As an antidote to the rigours of the large bustling towns in this section, side step from Montpellier into the strange and rugged foothills of the Massif Central. From Montpellier take the D986 to Saint-Martin-de-Londres, worth investigating for its typical Languedocian Romanesque priory church entirely surrounded by ancient houses. Leave by the D212, then turn left on to the D4 which traverses wild and denuded Garrigues country before descending to the chalk-walled Gorges de I’Hérault and the picturesque village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert squeezed into a narrow side gorge. The charming village square faces an important Romanesque abbey church with a notable apse and the remains of a cloister, the rest of which has since 1914 been a star attraction of the Cloisters museum in New York. Walk up the Gorges du Verdus to the Cirque de I’lnfernet, known as the ‘end of the world’. Back in the village, you might lunch at the Hôtel Fouzès. F (with fine views). Continue south on the D4 to the grotte de la Clamouse, full of extraordinary stone pillars and other rock formations and the subject of a tragic legend. Over the adjacent Pont du Diable (views of the gorges), take the D27 via Aniane to the N109 for Montpellier.

Anyone looking for swimming, beaches and watersports should head west on the N109 to Lac du Salagou, a vast man-made lake given character by the purple fingers of surrounding hills which stretch into the water.