While we go to the occasional museum, in general our style is to just wander around and see the sights.

We do not rent a car in Europe so everything must be accessible by train (a few smooth buses are acceptable)

Last year someone described Montpellier as one of the most underrated French cities. That got my attention and we included it during our trip to Provence last year.

Now we're thinking of using it as a base next year.

Hopefully there is enough in Montpellier to keep us busy for a couple of days and a few more evenings.

Also, we're looking for some daytrip ideas accessible by train or smooth bus. We'd like to keep these less than 1 1/2 hours away and hopefully within an hour or so.

Thanks in advance for responses.

It is a great underrated city but may not make the best base for day tripping by train - see how far away are: Carcassonne; Toulouse; Aigues-Mortes for starters - I would much prefer to base in a place like Arles or Avignon or anywhere in that area as there are so so many neat places in a compact area and can be done by public transports.

By bus from Montpellier : http://www.herault-transport.fr/hora...rifs_hiver.php
Click on "desserte du secteur de Montpellier"

By train : Nîmes, Béziers, Narbonne, Carcassonne, Sète, Perpignan, all less than 2 hours.

Palenq,
I was based in Avignon a year ago and Arles was one of the places we visited.

Pvoyageuse,
Thanks for the list.

Nimes 35)
Beziers 47)
Narbonne (1:00)
Sete 22)
Aigues-Mortes (1:00 by bus)

Carcassonne (2:00) and Perpignan (1:50) are really to long a train ride for a day trip. I hope they aren't the two best of the group.

I'll check out the bus schedule link.

Any others?

Obviously still in early planning / thinking.

How would Toulouse compare to Montpellier as a base.

I was thinking, since we might be able to arrive in Toulouse, maybe I should look into that as a base instead of Montpellier.

Then maybe an overnight "day trip" to Montpellier.

Otherwise, we could go directly to Montpellier from Toulouse upon arrival and do an overnight "day trip" to Toulouse and Carcasson.

What makes most sense other than going directly to Montpellier and then backtracking for an overnight to Toulouse and Carcasson?

I've stayed in both Montpellier and Toulouse for days on end, it just depends what you want to see, that's all. They are different parts of the country. I like both cities, Toulouse probably has more to see right within in (in terms of museums, etc.). When I was in Montpellier, I did do a day trip to Narbonne, that is easy enough, and so would be Nimes or Arles.

You could do a day trip between Montpellier and Toulouse if you don't mind spending a bit over 2 hrs in transit each way, you said you did not. If you want to see Albi and Carcassonne, stay in Toulouse. I wouldn't stay there if I wanted to visit ARles, Nimes, etc.

We've been to Arles, Avignon, etc.

We're not really museum goers in general but Toulouse still looks interesting.

I think if we are able to fly into Toulouse, instead of going directly to Montpellier we may stay in Toulouse for a few days and see it as well as Carcassonne and maybe one more.

Then we'd move on to Montpellier for a few days before going to Paris for 3-4 days.

If we can't fly into Toulouse, we may go directly to Montpellier and do an overnight "day trip" to Carcassonne and Toulouse.

Thanks for the helpful info.

I just mentioned museums because Montpellier doesn't shine in that regard, and Toulouse has quite a few interesting ones (I'm using the term museum broadly, not just a big fine arts museum), as well as other things. Yes, it is interesting, there is a lot to see there, of course, it is bigger than Montpellier, about twice the size.

Here's a nice article about Montpellier. I'd like to get back there someday.

http://www.francetoday.com/articles/...hitecture.html

"I just mentioned museums because Montpellier doesn't shine in that regard"

The Musée Fabre which reopened in 2003 is remarkable and has been granted the prestigious label of "Musée de France".
There are number of other interesting museums in Montpellier :
http://www.ot-montpellier.fr/musees

Montpellier is the 8th largest city in France, Toulouse is the 6th. Both are the capital of their respective "Région".

Thanks all.

Both of these cities are looking very interesting.

I'm hoping to use air miles but AA is making it more and more difficult. I have to be somewhat flexible so we'll see what happens.

So the plan will be to either have two shorter term bases or stay in Montpellier and do an overnight "day trip" to Toulouse and include Carcassonne.

Regardless of which way it works out, I have to make sure not to do too many day trips.

Thanks again for your responses so far.

Now I want to rank the various potential day trips. We were just in Venice, Umbria and Rome and did a few too many day trips. By the end I couldn't remember one from the other. That hasn't happened before.