• Collioure
  

  
  The fishing village where famed painters Henri Matisse, André Derain, and the Fauvists committed chromatic mayhem in the early 20th century, Collioure remains the jewel of the Vermilion Coast. A town of anchovy packers and lateen-rigged fishing boats in the shadow of its 13th-century Château Royal, it is now as much a magnet for travelers as it once was and still is a lure for artists.
  
  

• Beaches
  

  
  The entire coastline from Leucate on the north to Argelle on the south is one long sandy beach, complete with tourist hotels and villas - a thoroughly developed and quite busy holiday area. The southernmost part, "Vermilion Coast", between Argelle and the Spanish border, is more rugged and rocky, with a only few small beaches
  
  

• Perpignan
  

  
  Nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees, in many way Perpignan feels as much Spanish as French. Sprawling suburbs radiate out from the tight knot of the old town, with its warren of shady alleys and shabby tenements coloured in shades of lemon, peach and tangerine.
  
  

• Perpignan Cathedral
  

  
  Perpignan's old town has several intriguing churches, but the most impressive is the Cathédrale St-Jean, begun in 1324 and not completed until 1509.
  
  

• Palace of the Kings of Majorca
  

  
  The massive brick walls of the Palace of the Kings of Mallorca dominate a huge area just to the south of the old town of perpignan. This grand fortified castle was built in 1276 and was a crowning symbol of Perpignan's late-medieval splendor. These days the citadel is sparsely furnished, but its great battlements and strategic defences still give a sense of the Mallorcan kings' might
  
  

• Banyuls-sur-Mer
  

  
  The foothills of Pyrenees run into the Mediterranean Sea around a resort village of Banyuls-sur-Mer, creating a steep cliff line. Banyuls-sur-Mer is famous for its sweet Banyuls wine. An aquatic museum with aquarium is located in the town. Aristide Maillol, French sculptor and painter, born and died there.
  
  

• Dalí Theater-Museum, Figueres
  

  
  Though technically in Spain, Figueres is only 35 mi / 35 min away from Perpignan. "Museum" was not a big enough word for Dalí, so he christened his monument a "Theater." Topped with a glass geodesic dome and studded with Dalí's iconic egg shapes, the multilevel museum pays homage to his fertile imagination and artistic creativity. It includes gardens, ramps, and a spectacular drop cloth Dalí painted for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo
  
  

• Modern Art Museum, Céret
  

  
  The "Barbizon of Cubism," Céret achieved immortality when leading artists found this small Catalan town irresistible at the beginning of the 20th century. Here in this medieval enclave set on the banks of the Tech River, Picasso and Gris developed a vigorous new way of visualizing that would result in the fragmented forms of Cubism. Some of the town landscapes captured in paintings by Picasso, Gris, Dufy, Braque, Chagall, Masson, and others are on view in the fine Musée d'Art Moderne.
  
  

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