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 Languedoc-Roussillon,

popularly known as the Languedoc,
 is the central region of the south
of France;
 it includes the western
Mediterranean coast of France, stretching from the Rhone valley in the east,
to the Spanish border in the south west,
 and comprises five departments: four of these are  Mediterranean coastal departments: the Gard (30), the Hérault (34), the Aude (11) andthe Eastern Pyrenees or Pyrénées orientales (66). The fifth department is rather different, being the upland department of Lozère (48), which forms the southern bastion of the Massif Central.

The ramparts of Carcassonne

Attractions covering more than one department:
Le Canal du Midi - (34,11) world's oldest commercial canal, built in 17th century. From Agde to Carcassonne, - and beyond tothe Atlantic. Canal with shaded cycleway and footpath. UNESCO world heritage site.
Les Cévennes: (30, 34) beautiful mountains, with steep wooded valleys. National Park area. Impressive caves .
The Coast: (30, 34, 11, 66) plenty of beaches, marinas and small ports. Miles of sandy beaches, crowded in parts at times, but also including long expanses of fairly empty sand.
Gorges du Tarn (12 - 48) dramatic and deep gorge of the river Tarn, through the limestone rock of the Causses.
The Canal du Midi

The Pont du Gard, near Nimes







A short guide to Languedoc

   Historically, the area known as "Languedoc" covered a large part of southern France; Roussillon is a much smaller area, being more or less the area covered by the Eastern Pyrenees department. Roussillon, in the past,was the northern part of Catalonia., and people here still speak Catalan as well as French.

The regional capital of Languedoc-Roussillon is the city of Montpellier, a thriving modern city in the Hérault, with a historic centre; other major cities in the region are Nimes, Narbonne, Sete and Perpignan.
     Unlike Provence, Languedoc has a considerable coastal plain, and except in the departmentof Eastern Pyrenees, much of the coastal area is flat. In the past, the land was swampy and plagued with mosquitoes, which is why tourism did not develop here in the 19th century, as it did on the coast further east. However, the swamps were drained long ago, and the mosquitoes brought under control, leading to the tourist development of this long coastline as from the nineteen-sixties.
    Today, the coast of Languedoc is characterised by long sandy beaches, often with plenty of space, and a modern tourist infrastructure, with twentieth-century resorts such as Cap d'Agde, Palavas, or Narbonne Plage. The brash developments of the sixties have had time to mature, parts of the coastline have been recovered for more environmentally sensitive tourism development; and among  the quite denselybuilt-up resort areas, there are attractive bits of coastline and hinterland. However, as a general rule, the areas within 20 km of the coast have been extensively developed for tourism in the last forty years.
    The fertile coastal plain is given over to agriculture, vineyards and - particularly in Roussillon - fruit and vegetables. Languedoc is one of France's major wine-growing areas.
   Those who do not want to spend their holidays being char-grilled on a beach will perhaps prefer to discover the old Languedoc, away from the cities and the immediate coastal strip. Inland Languedoc is a beautiful area, characterised by vineyards and "garrigue", arid rocky Mediteranean hills with their vegetation of scrub, aromatic bushes and occasional fields. Further inland, the valleys of theCevennes, more wooded and rural, give way to the Cevennes hills, the southeastern peaks of the Massif Central.
    The area has a lot of historic cities, such as Nimes with its superb Roman remains, the famous walled city of Carcassonne, the former Roman provincial capital of Narbonne, and other smaller ancient cities, such as Agde . 
    The Pyrenees, forming a natural land barrier between...