Hi, I have no car from Monday to Friday and I manage ok because my village has a local epicerie, boulangerie & cafe. We have a mobile fish stall which comes each Thursday and seasonal sellers (e.g. Melons in August) who come round weekly all of which is announced on the allo allo.
I can get the bus into Pezenas (see one of my blog posts for that!) but I choose not to if I can help it. Taxis are ridiculously expensive (65euro for a 10km trip each way was one quote!) We have no pharmacy/Dr in our village but the GP/Nurse will come out for visits to see our children should I or they be ill (I’ve used this service a few times - again see my blog posts).
I am fortunate to have a car at weekends which is when I do my supermarket shopping (as the convenience store would be too expensive/does not have enough range) to meet all our needs.
Home delivery services are patchy & not many small villages are served by mainstream supermarkets but frozen foods like Picard or Thiret serve most.
I use internet shopping a lot for non-food items as the postal service is generally very good, our post lady is lovely & very reliable.
However, it would be difficult to be car-less full time in a small village as you need to get out to go for things like hospital/medical visits (with small children) or other stuff & it would be tricky. If I were you & you are serious about being car-free I’d stick to a main city like Montpellier with tram links & good train services.
Pezenas - I like the excellent Saturday market where you can find everything in season stacked high, the local shops which have friendly owners, the historic old town which is cobbled & cute and where you can sit outside & drink your cafe taking in all the passers by, nocturne in Summer where the artisan shops are open until midnight & the many wine festivals.
I dislike hearing too many English voices (yes I know, you buy somewhere & you want to be the only English in the village - sorry but down here that is impossible, go somewhere in Central France if that is your requirement), I dislike parking from May through to September on market day (it can take over an hour to park if you don’t get to the market before 8.30am) but that’s about it.
Overall the good points about Pezenas far outweigh the negatives and I love the fact that it’s my nearest town.
Lunel - area around station not nice - but it is a poor agricultural town which is now commuter belt Montpellier / Nimes. It’s not a place an ex-pat usually buys - although I do know 3 more Brits in the town.
We lived for 8 years in a village 5 mins down the road and never really liked Lunel but it was reasonably priced to buy a 3 bed villa with garden in a nice quiet cul de sac - but since living here have been very pleasantly surprised - especially with Sunday market - little backstreets with shops and the Summer Fetes and the number of activities particularly for kids.
Don’t doubt there are drugs / crime but not seen any in the time I’ve lived here. (actually saw more drugs in Anduze which is very cute and out of the way - 1 hr N of MPL)
Outside Montpellier - to the north where we live: Les Matelles, further north, viol-le-fort is nice, and a bit round to the east, st bauzille du montmel is cute. As someone mentioned Pexenas - it is very nice, but is very touristy and quite anglicised. Nearer Montpelier Montferrier sur lez is nice - especially in the old town. And elsewhere you asked about the Grande Motte - it is a strange seventies development by the sea with interesting modern architecture. I wouldn’t want to live there, and actually, I’ve not enjoyed any visits there either - by the sea in that direction Grau de Roi is nicer, but packed with tourists all summer.
Excellent. I love local knowledge! Priceless really.
Any parts of Lunel you think are dodgy or places to avoid or is it small enough not to suffer from typical woes found in bigger centers? (drugs, street crime etc.)
I love the Junior As when they play that international tourney (Canada, USA, Russia etc.) and the Stanley Cup is great … but then again, I’d watch the finals of anything. It’s the high stakes-ness of finals “anything” that I love. Heck, I’d watch the Gold Medal round of Tic-Tac-Toe if they had it just to see the two opponents sweating it out trying to outdo each other for the title. Heh.
I see Castelnau le Lez on the map and it seems very green. It might be out of our price range but we’ll definitely check it out. How much you think a decent 2/3br place would rent for?
If we stay long term we’ll probably get a little car. Seems like the prices aren’t all that bad but I have much more homework to do … is it perhaps cheaper to buy cars elsewhere (Spain, Germany, Paris?) and bring them down south?
I apologize if it’s been mentioned, perhaps I missed it… whats the link to Wendy’s blog?
Thanks so much for your generous offer! Very kind of you.
Lunel not a very cute / sexy town - 25,000 people - but does have EVERYTHING
Indoor market every day not Monday
Outdoor market Thurs Sat Sun - the place is alive on Sundays - all cafes / bars / lots of shops open because of the market.
Trains peak: 4 an hour - or off peak 2 an hour - taking a break for lunch!!!
