We will be in Montpellier France in May. I've heard bad things about driving in the city. Can someone recommend a hotel near a metro station so we can leave the car on the outskirts? We will be coming from Albi and going north after our stay in Montpellier.
thank you

Montpellier doesn't have a metro system. It has trams on tracks and buses. There is one main tram line going through the main old town area (place de la Comedie) coming from the north, I think (and to the east) that would probably be the most convenient to be near, if you want to stay near that. YOu might consider a hotel in the Antigone area, which is a relatively newly developed area (planned community, businesses and some hotels) which isn't really that far from place de la Comedie and that line does run through it. There is a Mercure right on the tram line in Antigone. The Sofitel Antigone is higher end, of course, and closer in, even walkable to the main place. The Kyriad Antigone is not too far from the tram line.

What bad things have you heard, travelbug? Can you compare it to another city/town in France?

We are planning on dropping off (destination: Nice) & picking up (arriving from Paris) family here in September. And I assume the gare is more towards city centre--haven't gotten down to the more detailed planning yet.

We usually avoid larger cities, but since we were going to be there we were planning on visiting the old town, etc. We would be driving up from our gîtes in the Cap d'Adge area, so like you I am interested in the do's and don'ts or alternatives that other Fodorites might suggest,

Cristina, thank you for your suggestions. I think we will try to stay either in the Euromedecine or the Antigone area. Both seem to have public transport to the old city. And that would make it easier to drive to other towns in the area from there.

Klondike, I can't remember where I read it, but it sounded like the many one way streets and pedestrian walkways made it difficult to drive around the city. That's why we didn't want to stay at a hotel in the middle of the city. I think Stu talked about the driving in one of his posts.

Thanks, travelbug. We aren't going to be there until so September, so please let us know how it all turns out!

Just to say that the tram now has 2 lines (and a third on the way). Buse routes have been modified to better integrate with the new tram stations.

I'd agree with staying somewhere in the Antigone/Comedie/Station area. All are near the tram and within walking distance of the old (and new !) centre.

Local photos : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/ph...hoto-index.htm
Montpellier transport news : http://the-languedoc-page.com/phpBB2...pic.php?t=1111
Montpellier tram news : http://the-languedoc-page.com/phpBB2...opic.php?t=839

Peter

I found out there is a "Subway" in Montpellier, but it's one of those chain sandwich shops, ha ha, on rue de Verdun.

I stayed at Hotel Royal which was great, and near the train station and place de la Comedie, but I didn't have a car and I don't think there was any place to park around there.

Yes, it is awful driving in Montpellier, I did do it on leaving town as I rented a car at the train station and left to go somewhere -- Uzes, I think. Also, there was a lot of construction going on all around the train station and some other areas which made it worse, and you can't drive in certain parts of the Old Town area, it is pedestrian only (or maybe taxis are allowed).

Generally, I think it's a bad idea to drive in the center of any city you don't know well, and Montpellier is not some small burg, it has about 225,000 residents.

Here's the website of the Montpellier transport agency, if you need a map. It shows all the tram lines, I think
http://www.montpellier-agglo.com/tam/index2.php

Gosh, I was there 20 years ago. I can't remember the name of the hotel. I do remember getting up and walking throughout the town taking pictures. There was nobody on the streets an hour after sun up. Why would you want to drive in this little city, except to come in and get out? That was no problem.

It's not a little city, it has a quarter-million population.

The Vieux Ville is barely a mile across.

We returned a car in Montpellier and then took the train to BCN a few years back. The center of the city is closed to all cars, even taxis I believe. This makes for countless dead-ends as you approach the main areas and the bollards that block traffic. It can be frustrating.

After my DH dropped me and DD off to walk to our hotel, he and his French friend drove the car back to the train station and the car rental agency just a few blocks away. We didn't see them again for almost an hour. The car rental office was closed so the delay was simply finding the way around a most confusing city.

On our next trip there, we flew into MPL on the south side of the city, rented a car and drove up into the mountains north of the city to visit friends. Looking at the maps, there was no obvious best way to get north of the city, so we asked for advice at the airport and were given an extremely long set of directions including at least thirty different roads, turns, etc. We were completely overwhelmed and decided to just start following the signs through town instead.

We picked a major town on the other side of Montpellier (I think it was Juvignac) and just kept following the ever-reliable signs. Sure enough, we found ourselves exactly where we needed to be and in retrospect realized that we had followed the exact same convoluted directions offered up on Mappy by the airport staff!

thank you everyone - I will surely stay away from the center of the city with the car - public transportation sounds like like the way to go.