To Montpellier, With Love

My dear friend Christine Cantera of WhyGo France has agreed to share why traveling couples would love Montpellier, her home in the Languedoc region of southern France. In her own voice, I present Christine’s compelling case.

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Somewhere in the basement of Condé Nast, locked in a glass case strewn with rose petals and compiled by the same experts who create Cosmo quizzes, there must surely be an official list of Europe’s most romantic destinations. It glorifies places like Paris and Positano that attract the lovers in us all, and there is no room for Montpellier, France.

But I moved to Montpellier for love, and because I have a skewed sense of the romantic, I’m stating for the record that I’d put it up against those towns any day of the week. Here’s why.

Getting to Montpellier

I was living in Rome when I first met Cal, an expat living in Montpellier. Over the course of a year or so, I traveled from Italy to France to see him several times. But, as it turns out that’s no easy task; Montpellier, located in the South of France halfway between Barcelona and Nice, is just far enough away from a major airport that there is no direct way to get here. Lest that dissuade you from visiting, consider this: I eventually did find two ways, and instantly fell in love with both of them.

The first is to fly to Paris, then take a TGV train down to Montpellier. If you fly into CDG, the train leaves from the airport and deposits you in the center of town – but not before taking you through some of the most gorgeous landscape you’ll ever see as the outskirts of Paris gives way to the stunning vistas of the Massif Central. And because you’re going due south, you arrive to mild weather and palm trees and the faint smell of the sea only a few miles down the road.

The second way – and by far the most romantic – is a series of trains that take you between the two countries (and pass through a third, which would be, oh yeah, MONACO). Personally, I find there’s nothing more relaxing than a day on a train with a front-row seat to the Mediterranean, listening to the conversations around me change gradually from Italian to French, snacking on treats I’ve brought with me or picked up along the way.

Montpellier’s Place de la Comedie

As Cal and I got to know each other, we learned of our mutual obsession with reading. So it stands out as one of the most romantic days of my life when Cal greeted me at the train station with a gift of one of his favorite books and nothing on the agenda. We walked to the Place de la Comedie, the main square in Montpellier, took a table at one of the many cafés that line it, and spent the day reading and sipping on citron pressé, a kind of do-it-yourself lemonade that quenches the thirst in unimaginable ways.

If your dreams of a romantic French getaway include lounging around cafés, people watching and having your own favorite French beverage, then there simply is no better place than the Place de la Comedie in Montpellier – especially when you consider that the town gets over 300 days of sunshine each year and I haven’t owned a winter coat since 2005.

Where to Eat in Montpellier

I love food. I love food more than I love Cal. And I think he knows it, which is why the wooing phase of our relationship included (and still includes) many long dinners in Montpellier.

Because of the aforementioned gorgeous weather, almost every restaurant in town has outdoor seating. They range from two tables pushed outside the front door to room for 60 or more on a grand landscaped terrace. And unlike New York, where I’m from, you can always, always grab a two-top, even on a Saturday night.

Our favorite place is the Chat Perché (10 Rue du Collège Duvergier). Their outdoor seating includes the quiet street alongside the restaurant as well as the “cat’s perch,” a rooftop terrace strewn with Christmas lights and covered by a bamboo canopy. Their inventive menu changes at whim, and we are waiting for the day they get their first Michelin star.

But you can never go wrong with the restaurants on the Place Saint-Côme like La Terrace, or down the adjoining Rue Jules Latreilhe with places like La Chêneraie and its famous coq au vin, or Le Monde en Inverse with its foie gras crème brûlée (which I’ve declared to be its own food group due to the fact that it has everything you need in one dish).

Or you can simply walk around the pedestrian-only streets, hand-in-hand, reading the posted menus, until you find a place that’s just right for you.

Where to Stay in Montpellier

You may think that someone who lives in Montpellier wouldn’t have a strong grasp of the hotel scene, but you’d be wrong. You see, Cal and I are also politics junkies, and we love watching the American elections. But because of the time difference, for us they are an all-night affair and for a long time we didn’t have CNN at home. So, off to a hotel we’d go – even for the mid-terms.

Our favorite by far is the New Hotel du Midi on the Place de la Comedie. They’ve recently refurbished it, and there are rooms that offer a bird’s eye view of the square. And the restaurant downstairs, the Brasserie du Théâtre, is an old-school place with old-school waters in bowties and aprons and an outstanding bouillabaisse.

There’s also the Pullman, off the other side of the Comedie right near the Polygone shopping center. As for this hotel, I’ve got two words for you: rooftop bar.

A quieter, more romantic hotel on the other side of the (very small) city center is the Hotel du Palais on Rue du Palais des Guilhem. It’s super-cute and near even more great dining options.

I haven’t even gotten to the easy beach access, the flower and food markets, or the churches, museums and concerts. Suffice it to say that you can go ahead and schlep around Paris, bumping into tour groups and dealing with the Metro at rush hour – or you can come on down to Montpellier, take it nice and slow, and fall in love all over again.

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In addition to the spectacular WhyGo France, the country’s one-stop English-language guide, Christine also writes Travel News Daily and her own inimitable travel blog, Miss Expatria. For equal doses of humor and helpful, follow her on Twitter at @whygofrance, @travelnewsdaily and @missexpatria, and/or on Facebook at WhyGo France.