Parc des Expositions et de la Gare

The Parc des Expositions de Cahors, in the Fontanes district, was built in 2002 as a venue for trade fairs, concerts, festivals and corporate events, and it was meant to give the town a modern space for large gatherings. It covered a site of about five hectares, with several thousand square metres of covered halls, and it served the Grand Cahors area for more than twenty years. According to local reports, however, the elected officials of Grand Cahors voted in 2025 to close the site to the public for good, citing the high costs of maintenance in relation to the income it produced and the limits of its location. The future of the land has been under review, with plans reported for industrial and aerospace uses. For anyone planning a trip, the practical message is that there are no events or visitor services to expect there, and that it is worth checking with the tourist office for the current situation.

Cahors is nevertheless an easy and rewarding town to reach, and the railway station is the usual way in for many travellers. The town lies on the main line between Paris and Toulouse, so trains run through the valley of the Lot with views of vineyards, and the station is a short walk from the centre along a wide tree-lined avenue. The station is useful for planning day trips, and the town can be explored on foot from there.

The historic centre lies inside a tight loop of the river Lot, which wraps around the old town on three sides. The Pont Valentré, a fortified bridge of the fourteenth century with three towers, is the best-known monument, and the cathedral of Saint-Étienne, with its great Romanesque domes, is listed by UNESCO. The Quartier des Pêcheurs and the narrow lanes of the old town have timber-framed houses, and the Musée du Vin and the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires explore the region's wine and rural life. The town is the home of Cahors wine, a dark red made mainly from the Malbec grape, once known as the black wine, which can be tasted in cellars on the hillsides. In July the town hosts the Cahors Blues Festival, which fills the squares with music.

A visit to the town takes a day, and the surrounding Lot valley, with its cliffs, villages and caves, rewards a longer stay.

The exhibition site itself is no longer a place to visit, but the station and town beyond it suit walkers, wine lovers and history readers.