Hubby works in MPL (goes on the train) - probably go into MPL once a week… Ikea / friends etc
Lunel is 10 mins to La Grande Motte - in MPL there are buses to the beach now in the Summer and you can do bike on cycle paths
You could live in LUnel without a car but it wouldn’t be fun (ditto MPL really)
Yes Lunel is a real town all year around with restos / cafes /shops open all year - lots of courses for kids and associations/clubs (adults too) etc
Lunel isn’t a tourist trap.
Modulato … OK nice to know it’s an option. Perhaps the car-free thing is easily romanticized? I see Lunel on Google maps, at a glance I would have guessed further/longer than 12mins by train. Can you tell you (and anyone else) tell me your thoughts on Lunel…
Is it lively?
Does it have a pulse even in winter?
Do they have markets (if so how frequent)?
How often do the trains run to MPL?
Do you actually need to go into MPL for anything or does Lunel pretty much have everything? (schools, shopping, restaurants etc.)
Do you go to MPL often?
Is beach/cost access doable without a car?
Hi Dan, Don’t dismiss Pezenas. Lively town in summer, rather quiet in Winter, bur not far from the beach. It is about 45 drive from Montpellier. It is worth contact Jane Wilson who runs a great company for finding rental homes in the Languedoc area. Her website is http://www.golanguedoc.com/.
My hubs and I moved here a couple of years ago from Vancouver with our 3 kids (at the time 6mths, 3, 5). I’m sure you will decide to stay longer. The sun is amazing here, although we are missing the Canucks playoffs so enjoy that before you leave BC!
My husband works in Castelnau le Lez so we looked for a house within a 15-20 minute from there. We ended up renting in Castelnau le Lez and it’s just lovely. It can be pricey here (more so to purchase), but I’ve found it’s not more than an apartment in the decent parts of Montpellier. We also looked in Clapiers, which is also lovely, but much quieter (especially in summer) and also not (yet anyway, but it’s coming) on the tram line (and we wanted to have ‘rapid’ transit access to the city centre). Montpellier will be big city compared to Nelson so your wife will be happy!
We got away with not having a car for about 9 months, but I really recommend getting one so that you can explore southern France. It’s not easy to get to the beaches and other surrounding areas without one. Modulauto, as Wendy mentioned, is great, but really not for a trip more than a few km as it ends up being really expensive and you’d be better off buying a small car and selling it before you leave. Definitely tell your wife about Wendy’s blog. It’ll be a huge help to her (and so will Wendy!).
Feel free to contact me when you get here and we’ll show you around!
Don’t forget that Montpellier has the modulauto thing where you can join and just rent your car for an hour or half day or something like that.
Personally I would live in the edge of MPL, somewhere like Jacou or Clapiers in reach of the tram but not in the centre…
I live in Lunel which is halfway between Nimes and Montpellier and is only 12 mins from MPL by train. A monthly train / tram pass is Euro68 and my husband’s company gets half refunded as far of their green scheme.
Hi Dan,
We used to go to Nelson once in a while to ski. It was nice. I am in Spokane for the moment but I live in the north of the Gard when in France, very rural and quiet,in the heart of the Cevennes. You are right, there are things to see and do just a stone’s throw away. Montpellier will be much hotter than Nelson.
Josette
Actually, Clapiers is very dynamic and hot on cycling. There are cycle paths everywhere, the infant school is great and there are lots of activities. I had friends who lived there and had kids there and they loved it. Jacou is next door and has the supermarket and other shops.
St Jean de Vedas is not very appealing really, Castelnau is very handy but also a bit pricey. It has a dynamic, small centre and access to everything. Being directly on the tramline is brilliant.
If you want to live car-free you’ll need to be in a centre that has everything to hand. For supermarkets you usually need a car for bulky stuff but now there are delivery services so that takes the pressure off.
Good market towns include Sommieres and Clermont l’Hérault.
If you want access to the sea, you should really be on a bus route into Montpellier or on the tram line. The tram goes to St Jean de Vedas, Jacou/Clapiers, Castelnau le Lez.
Some villages have a sporadic bus timetable to say the least. Look at Hérault Transport for timetables. They also do now a go anywhere in Hérault pass for 10 trips = €10 so you can get about very cheaply within Hérault itself.
I see Lunel on Google maps, at a glance I would have guessed further/longer than 12mins by train. Can you tell you (and anyone else) tell me your thoughts on Lunel…