Cabaret was one of the hard places. In 1209 Simon de Montfort besieged it and failed; Pierre-Roger de Cabaret, a man loyal to the Trencavels, later captured Bouchard de Marly, one of Montfort’s own, and traded him for terms — he surrendered on favourable conditions in 1211, which in that war counts as winning. The site sheltered Cathar bishops and a religious community, and a castral village, a castrum, ran along the ridge and down the slope beneath the towers.
Then be clear about what you are walking on, because it is the same problem as the Cité. After resistance in the region collapsed in 1229, the crown had the castrum destroyed in 1240, and royal authority rebuilt the crest as four smaller, separate forts in Capetian military style, each with its own garrison, in the second half of the 13th century. The fourth tower, Tour Régine, is a purely royal addition, planted there to say who was in charge. So: the resistance is 12th- and early-13th-century and mostly underground; the standing architecture is the French crown’s answer to it. The excavated quarters of the castrum — houses, forges, cisterns, a chapel and a cemetery — and the finds from thirty years of digging are what actually survive from Pierre-Roger’s Cabaret, and they are displayed on site.
The castles sit at only 260 to 285 m on about 12 hectares of garrigue, holm oak and maquis in the foothills of the Montagne Noire. It does not sound like much until you are on the path. The visit is an uphill loop on rock and steps from the old textile mill at the bottom; the operator suggests around 2h30, the Aude tourist board says 2 hours, and there is essentially no shade. Wear real shoes and carry water. The site warns that it may close in the afternoon during extreme heat — phone before you go in July or August.
On 26 July 2026 Lastours was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as one of the eight Forteresses royales capétiennes du Languedoc, alongside the Cité de Carcassonne itself, Peyrepertuse, Quéribus, Termes, Aguilar, Puilaurens and Montségur. If you have seen the Château Comtal, this is the same story, told from the other end: the mountain the fortress was built to control.
There is also a belvedere on the far side of the valley, a separate, much easier visit that gives you all four castles in one frame — €3 for adults, free under 16, and closed in November. It is the picture everyone takes, and it is the right answer if the climb is not on.
