Montpellier · FR
Heart of Montpellier
From the grand Comédie to the royal Peyrou, the essential old town in ten tight stops.
Di cosa parla la passeggiata?
Welcome to Montpellier, one of the sunniest and youngest cities in the south of France, where medieval lanes, grand squares, and a buzzing student energy all live side by side. On this walk we start in the vast Place de la Comedie, the lively heart of the city, and wander north along the shaded Esplanade to the great art collections of the Musee Fabre. From there we slip into the cobbled maze of the old town, the Ecusson, passing buzzing cafe squares, the oldest paved street in town, elegant mansions, and the towering Cathedrale Saint-Pierre. We finish on a high note at the royal Promenade du Peyrou, with its triumphal arch, old aqueduct, and sweeping views toward the hills. It is the perfect first taste of a city that wears its history lightly and loves to be out in the sunshine.
Cosa vedrai
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1
Place de la Comedie
Square
Montpellier's vast, egg shaped main square and its beating heart, framed by the grand 1888 Opera Comedie and the marble Three Graces fountain. This is where the whole city comes to stroll, sip coffee and watch the world go by.
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2
Esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle
Promenade
A long, shaded promenade of towering plane trees running north from the Comedie, lined with fountains and benches. Once a military parade ground, it is now the favourite place in Montpellier to slow down and stroll.
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3
Musee Fabre
Museum
One of the greatest art museums in provincial France, founded in 1825 by the Montpellier painter Francois Xavier Fabre. Its galleries hold masterpieces by Courbet, Bazille and Soulages behind a facade that fuses an old mansion with a sleek modern wing.
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4
Place Jean Jaures
Square
A buzzing cafe square at the heart of the medieval Ecusson, lined with terraces that fill every evening. Beneath the paving lie the ruins of the vanished church of Notre Dame des Tables, preserved in an underground crypt.
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5
Rue de l'Ancien Courrier
Street
The oldest paved street in Montpellier's old town, a slender pedestrian lane of pale stone lined with independent boutiques and 17th-century arcades, winding through the medieval Ecusson quarter.
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6
Place Saint-Roch
Church
A square dominated by the soaring neo-Gothic Eglise Saint-Roch, built in the 1860s and dedicated to Montpellier's own patron saint, a healer of plague victims and a waystation for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela.
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7
Place de la Canourgue
Square
Montpellier's most elegant square, a tranquil gravel esplanade shaded by hackberry trees, ringed by 17th and 18th-century private mansions and centred on the beloved Fountain of the Unicorn.
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8
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre
Cathedral
Montpellier's towering 14th century cathedral, so heavily fortified that locals once called it Fort Saint-Pierre, famous for a massive porch carried on two giant round pillars.
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9
Arc de Triomphe (Porte du Peyrou)
Gate
A monumental triumphal arch completed in 1693 to glorify King Louis XIV, marking the western gateway from the old town onto the Peyrou promenade.
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10
Promenade du Peyrou
Promenade
A grand hilltop royal esplanade on the city's highest point, offering sweeping views and centred on a Louis XIV statue, a neoclassical water temple and the arches of the Saint-Clément aqueduct.
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