Hérault-Languedoc…A region with an exceptional heritage.… It’s an amphitheatre stretching from the southern part of the Massif Central, down hills and valleys with two main rivers called the Orb and the Hérault, towards the Mediterranean, and to the East from the marshes of the Camargue to Cathar country in the West.
Hérault is a treasure-house of cultural, gastronomic and sporting experiences. All-year-round sunshine and a quality life-style make it very attractive, and what’s more you can spend your holidays or settle in the midst of :
Local specialties
So many gourmet pleasures... Hérault is full of flavours with its wealth of good food. Here oysters, mussels and clams are bred, olives crushed to make oil, the “Pélardon” goat’s cheese made, grapes harvested, black turnips cultivated, ceps collected. Here is the home of the “tielles” (octopus pie), sweet-savoury “petits pâtés” and “berlingots” of Pézenas, the “bourride” (fish stew)…
Major events and venues
Vibrant cities... Montpellier, capital of Languedoc, combining culture, tradition and modernity with its colourful medieval,the neoclassical quarter of Antigone, world-class universities, and lots of festivals ; the old Roman colony of Béziers, nowadays considered the capital of Languedoc wine-growing, with its famous rugby team, and the World Heritage site of the Canal du Midi ; Pézenas, the city of Art with an exceptional architectural heritage (patrician residences from the Middle Ages, private mansions from the 16th and 18th centuries...) where the famous dramatist Molière performed with his actors before being brought to Paris and Versailles by King Louis XIV (the “Sun King”)…
A decor of blue sea, golden sand and boats... In the 60s a new way of life appeared with long summer holidays and thebuilding of new seaside resorts : Grande Motte, a top-class, architecturally-daring watersports centre between the sea and the lagoons ; Cap d’Agde, with its three marinas, called the “black pearl” of the Mediterranean because of its basalt soils. And, not to be missed : Palavas les Flots where the fishing port now boasts a busy marina and the peninsula of Sète, the largest fishing port of the French Mediterranean, with views from Mont Saint Clair over the remarkable oyster beds…
Such breath taking landscapes... The stunning mountains of the regional natural park of Haut Languedoc, the forests of chesnut trees in the Cévennes, the marshes of the Camargue - kingdom of pink flamingoes and black bulls, the wild landscape of the gorges and canyons of the Hérault river, the vivid red clay soil of Salagou Lake, the marine garden of the Thau Lagoon with seafood renowned in France, and everywhere the perfumed heathland called the garrigue...
So many historic monuments... Historic towns, villages and works of art to excite the culturally curious: the Canal du Midi classed a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1996, built in the 17th century to join the Atlantic to the Mediterranean ; Saint Guilhem le Désert, one of the most beautiful villages in France, on the pilgrimrage route to Santiago de Compostela ; the Benedictine abbey of Valmagne called the “Cathedral of Wines”, in the 14th century one of the richest abbeys in the South of France ; and, in Montpellier, the Faculty of Medicine, the oldest medical university in Europe, and the “Folies”, exquisite private mansions, evidence of the city’s growth in the 18th century driven by the merchant classes…
The oldest French vineyard and the world’s biggest... Viticulture (wine-growing and winemaking) – dating from Roman times - has always played a key role in the cultural and economic history of the region. Local vignerons have succeeded in taking their wines to the top of this major agricultural sector. Nowadays some of their wines rank among the best in the world. Don’t miss tastings in cellars or wine stores : the marvellous Pays d’Oc wines and the famous AOCs from Minervois, Picpoul de Pinet, Saint Chinian, Faugères, Clairette and the Coteaux du Languedoc, and also the brandies and muscats, 14 appellations in all, among them Frontignan, Mireval, Saint Jean de Minervois and Lunel muscats. In the countryside, the architecture, our literature and our local festivals you will find wine a recurrent and delightful theme.
So many local traditions... Local festivals celebrate spring, grape harvests, local saints’days, bulls, mimosa. Also markets, sampling local produce, and watching games (like water jousting, and a tennis-like game with tambourines), all these are good reasons to dance, sing, drink and play…
So many leisure activities... Rambling on waymarked paths to catch sight of mouflons, mountain-biking around Lake Salagou, cycling on quiet country roads, canoeing on rivers, rock-climbing on Mont Caroux’ cliff faces, caving in one of the most outstanding networks in the whole of France, piloting a river boat, golfing on one of our 8 renowned golf courses... all are great ways to discover Hérault.
