Car Hire Sete - Mini guide to Sete
Along the southwestern coast of France near the dramatic range of Pyrenees Mountains is France's region of Languedoc and the port of Sete. This fishing village is gateway to Montpellier to the north, and has been an important French port for three hundred years.
The city is an architectural blend of Art Deco and Second Empire, built on a limestone rock on the slopes of Mont Saint-Clair. Sete’s canals sprawls across two islands and a network of estuaries connected and crisscrossed by bridges. These canals evoke comparisons with Venice.
A picturesque working port, its pastel-coloured Italianate houses stand cheek-to-jowl along the Grand Canal, which is part of the Canal du Midi. Sete is a town that assails the senses. The upper part of the town straddles the slopes of the Mont St-Clair, which overlooks the vast Bassin de Thau.
If you're up to a vigorous walk, try the trails on the slopes of Mont St-Clair, which wind through the pines to the top. The views from the top are breathtaking.
Popular seafood restaurants abound with menus advertising freshly caught mussels, sea snails and large oysters from the nearby salt-water lagoon. Further along the harbor are moored cruise ships waiting to set sail for the exotic ports of Casablanca, Tangier and Tunis.
An afternoon trip to nearby Montpellier, an ancient university city founded in the 13th century, is rewarding. It’s one of France's great provincial towns with many tree-flanked promenades, broad avenues, and historic monuments to easily get lost in during an afternoon stroll.
This pedestrian-only old town has many narrow winding streets and grand 17th and 18th century townhouses. It’s a great place to discover many cafes and bistros down narrow cobble-stoned alleys, doing what the locals do best, sipping wine and sampling the rich French cuisine.
Montpellier Airport is 5-miles Southeast of the city center. There are flights to many European cities. If you’re arriving in France at Paris Charles de Gaulle, you can catch the high-speed TGV train to nearby Nimes.
