20 Things To Do in the South of France

Every now and again I get contacted by someone either wanting my views on some topic, or to link to a blog post or website.

Most recently, Jen of Jen Reviews contacted me about linking to a post she's written on 100 best things to do in France. I had a look at it, and it has a pretty good variety of things to do, from the obvious to the less obvious. So, if you're planning a visit to France, you could do worse than peruse her suggestions.

It got me thinking about my own list of things to do. Of course, I didn't agree entirely with her list, but then my own would be concentrated around the South of France. While I'm not sure I can come up with 100 things to do, here in no particular order, are some of my favourites:

1. Motorbiking
Michelin came up with a brilliant idea many years ago of colouring routes that go through attractive scenery in green. Motorbiking along these roads is the best way of exploring them, and of getting deep into the French countryside. Cycling takes more effort, and driving is not so much fun unless, I suppose, you're driving a cabriolet.

2. Walking up the Pic St Loup

View from the top of the Pic St Loup

The Pic St Loup is the local Montpellier landmark and is a popular walk. Take a picnic and admire the wonderful views from the top.

3. Lac de Salagou

Lac de Salagou, ruins of Celles in the distance

I cycled around the Lac de Salagou once. However, you don't have to cycle around it to enjoy it. It's a beautiful place for playing in safe water, doing water sports, having a picnic, going on a walk. We've motorbiked around it too, it was much faster...

4. Meteorological Observatory, Mont Aigoual
On the top of Mont Aigoual is a functioning meteorological observatory in an imposing purpose-built castle that also houses a free exhibition and museum. There's also a nice shop and café if you don't want to face the bracing winds eating your sandwiches at the picnic tables outside.

Picnic table and view

5. Mont Aigoual
While I'm on the top of Mont Aigoual, I'll mention that it's a great place for walking, and even has a small ski resort - Prat Payrot - with 4 downhill green slopes, 4 blue and 3 red, plus 32km of cross-country skiing, including a black course.

6. The Cevennes
One of my favourite areas. Fabulous for motorbiking, walking, canoeing, visiting, eating, observing, skiing and all manner of other fun things to do.

Fabulous Cevennes scenery

7. Bambouseraie
I looked through my blog to find a post on visits to the bamboo gardens at the Bambouseraie near Anduze, but I must have been there mainly before I started St Bloggie de Riviere. I used to go when my parents visited, and I had young boys. It's a fantastic place, well worth the visit, and has a lovely shop too.

Bambouseraie shop

8. Little Steam Train
A natural follow-on to the Bambouseraie is the little steam train that runs from Anduze to St Jean du Gard with a stop at the Bambouseraie.

Steam Train at St Jean du Gard station

You can make a day of it, starting at Anduze to St Jean du Gard, having a picnic, getting back on the train, stopping at the Bambouseraie and catching the last train back.

View along the little steam train route

9. Byrrh Factory

Over the the Pyrenees Orientales and the town of Thuir you'll find the Byrrh factory where they make herb and spice-based liquor which was originally sold as a health tonic and eventually became part of France's aperitif culture. You go on a tour of the old parts of the factory, learn about the manufacturing process and get a tasting at the end. Absolutely fascinating, if for no other reason than it has the biggest oak cask in the world holding over 1 million litres.

The original aperitif

10. Cirque de Mourèze

Near Clermont-l'Hérault, this is a great one for kids because they can run around the weird and wonderful rock formations and let their imaginations run riot.

Weird rock formations at the Cirque de Mourèze

It's a great place for a walk for adults too.

11. The Noria Water Museum

At St Jean de Bruel in Aveyron, this is another very interesting museum set in an old water mill. It's been put to different uses at different times, but one of the main ones was cleaning woollen cloth. The mill has been restored so you can see how it was done. There's also a mini hydro-electric station, a large model of a river modified to produce hydro-electricity, lots of other interesting water-related information and a place for kids to play.

Noria water museum

The village is very pretty and there are some fantastic views to be seen after walking up through shady chataigner woods to the 'sentinelle'.

St Jean de Bruel 'sentinelle' and view of the village

12. Glass-blowing Museum

The Halle du Verre is in the quaint village of Claret. The region was an important glass-making centre, with manufacture monopolised by gentlemen glassblowers who came back from the Crusades with the skill and didn't want anyone else to share in their fortunes. The museum has an excellent permanent exhibition, regular temporary exhibitions, and an actual glass-blower working behind a protective glass panel. It opens on May 3 until 30 November.

13. Mont Ventoux

From the top of Mont Ventoux looking east

A great favourite with cyclists, bikers, walkers, the Tour de France, and others, Mont Ventoux is an exceptional site with its limestone scree top that looks like snow from a distance. 

