On the coast, which is a 25-minute drive away, you can find sandy beaches to suite everyone’s taste from the undeveloped on the spit of land between Sète and Cap D’Agde to chic beach clubs on the Isle de loisier, our favourite being Jungle beach, (link to jungle beach) where they’ll bring a cocktail or snack to your sun lounger, pure decadence!

There are various Marinas along the coast the largest being Cap D’Agde where you can hire a boat for half a day. You can find out more about boat hire by clicking here.

For watching boats the port at Marseillan ville is still relatively undiscovered by the mass market with many restaurants lining the port its one of our favourite places for whiling away lunch with a chilled rose in hand. It was an important port for the shipping of wine and there are guided tours around Noilly Prat, which is still distilled here. It’s also where the canal du midi meets the Med, and is situated on the Etang de Thau, the largest of the large salt-water lagoons and is home to hundreds of oyster beds and where you can sometimes see flamingos.

Mèze, a little further along the etang has a great selection of seafood restaurants and during the summer months you can watch the water jousting. Sète, the largest of the towns on the Etang is a diamond in the rough with an amazing labyrinth of canals where the large commercial fishing boats still come to the centre of town.

 

 

Head up into the Haute Languedoc to the Espinouse Mountains and the landscape changes from vines to garrigue with small oaks and the scent of wild thyme with small plantations olives dotted between. The tourist office with parking at the Pont Diable (devils bridge) is a good place to start your discoveries. From the bridge you can see up the spectacular gorge with fast flowing river or down to a river beach where you try a variety of outdoor adventure including kayaking. A little further up the gorge you can visit caves with spectacular stalactites and stalagmites. All through this area are walking trails and climbs.

We can help organize driving tours that lead out from Caux. One of our favourites is up through neighbouring Neffiès up towards the Cirque de Mourèze taking in the expansive views over the plane to the coast, on a really clear day you can see the snow capped Pyrenees, going onto the Lac de Salagou with its unusually red earth and ending up in Saint Guilhem le Desert, a picturesque mountain village with trout stream, ancient abbey, narrow streets and wide choice of cafes and you can even have your own personal fragrance designed for you.

Another takes in the canal du midi with its 7-lock ladder and pre Roman settlement at Oppidum D’Enserune where you can view the strange pattern of fields, which resemble a spoked wheel that was created in the 13th century when an etang was drained again with views over to the coast and the mountains going on to the pretty town Capestang on the banks of the canal with numerous restaurants or hire a little boat for the afternoon and meander up the canal or taste delights made from olives at Accent d’Oc.

 

 

A visit to the Languedoc would not be complete without some wine tasting, there are numerous caves and co-operatives where you can taste a wide variety of wines some within walking distance of the house or there are organized wine tasting tours that you can join. Alternatively taste the local wines in a wine bar in Pézenas and then visit the domaine of your chosen wine.

 

 

Dotted throughout the area are crafts people and artisans who you can stumble across on your travels that produce a wide range of goods from Olive oil and fine foods, pottery ,in the style of the pots de Anduze which grace fine houses throughout France and Italy.

 

 

Montpellier is the nearest major big city and is 45 minutes from Caux. It’s a vibrant city with over a quarter of its population students and has a beautiful old quarter with a multitude of independent shops. Just outside of this is the heart of Montpellier, La Place de la Comédie, with the theatre and numerous pavement cafes. There is too much to describe here but all you need to know is in the Tourist information office on the far side of the Place (link to Montpellier tourist info office in English) with listings of all the artistic and cultural events.

 

 

The choice of the seaside links at the Ronald Fream Course at Cape D’Agde or the Robert Trent Jones designed course at La Grand Motte near Montpellier. Inland at Lamalou there is also a course.

 

Other major tourist sites are just over an hour away such as the world famous Pont du Gard, Carcassonne, Camargue, Nîmes with its Féria and Arles with its roman ruins, the via domitia, Collioure artistic heritage , the Cathar castles of the Aude

 

 

To find out more about what to do and see in the region - try the links below:

• What to see and do in the Languedoc region >
• Travel information (flights, car hire etc) for Languedoc >
• What's on in the Hérault department >
• Guide books & maps for Languedoc >