Montpellier

The Écusson, the Peyrou and a bike ride to Palavas over two days

Two days are enough for Montpellier. Spend the first in the Écusson old town, from Place de la Comédie to the Promenade du Peyrou, the Jardin des Plantes and the Musée Fabre. Give the second to the sea: a Vélomagg bike ride of about an hour to Palavas-les-Flots, returning through Antigone.

Start on Place de la Comédie in the morning, when the café terraces are filling and the Three Graces fountain is still in shade. Walk up Rue de la Loge but turn off it quickly into the arched lanes; aim for Place Saint-Roch and its murals, then the fortress-like cathedral of Saint-Pierre and the old faculty of medicine beside it. Cross to the Promenade du Peyrou before lunch for the view along the Saint-Clément aqueduct from the water-tower terrace, and wander into the Jardin des Plantes, the oldest botanical garden in France.

Give the afternoon to the Musée Fabre, saving energy for the bright rooms of Pierre Soulages' black canvases. In the evening, eat in the Écusson squares and end with a drink back on the Comédie.

Day two belongs to the sea. Hire a Vélomagg bike near the station and follow the cycle path south to Palavas-les-Flots, about an hour, for a swim and a seafood lunch near the canal. Ride back through Antigone in the late afternoon to see Bofill's colonnaded squares stepping down to the Lez, and watch the river light change from the terraces at its end.

Pic Saint-Loup wine, Thau oysters and tielle in Montpellier

Montpellier's food comes from the vineyards and lagoons around it. Order a Pic Saint-Loup red or a Picpoul de Pinet white in the Écusson wine bars, oysters from Bouzigues on the Étang de Thau, and a tielle octopus pie in Sète, a short train ride west. The Halles Castellane market supplies picnic food.

The Languedoc makes an enormous amount of wine, and Montpellier sits in the middle of it, so the wine bars of the Écusson are where to taste the region by the glass. For a red, ask for Pic Saint-Loup, grown on the limestone slopes under the peak of the same name north of the city; it is the local favourite. Whites from the coast go with shellfish, and many bars pour a Picpoul de Pinet for exactly that.

The oysters and mussels come from the Étang de Thau, the lagoon behind Sète, where the beds line the water around Bouzigues. Order a dozen huîtres de Bouzigues in town or, better, at a shack on the lagoon itself.

Sète is a short train ride west and worth an afternoon of its own: a working fishing port of canals, where the snack to try is the tielle, a small round pie of spiced octopus in tomato sauce. Back in Montpellier, the Halles Castellane market by Rue de la Loge sells cheese, charcuterie and olives for a picnic on the Peyrou, and the sandwich and kebab counters of the Écusson keep the students fed late into the night.

Montpellier's festivals by month and nearby day trips

Montpellier is at its best in May, June and the first half of September, when highs run from 23 to 27C. July is hot and dry at about 30C, while September and October bring the heaviest rain. Montpellier Danse fills hotels in early summer, and Nîmes is half an hour away by train.

Summer here is dry. July averages a high of 30C and only about 17 mm of rain, and August is barely cooler. The sting comes later: September and October are the wettest months, at about 87 mm and 95 mm, because Mediterranean storms can dump a month's rain in a few hours and briefly flood streets. Winters are mild, with January highs of about 12C. The kindest months for walking and a swim are May and June, at 23 to 27C, and the first half of September.

Montpellier Danse, a major contemporary dance festival, fills theatres and hotel rooms in early summer, and the students' return in September brings the terraces back to life. July and August are the quietest months in the old town, as the university empties and locals head for the beach.

For a day out by road, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is a stone village around an abbey in the gorge of the Hérault, with the Pont du Diable bridge nearby where people swim in summer. Nîmes and its Roman arena are about half an hour away by train, and the Pont du Gard is a short drive beyond.