Where can you get a: funicular railway, the best birds-eye view of Picardie, a stunning early gothic cathedral, a 300 step walk to an old, old city on the top of a hill full of protective walls, ramparts, castle gates and a tourist bureau with toilets!

Food and hotels a great value -- try Hotel du Commerce right in front of SNCF station and you won't get a better breakfast for the money ; we used Laon as a centre of operations to do cathederal towns of Picardie: Noyons, Soissons, Rheims, Senlis, St Quentin, Rouen, Amiens, Beauvais [all about an hour on the train] and a mere 1.5 hr trip to Paris...in a hotel that charged 39 euros for a great room.