14. Markets

Some good local ones on Saturday mornings are at les Arceaux in Montpellier, Clermont-l'Hérault, and Sommières. There is a vast amount of parking at Sommières which gets very full by 10.30am. I know this because I went through Sommières yesterday on my way to a mountain bike enduro site and saw how many cars arrived between 9.45am and 10.30am. I'm sure there are others, but I just don't know about them. I seem to remember that Olargues has a lovely organic market but it's just once a year, this year on 15 August 2017. Special 'estivale' organic markets are popular in the summer.

15. Medieval Festivals

About this time of year you also get the 'Médievales' which are great for families. My boys used to love them. They combine a market, sword fights, brave knights in shining armour, damsels in distress, jousting, etc. You can visit them all over Languedoc Roussillon, information here. 

Trying on a heavy helmet

16. Castles (ruined)

My youngest used to love visiting ruined castles. He used to dress up in his Crusader kit and, preferably with his brother and a buddy, would be happy to walk to the castle of the day and spend a productive afternoon doing battle. Languedoc Roussillon and beyond has many ruined castles from the imposing, impressive Cathar castles in the PO, to less frequented and easier to get to ruins nearer to home. Before Wikipedia came to the rescue of those in search of information on the castles of Hérault (for example) I used to take a map, look for the ruined castle symbol which, on Michelin maps is a triangle made up of three black spots, pack a picnic and get in the car.

Our most local ruin is the château de Montferrand above St Mathieu de Tréviers together with the château de la Roquette.

17. Other Festivals

There are many festivals throughout France, and depending on your poison, you can probably find one that suits. Festivals that I have been to or go to regularly include the FISE (extreme sports festival) held in May (24-28, 2017) showcasing the best of BMX, Roller, Skateboarding, Wakeboarding and MTB scenes. Then there's the Tomato Festival in Clapiers in September (250 varieties on show, plus lovely market), the International Short Film Festival (court metrage) in Clermont-Ferrand in February, the Avignon arts festival in July, Montpellier Danse, also in July, and the Montpellier music and film festival des Nuits d'O in August set in the shady grounds - you bring a picnic or buy something en site, and sit at long picnic tables eating before the band of the evening starts. It's very cool.

18. Touratech Travel Event

This takes place in Orange June 16-17, 2017, and gathers together bikers who love the idea of adventurous travelling, want to go on an adventure trip, have been on a trip, are preparing for a trip and so on. We particularly enjoy the presentations made by bikers (men and women) who were sponsored for their trip and have to give a presentation of what happened. We've listened to a young woman who rode from Canada down to Ushuaia, a couple who rode from France to Iran, others who rode around India, and so on. It makes for a fantastic day out if you like motorbikes.

19. The Beach

I don't often go to the beach in summer, but it is fun to go with friends to one of the many 'paillotes' - pop-up restaurants on the beach with private sections of beach that are installed for the summer and have to be taken down again in the autumn. Go in the evening for an apero, for example. Balmy air, the lapping of the waves, a glass of chilled rosé, trendy décor, it's definitely a cool thing to do. 

20. What boys like to do

When I asked my youngest (16) what he likes to do, he came up with the following list: 

• FISE
• Aqualand (Cap d'Agde)
• Beach (with friends only)

He has also had lots of fun on his birthdays doing paintball, and Accrobranche, and can't wait until he's 18 when he can join an air-soft club. As an outdoor type, he loves mountain biking and there are many fantastic sites where you can ride for pleasure and take part in competitions. We often go skiing to Mont Aigoual to Prat Peyrot, but this year went to Prapoutel in the Alps which was much bigger, much better and more fun, even in the bad weather. He has also greatly enjoyed canoeing/kayaking on the Hérault river, and jumping off the rocks into the river at the Pont d'Issensac.

There is of course, so much more to do (like vigneron picnics, or various circuits by foot, bike or car), but I hope you enjoyed my list, and I'm always keen to get recommendations.

Walking up the Pic St Loup

There is a walk about 20km north of Montpellier that every resident worth his/her salt has to do at some time - the Pic St Loup. You might recognise the name from your wine drinking - it's a wine appellation too which takes its name from this impressive limestone outcrop.

I have been on this walk several times, once even with my eldest as a baby in a sling! It's actually not quite as undemanding as it sounds as there are several rocky outcrops you have to scramble over, and scree paths you work your calf muscles on trying not to slide backwards (or rocketing forwards coming down).

You get to it by passing through the elegantly restored village of Cazevielle which now looks so clean and spruce you start to tot up the likely cost of restoration on your taxes... On the other side is a roomy car park which is often full of cars because of the popularity of this walk. I've seen grannies on it, teenagers in unsuitable shoes, folks out walking dogs from rat-sized mini things to handsome Labradors, kiddies and dads bearing babies on their backs.

