When asked about my favourite part of my recent trip to France, I always mention Montpellier. Paris was wonderful, of course, but that’s to be expected. So my expectations for Paris were high while I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of Montpellier. We choose this mid-size Mediterranean city as a destination based on recent newspaper travel columns from the likes of the New York Times and the Guardian. Also, we were looking for a slightly off-the-radar destination in France. And after staying in the relatively touristy city of Avignon, we were excited to explore a less touristy, yet vibrant, near-coastal city.
We arrived in Montpellier by car, after having visited Pont du Gard and Nimes earlier that day. Trouble was, the train station where we were dropping off the car is undergoing significant renovations so the key drop boxes were no where to be found. So while Ian frantically ran back and forth between drop off lot and train station, I stood on a random street corner with my luggage and tried calling our Airbnb host to advise that we would be late meeting her. However I didn’t know how to dial her # and couldn’t connect. Luckily a man strolled by and advised how to dial a local number. Our host’s reaction was fabulous and really exemplified what I picked up to be the Montpellier culture – it was no problem that we were running late. She was enjoying a bottle of wine with her friend below the apartment and would see us whenever we arrived.
As we walked the 10 minutes from the central train station to our apartment on a cobblestone street, we passed MANY outdoor patios filled to the brink with lively and cheerful patrons. We couldn’t wait to drop off our luggage and grab dinner and drinks from one of these many busy patios.
Aside from just wandering and enjoying its energetic and positive vibe, here’s a summary of some of my favourite aspects about Montpellier.
1. Parks and Public Spaces – After spending a few days in Avignon where there really wasn’t any public spaces to sit to read or just observe the city, I was pleased to find such spaces in Montpellier. We were walking an average of 25,000 steps a day each day so having a nice spot to sit down and enjoy the scenery was definitely welcome and appreciated. After browsing vendor tables at the Artist Bazaar sidewalk sale, Ian and I grabbed a park bench to read our new books (we’d recently stumbled upon Le Bookshop, a truly amazing English bookstore and gathering space in historic Montpellier).
2. Happy Hours – Montpellier was all over Happy Hours. And so were we. How is happy hour not a wonderful idea after wandering and exploring all day in the sun? Here we are at the wine bar on the ground floor of our apartment enjoying a pitcher of sangria for I believe 10 Euros. Yes, it was early enough in the evening that we were still engrossed in our books. And on Friday, we were a little late getting to HappyHour so we had to settle for an Irish pub – the only spot in our ‘hood with a few empty seats remaining on their outdoor patio.
3. Food – We ate so well in Montpellier. Luckily, we had recommendations from a couple different friends who had been previously. So we largely stuck to their list of spots and were not disappointed. For lunch on our first day, we went to the main square near the main market (Les Halles) where I had this delicious Salad Nicoise at Cafe des Arts. For dinner, we went to Bistrot de l’Ancien Courrier, which was inside of what felt like a domed cave. It was a beautiful location. You could order a bottle of wine and they would only charge you for what you drank. Very neat, but also a little dangerous since it’s sitting right there in front of you.
Lunch the following day was at Affiche where we found a spot on their large patio and enjoyed this amazing Planche at right 12 Euros….including a glass of wine!! Now that we were getting mildly sick of French food for every meal, we made reservations at Le Tapas for dinner on our last night. The spot was jam packed, but the tapas were pretty delicious although we would have welcomed a little more spice.
4. Sexy Trams – According to the Guardian, Montpellier’s very new tram network has been dubbed the world’s sexiest. Given Ian’s fascination with transit, we rode 3 of Montpellier’s 4 tram lines and I must say they are far nicer with far more colour and flavour than any I’ve ever seen. Each of the 4 lines had its own unique exterior and interior design. I wish I’d taken more photos on board, but here’s someone else’s photos. If you think the exterior is nice, let me assure you that the interior is even better.
5. Lively Cobblestone Streets – Historic Montpellier is distinguished by lovely, and for the most part extremely narrow cobblestone streets. Here’s a few pictures from the area surrounding our apartment. The band passed through the neighbourhood one day while we were eating lunch.
Oh, and to the left we are standing with the Google Street View car, parked directly in front of our apartment door! Note that this photo was taken by the Google employee himself who was dining adjacent to the car and, seeing our intrigue, got up to show us the interior of the car and take our photo!
Montpellier was an extremely refreshing city, with lots of energy, more locals than tourists, and a cosmopolitan populace from various countries and continents. There was a constant hustle and bustle within the Historic Centre where we stayed of what seemed to be locals enjoying drinks and company at the end of each day.
Let’s just say that I would be very happy to spend much more time in Montpellier. After all, we didn’t have time to rent bikes to ride to the beach (about 50 minutes by bike each way). Here’s hoping that there’s a next time.
Jenn's Thoughts 