From the Pyrenean peaks in the South to the Dordogne valley and the Massif Central in the North: bordered by the lower Garonne valley and Aquitaine to the West and the Languedoc to the East, the MIDI-PYRENEES region is a broad slice of Southern France. Created out of 8 départements for administrative purposes the Midi-Pyrenees region includes - by chance - a bit of everything (except coastline) that makes France special.

There are high snow-capped mountains with ski resorts, brown bears and vultures, a wild piedmont plateau reeking of history and castle strongholds, fertile plains of rolling fields of corn and sunflower, deep river valleys with stone-built villages clinging to their sides ... and a major french urban centre, Toulouse, with its aerospace industry, 120,000 students and majestic pink-brick architecture and history.