The Pic St Loup is an icon for the region's residents, visible as it is from the coast to the Gard next door. It soars up to 658 m although the walk itself starts at around 350m. From half-way up on a clear day you can see as far as the sea

Looking south towards the Med

At this point, the path is nice and easy and my dearly beloved enjoyed testing out his new high-tech walking sticks.

Him: sticks and backpack. Me: camera

From being out in the open, the path also meandered through some shadier spots of stunted split trunk oaks necessarily hardy from being roasted in summer, drowned in autumnal storms, and blown about by high winds from the freezing north in winter. 

We reached the top after an hour or so, unused as we are to strenuous walks like this. Our exercise tends to come sporadically but intensely, exactly how one is not supposed to exercise, but as rule, the mind is weak and the body takes advantage...

Still, it was worth it for the stunning views even though it was quite crowded up there, standing room only almost.

A popular spot

Looking east towards St Mathieu de Treviers and Mont Hortus opposite

Looking west and north towards the Cevennes

There is no fence to protect you from elfansafety so you're on yer own with regards to falling over the rocky edge, with nothing to break your fall for a couple of hundred metres. If you fell backwards you'd have a lovely view of the gliders soaring high above and hear the regular droning of the planes that bring them up. Those would probably be your last impressions however as I'm not sure anyone has survived the fall...

There is no café up there, no stand selling drinks and popcorn, no tacky souvenir shack. You just get the glorious view, an iron cross, an observation post, a bunch of fellow walkers munching on, for example a beef tomato, energy snacks or perhaps even a picnic; the odd dog and the hermitage.

Restored hermitage

It was restored by volunteers and is a cool shady spot on a hot day, where you can admire the little shrine that has sprung up.

We left the Pic St Loup and ambled down getting stuck in a traffic jam at one point behind a family of 3 generations and a group of 3 chatty girls and their dog which kept running off to explore. When they stopped to rest/whistle to the dog, we carried on and were later ourselves overtaken by more students. It took us about an hour to get down so a good two hours in total plus mucking about time at the summit.

If you're visiting Montpellier and fancy a lovely walk, and it's not high summer, do go up the Pic St Loup, and remember that when you get back down all tired and sweaty you'll enjoy that glass of chilled rosé with even more intense appreciation.

The School Run

My youngest starts school at from 8.20 to 8.40am. I start work (theoretically) at 8.30am. If I get the time right, we can both be on time. Invariably, however, I'm 10mins late.

The school run is much shorter than it used to be when I had to take my eldest to school in our old village. He now walks five minutes down the road, and loves the feeling of independence it gives him.

I start the working day at this time of year by scraping the car windows. My beloved Peugeot does not live in the garage as it is full of stuff; stuff I'd dearly love to bin except that, well, you never know when it'll come in handy, contains souvenirs of baby- and childhood, photos, tools, the old pram kept for when the boys want to make a go-kart, sledges, bikes, extraneous kitchen stuff, teddies, and a laundry basket. To name but a few. Thus, no room for the car.

Having cleared the windows, with my youngest strapped safely in, I start the car and back out, up the perilous hill. The morning sun is low but illuminates the tops of the pine trees in the wood outside the house in an orangey glow. It heralds the start of another beautiful day.

We drive passed generously-proportioned houses with their well-kept gardens, over sleeping policemen bumps to keep us at a stately 50km/hr, channelled along by islands in the road just in case we might think of overtaking a bus of schoolchildren, or a sans permis car, or even a bike. It's best not to be in too much of a hurry. You can guarantee, in that case, that you'll get stuck behind a digger making it's way to one of the many chantiers to build yet another luxury mansion.

Just as we pass the end of the village, we turn left. Fields of horses lie frostily on one side, elegant houses with expensively kept green lawns on the other. We then pass an untidy wood with a 'witch's broom' amidst the branches at the top of one pine, signs indicating 'terrain de chasse', and a couple of post boxes which intrigue me. Who lives down this earthen track, far enough from the road to be invisible, as though in the middle of nowhere except they are a stone's throw from one of the smartest villas in the village?

We usually take the low road, although we could take the high road and pass over the hill, the houses nestling in pine forest; a shady spot in the height of summer.

I leave my youngest at school after he's written his name on the cantine list, and navigate my way past arriving mothers in SUVs who park where they want, open doors widely, and take up half the road with the width of their buses. The journey to work takes a mere five minutes, but I drive past vineyards, over a stone bridge, admire the view of the Pic St Loup, pass the cave cooperative which smells very boozy in the autumn and along roads lined with plane trees.

I encounter not one traffic light and no traffic jams; just visual delights and a pleasant drive. Really, it's a most agreeable way to start the day, especially as it's sunny 340 out of 365 (if you believe the regional blurb) days per year. Yeah!