City of Montpellier

Just 11 km from the Mediterranean, Montpellier is the ideal place to stay to discover a city in full bloom and close to some of the most prestigious world heritage sites.

A unique example in Europe of controlled urban planning with the Antigone, Port Marianne and Odysseum (the leisure and shopping districts), with projects by the greatest contemporary international architects, the destination also boasts a 1,000 year old history: more than 70 mansions from the 17th to the 19th century, the oldest university of medicine in the western world still in activity, medieval streets lined with shops where the big international brands share space with small shops with an old-fashioned charm, markets with colourful stalls with our best fruit and vegetables, under the arcades of Les Arceaux or on the Esplanade.

In the last few years, Montpellier has seen a strong development. Entire neighbourhoods have been built from nothing, shifting the city centre de facto to the south-east, towards the sea. Antigone by Ricardo Bofill, the banks of the river Lez, Port Marianne and the most emblematic project: the new town hall by Jean Nouvel and François Fontès, an immense urban piece made up of a monumental building. These are districts to be discovered on a tram ride, in particular on line 3 designed by Christian Lacroix, or on foot, in the wide open spaces for strolling in the surrounding area. Alongside these major firms and ambitious sustainable development projects, Montpellier is cultivating a taste for simplicity and is claiming its desire to make the simplest things rediscovered.

With more than 250,000 inhabitants, Montpellier is one of the largest cities on the French Mediterranean coast. This university city with a beautiful historic centre combines the Mediterranean lifestyle with a wide range of cultural offerings. Among its special features is a lively urban art scene.

Montpellier is ranked as France's 3rd most popular student city and 1st student city, where around one in five residents is a student (drawn from the 2015/2016 Student Survey). With its universities and grandes écoles, Montpellier welcomes young people from all over the world, and its university tradition has made it a privileged European place of study since the Middle Ages, with some 71,000 students today.

The University of Montpellier is ranked as the world's number one university in the prestigious Shanghai ranking for ecology and is also among the top 300 universities in the world. It is currently the lead institution for a national excellence initiative, the MUSE I-SITE, which brings together the University of Montpellier, CNRS, CIRAD, INRAE, IRD, INSERM, CEA Tech, IFREMER, INRIA, BRGM, the Montpellier and Nîmes teaching hospitals, ICM, CIHEAM-IAMM and the Institut Agro (formerly Montpellier SupAgro).

Welcome to Montpellier !