We took the Eurostar to Paris (two hours) and then the TGV to Montpellier (approx 4.5 hrs). The day we arrived (Saturday) was Gay Pride weekend, so we found a nice restaurant and had a long, leisurely lunch, whilst watching the parade as it went past us – not as spectacular as Paris Pride, but nonetheless enjoyable.
The next day we decided to go to the beach to see how long it would take to get to it. This was an interesting experience, as the directions in the guide-book were out-of-date and the new Metro-line that had been built to get you to the beach area was not mentioned at all. We managed to get as far as we could and then had to start asking for directions – interesting when one does not speak French very well! We found a young guy who spoke some English who pointed us in the right direction and we finally made it, whereby we had to take a bus to get to the actual beach area. It is several kilometres from Montpellier (approx 30-45 minutes), as there are lagoons between the land and spits of land on the actual coast. We arrived at a somewhat tired seaside town called Palavas-les-Flots, where we did actually enjoy a lovely seafood lunch, only to be interrupted every now and then by gusts of strong wind coming off the Mediterranean Sea – knocking over the umbrellas covering the tables – so we headed inside the restaurant. Due to the distance to the sea and beach we decided it was not where we wanted to live.