Montpellier Travel Guide
Get the lowdown on things to see and do in Montpellier. Check out our Montpellier travel guide for information on top Montpellier attractions.
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Capital of the Herault Department of the Languedoc region of France, Montpellier is a bustling city where the modern and the medieval meet under a clear blue sky. The city overlooks the Mediterranean ocean, and offers a long stretch of sandy beaches where you can relax and soak up the sun during the long hot summer.
Montpellier's rich history spans around a thousand years, to the days when it was founded by escapees from Palestine, and to this day, the older locals consider themselves to be particularly close to God with their many places of worship.
Shopping though is the main religion of the young in Montpellier, and there is some competition to be the best-dressed groover, and unless your mobile phone is the latest model, you may as well be a leper. In Montpellier more than perhaps anywhere else in the world - aside from maybe Biarritz - conformity in the name of individuality is a vital part of life, and it is essential to wear the correct labels and clothes at all times, to ensure that you stand out by looking exactly the same as everybody else.
Montpellier is often described as being the gayest city in France, and has a number of nightclubs and bars in its "Quart de Rosé" where you can dance all night to throbbing disco tunes with breathy vocals. As with every other area of life in Montpellier, the way you look is vitally important in the clubs, and in order to keep up with fashion, it is sometimes important to change clothes two or even three times during the course of a night out, or risk ridicule.