Montsegur

Montsegur sits at one thousand two hundred and seven metres on a pog, a local word for an isolated rocky peak. It was rebuilt from 1204 as a refuge for the Cathar church and became its effective centre; royal forces besieged it from May 1243, and after the fall in March 1244 more than two hundred perfects who refused to abjure walked down and were burned in a stockade at the foot, at a place now marked by a stele. The castle standing today is largely the French rebuilding after the siege, not the Cathar one, a distinction the site explains and much popular writing ignores.

What you actually see

• The pog - an isolated rock peak with the castle on its summit.
• The rebuilt fortress - post-1244 French work rather than the Cathar castle.
• The memorial field - the stele below marking the 1244 burning.
• The Pyrenean panorama - the range and foothills from the walls.

When to go

May to October; the climb is steep and can be icy or snowbound in winter, when the site closes. Cloud often covers the pog. Allow forty minutes up.

Honest expectations

The path is steep, rocky and demanding, and it defeats some visitors. What stands is the later fortress, not the Cathar building, which disappoints people expecting otherwise. The village below is very small.

Nearby

Foix lies northwest; the Niaux cave is southwest.