Montpellier
France
A young university city ten kilometres from the Mediterranean, with an old town of lanes and squares and a tram to nearly everything else
Photo by KWON JUNHO on Unsplash
Photos by Nathan Cima, Nathan Cima and Paul Melki on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
April to June, and September to October — high summer is hot and the town empties of students
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 105mm in Oct
Where it is
43.61°N, 3.88°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Walk the Écusson without a plan; the squares are the point and the map does not help
- Go up to the Peyrou at sunset, when half the city does
- Give the Musée Fabre a morning — it is one of the better art museums outside Paris
- Take the train to Sète for lunch on the canals
- Drive out to Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert early, before the car park fills
Montpellier travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
Mid-rangeCards everywhere, including the tram ticket machines. Refuse the conversion when a terminal offers to charge you in your own currency.
ATMs & cards
Bank machines are on every square of the centre. Avoid the independent ones round the Comédie and the station that offer to convert for you.
Avoid these
- independent machines round Place de la Comédie and Saint-Roch station
Use these instead
- BNP Paribas
- Crédit Agricole
- Société Générale
- LCL
- Caisse d’Épargne
Refuse the conversion when a machine or a terminal offers to charge you in your own currency.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
Reasonably safeSafe in the centre with ordinary city care. Pickpocketing and phone-snatching cluster at Place de la Comédie, the Saint-Roch station forecourt and on crowded trams. Late at night, the station end of the centre is where to take a taxi rather than walk.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Place de la Comédie — the busiest square in the city and where phones and bags go missing
- Gare Saint-Roch — the forecourt and the streets round it late at night
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodOysters and mussels come from the Étang de Thau, half an hour away, and are cheap and very fresh; eat them at Bouzigues or Mèze rather than in town. Tielle, a small octopus pie from Sète, is sold at every market. The Languedoc wines are the region’s best-value bottles, and the Pic Saint-Loup reds are worth asking for by name.
Travel tipsNightlife
A student city’s evening: terraces on the squares from seven, crowded bars in the old town lanes, and the beach clubs along the coast in summer.
- Place Jean-Jaurès — the bar terraces at the heart of the Écusson
- Place de la Comédie — big cafés and the crowd, more meeting point than destination
- the Écusson lanes — small bars, many of them full of students during term
- Rockstore — the long-running club and gig venue near the Comédie, with a car sticking out of its front
- Palavas-les-Flots and Carnon — the beach bars and clubs in summer, a taxi ride away
Closing: Bars wind down between one and two in the morning; the clubs run until about dawn.
Out of university term, in high summer, the old town is noticeably quieter and the evening moves to the coast..
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Travel tipsReligion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Montpellier
No Holistay rentals in Montpellier yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Montpellier on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Montpellier–Méditerranée MPL
30 minfrom the airport· 8 km as the crow flies
Shuttle bus 120 to Place de l’Europe, then the tram into the centre — about 30 min.
Also worth pricing: Nîmes–Alès–Camargue–Cévennes FNI — ryanair only and mostly seasonal, about 45 minutes by road.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
