Four days in May. Need a base town, village or city in Languedoc/Rous. Interested in Cathar region.

Will be coming from Provance. Is there a western area of Provance which would do the job?

Thanks.

If you are interested in Cathar castles, the best bases would be Narbonne,Quillan, Limoux, Carcassonne or Perpignan. The westernmost part of Provence is 200 km away.

Well, as mentioned, Provence to the Cathar castles is a bit of a drive. I might cut the pie by staying closer to Nimes or perhaps someplace outside of Montpellier like Pezenas or towards Beziers. (Lots of Cather history in that region, but the better ruins are southwest of there towards and beyond Narbonne as P suggested). In other words, near the freeway so that you can speed up the drive somewhat but still be within striking distance of Provence on the one hand and the Cathar area on the other. Carcassonne is on the freeway and lies about an hour 45 minutes away from Nimes the way I drive .

Good luck - regardless of where you stay you have some driving to do - but it is doable for the most part if you are willing to be in the car most of the day. Check out Viamichelin.com for driving times and then decide how far west you can stay.

Having re-read the original post I see I missed the point. I think P nailed it.

Aix en Provence is just a 1.5 hour drive to Montpellier which is the capital city of the Languedoc. Cathar villages are another 1.5 hour drive away (Carcassonne). I would make a stop on the way to Carcassonne in Sète (near Montpellier) which is the 'Venice' of France. An attractive seaside village bordered by canals on one side and the Mediterranean beaches on the other. Fabulous sea food, and local wines.

Sète has 45,000 inhabitants. Hardly a village

Another vote for Sete- it's quite beautiful.

Beziers is also nice, as are the smaller quaint towns in that area like Serignan.