Salses Fortress — Attraction in Perpignan

Large Fortress that is interesting to see around. Information notices in the fortress are in French, English and Spanish.

Included in the 8€ entrance fee is the opportunity to wander around yourself on the ground floor and then have a guided tour inside on the upper levels. The price is extremely cheap for what is on offer but be warned, there are many quite steep steps to navigate inside if you take advantage of the guided tour, it is also in French only.

I would say the guided part of the visit was unsuitable for anybody with mobility problems because of the number of steep stairs, few of which have handrails. This is an important heritage site and is worth visiting even if you are only looking around yourself. The sheer scale of this place has to be appreciated.

The tour guide was particularly good, he was very patient with the group of people visiting as some were a little tentative on the stairs and struggling a little. Additionally, as I have already mentioned commentary was in French only, however he spoke slowly, clearly and distinctly and explained things using gestures in addition to describing things in simple language. This was useful for us as we were then translating his commentary to English for an elderly visiting relative.

Some fun things for children or family groups as there was a room of giant wooden games where you could easily spend an hour if you played each giant game.

Nice gift shop with vending machines for hot and cold drinks and snacks. Lots of books about the Fortress in various languages, also many other books about other historic monuments in the area.

Wonderful view from the top levels during the guided...

The exhibition comes with little booklets that translate everything into English, Spanish, Catalán and French. Many parts of the fort are accessible with the normal entrance ticket, however if you want to explore the forts walls, the dungeons and the main building you will have to pay extra for guided tours. Most of the freely accessible rooms are on the ground floor/in the cellar.

There is currently an exhibition about fairy tales and forests in some of the rooms which consists of art installations complete with colorful lighting and sound that makes even the unguided visit of the fort worthwhile.

If you are from the EU and aged between 18-25 you are granted free access for the unguided tour, just like anyone under 18.

The staff is very friendly and always prepared to help you which instantly makes you feel welcome.

If you are planning to go by bike, there are approximately 4-5 bike racks in the guard house in front of the main entrance.

Additionally, there's a gift shop, accessible bathrooms, vending machines for food & drink and picnic tables as well as folding chairs in...

The castle is really interesting but for an non-French speaking person you can save €9 for the entrance. You have no significant information on the inside for the castle and you can only visit a few rooms with without any thing really interesting. It’s such a shame you can only interesting interesting parts with the speaking tour and there is no English-speaking when you’re not a group and you have to make a reservation in advance. They have really a lot of interesting military parts here because of the Transformation between Castle and Fortress but there is zero information on this when you don’t buy the book or look at Wikipedia there’s nothing you can read or something. Just save the money and go around on the outside. You see more and more interesting stuff than when you go on the inside, is very pissed when you asking why there is no English Tour. And there is just an exposition inside no models or descriptions of the parts or...