse some weeks ago. The bikes are not at any particular station, but you can find them all around town in a dedicated area (careful, the scheme is not fully deployed to all areas of town). The advantage is that they can be found over the app very easily, however it costs a bit more than VélôToulouse.
Meeting new people in Toulouse
If you are new in Toulouse, you will probably not now that many people. You can find several tips about where to meet new people like internations or meetup groups and many more on the link here.
Finding a flat or house
If you are looking to rent or buy a house there are two options in general: either you go through an agency (very common here) or you look to rent or buy privately from the owner.
leboncoin.fr
Le boncoin is a website for private landlords and agencies, so you will find both. The website is comparable to craigslist in the US or gumtree in the UK, so you can also find all other sorts of adverts like furniture, cars, etc.
seloger.com
seloger is one of the biggest websites to rent and buy a flat/house in France. You will find great offers illustrated with pictures.
pap.fr
pap.fr stands for particulier à particulier (private person to private person). Here you will not find any offers from agencies, but only offers from private people, so no fees apply.
If you prefer sharing a house or a flat, here are two websites which work really well:
appartager.com
appartager is the biggest website in France for flat/house share. So if you are looking to live with other people, it’s the place to look.
adele.org
adele is a website dedicated to student housing. If you are looking to live in a student accommodation, you will find all of them listed on this website.
Good luck with your house search! If you do not fancy to prepare your move to Toulouse on your own, we suggest to get in touch with Toulouse Village, a great partner to organise all administrative things before your arrival.
Doing sports without committment
You cannot live in a new city without doing sports straight away? We fully understand you! Are you into yoga or pilates? Find a list of studios here. There are a lof of free sports around town as well, like tennis courts, fitness trails or roller blading.
Or if you cannot wait for the winter season to start, here is our selection of ski resorts and other winter sports.
New arrival’s guide by the city of Toulouse
The city of Toulouse has published a so called guidance brochure for new arrivals. It contains a lot of information like transportation, administration, culture, education et cetera. You can find it here.
Learn more about French/Toulouse food
Jessica from Taste of Toulouse offers great food tours around Toulouse, an original way of learning more about the region. She offers a tour around the Victor Hugo Market in the centre, where you find out more about all the different local products the region has to offer. If you are more into desserts and chocolate, you can go on the ‘Chocolate & Pastry’ tour and discover a great selection of pastry and chocolate shops. All info on her website here.
More information on our blog
We have already published several articles that could be useful for your start as well:
- Where to learn French
- Good restaurants and bars in the city
- Sport activities
- Living in Toulouse (special supermarkets, where to go for a swim, etc.)
- Toulouse with your family
- Weekend trips
Useful Facebook group
If you need tips from other expats who arrived recently in Toulouse, then please find this Facebook group that is really helpful in all sorts of situations.
Have a great time in Toulouse,
