Pézenas

Understand

Pézenas is a medieval gem - the old town center was the seat of government to the Princes from Paris, many fine Renaissance buildings are intact, and the narrow medieval streets offer visitors a unique experience of seeing a complete city as it was in the Middle Ages. It has a preserved ghetto complete with wall and gates. The official guide for Pézenas can be seen here.

Getting there

By car

The A75 Autoroute connects Pézenas to Paris and the A9 Autoroute just South of Pézenas opens the whole of the South of France, from Spain to Italy.

By plane The closest airports to Pézenas are Aéroport de Béziers Cap d'Agde (BZR IATA), with Ryanair flights to Paris (Beauvais), the UK, Germany and Sweden, and Aéroport de Montpellier Méditerrannée (MPL IATA), with destinations across Europe (including Air France/HOP flights to both airports in Paris).

By train The high speed TGV rail service can be taken from Montpellier, Agde, or Beziers.

See

Brilliant Saturday market - all day in the Summer but closes early afternoon in Autumn / Winter. Very interesting old quarter with vibrant artisan shops open in the Summer- open till midnight on Wednesday and Friday. Circulades, traditionals villages that has been built in concentric circles, next to Pezenas. For example: Caux, Alignan-du-Vent and Nézignan-l'Évêque. Very interesting wine producing villages in the immediate area. Easy road link to the Med. coast, approx. 20km away.

Eat

Chez Paul Restaurant, ☏ +33 467266299. Shadowed terrace, regional wines. (updated Feb 2017)

Sleep

Hotel de Vigniamont, 5 rue Massillon, ☏ +334 67 35 14 88, [email protected]. They call themselves a "luxury bed and breakfast." €95-140/night, minimum stay 2 nights. Early evening "Raid the Pantry" included. Breakfast Breakfast €9/person.

Go next

If you want to drive somewhere: Carrefour sells petrol/diesel and is just on the outskirts of town. There is also a Total garage in the same vicinity. Reportedly, none of the hypermarkets in Pezenas sell road fuel. There are several petrol stations in the town, but these are expensive when compared with hypermarkets. It is best to visit hypermarkets in Béziers about 20km south, or Clermont l'Hérault 15km North, for cheap fuel.