Places in Languedoc

The former region of Languedoc Roussillon

• Aude (11) Agricultural and wine-growing department at the eastern end of the Deux Mers corridor, connecting the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Prefecture: Carcassonne, other main towns Limoux and Narbonne. Nickname: the department is also known as Cathar Country. The Aude corridor is located between the foothills of the Montagne Noire to the north, and the Pyrenees to the south.
• Gard (30) An industrial, tourist and wine-growing department. Prefecture: Nîmes, other main towns Alès and le Vigan . The department stretches from the banks of the Rhône to the summits of the Cévennes. The area around Alès is a former mining basin.
• Hérault (34) A department in the heart of Languedoc; service industries, high technology and tourism. Prefecture: Montpellier, other main towns Béziers and Lodève. The department extends from the coastal plain to the southern slopes of the Massif Central.
• Lozère (48) A mountainous department in the north of Languedoc, one of the highest departments in France in terms of average altitude. Préfecture: Mende, other main town Florac . The department stretches from the Cévennes to Aubrac. With only 77,000 inhabitants and a density of 15 inhabitants per km², Lozère is the most sparsely populated department in France.  
• Pyrénées Orientales (66) The eastern end of the Pyrenees, with a coastal plain, the Roussillon plain. Préfecture: Perpignan, other towns Céret and Prades. Noted for its agriculture, notably its orchards, the Eastern Pyrenees department is also a popular tourist destination, and a key crossing point for trade between France and eastern Spain.

Main towns and cities:

• Montpellier, regional capital and capital of Hérault department (34). 8th largest city in France, with over a quarter of a million inhabitants.
• Nimes, capital of the Gard department (30); second city of the Languedoc Roussillon region, famous for its remarkable Roman remains.
• Perpignan, Capital of the Pyrenees Orientales department, important centre for the fruit and vegetable industry. Major centre for trade and communications between France and Spain.

Other towns and cities of the Languedoc region

• Alès (30 - Gard), former coal mining town, now a small industrial town in the Cevennes, north of Nimes.
• Béziers (34 Hérault) Between Montpellier and Narbonne. Old city perched on a bluff overlooking the coastal plain, once an important point on the main route through Languedoc. Photo  right.
• Carcassonne : Capital of the Aude department (11). Important tourist centre on account of its world famous mediaeval walled city (heavily restored and rebuilt in the 19th century).
• Céret  Delightful small town in the eastern Pyrenees (66), with renowned modern art museum famed for its Picassos
• Collioure - Eastern Pyrenees (66) Very attractive small seaside town between the mountains and the Mediterranean. Old streets, art galleries, beach. .Accessible by train.
• Mende. Small capital of the Lozère department (48), in the upper valley of the Lot . One of the most isolated departmental capitals in France.
• Lodève  Small historic city with 14th century cathedral, at the foot of the Larzac plateau 
• Narbonne; the largest city in the Aude department (11) - in Roman times, the capital of southern Gaul. An important communications hub at the junction of the Mediterrranean coastal route and the Route des deux Mers, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
• Sète : the only large port in the area. Southwest of Montpellier. Fishing, freight, and ferries to North Africa

Définitions:  Languedoc and its areas

• Languedoc : the name is used to designate either the entire southern part of France where Occitanian languages ​​were once spoken, or the entire region before 2016, or the former region without the department of Pyrénées Orientales (66).
• Roussillon : the French part of historic Catalonia, corresponding broadly speaking to the department of Pyrénées Orientales (66), in the south of the region. More specifically Roussillon is the plain around Perpignan.
• Cévennes : a mountainous area extending from a little north of Montpellier to the north-east of Languedoc, and located mainly in the departments of Gard (30) and Lozère (48). Highest point: Mont Lozère - 1702 meters.
• Corbières: the inland heart of the Aude department (11), reputed as a wine producing area..
• Margeride: a chain of mountains in the north of the Lozère.
• Aubrac : a high plateau of alpine pastures and forests on the borders of the Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrénées and Auvergne areas. A very sparsely populated area.
  
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Tourism in Languedoc :

• Le Grau du Roi, Palavas, La Grande Motte : Large modern resorts for holidaymakers and for the inhabitants of the nearby Montpellier urban area.
• Sète, Agde, Gruissan :  old towns with historic quarters. Sète is a small port with great beaches, Agde is located a bit inland, but close to the beaches.
• Canet en Roussillon, Portiragnes Plage, Valras Plage ;  other modern resorts, which have been built since the 1960s. Beautiful beaches with easy access..
• Argelès sur Mer, Collioure, Port Vendres, Banyuls sur Mer. Well established seaside resorts in the south of Roussillon, between Perpignan and the Spanish border. The rocky coast and the presence of the Paris - Barcelona railway line allowed these old fishing villages to experience an early tourist boom. Collioure has long been appreciated by artists and painters.

• Le Parc National des Cévennes (Gard, Lozère). Extending over most of the south of the Cévennes, this is one of the six national parks in mainland France. With its traditional industries of forestry and sheep farming, it is the only French national park whose "heart" is inhabited and exploited according to traditional practices.
• Parc naturel régional de Narbonne . (Aude)  To the south and east of Narbonne, this park includes traditional areas of marshes and Mediterranean "garrigue",  the scrubland characterized by its dry, rocky terrain and hardy vegetation including aromatic plants, olives and evergreen oak.
• Parc naturel régional du Haut Languedoc. (Hérault) Straddling the Languedoc Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées areas, it is a low mountain and moorland area, with agriculture and forestry.
• Parc naturel régional des Pyrénées Catalanes. (Pyrénées orientales) This regional park includes almost the entire interior of the Pyrénées Orientales department, west of Prades. It is a medium altitude to high mountain park, popular with hikers, nature lovers, and in winter with skiers at the ski resorts of Les Angles and Font Romeu. The park includes several nature reserves.

• Site des Gorges du Tarn, (Lozère) A spectacular canyon in the north of the Cévennes.
• Le Petit train jaune des Pyrénées (Eastern Pyrenees) - a tourist train going from Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains to Puigcerda on the Spanish border
• La Bambouseraie des Cévennes (Gard) - at Anduze, reputed as one of the most beautiful gardens in France, the largest bamboo grove in Europe
• Réserve Africaine de Sigean (Aude) The oldest safari park in France, 300 hectares of parkland and nearly 4000 animals.