Lunel

Lunel is a small medieval town with a population of around 22,000 people. It is located in the Vidourle Valley equidistant between Montpelier to the east and Nimes to the southwest. It is a beautiful area to visit with terrain populated by bulls, horses and pink flamingos, which is marshland in the south and scrubland in the north.   It occupies  a very central location with the long sandy beaches of La Grande Motte just fifteen kilometers away.

You have a choice of airports when travelling to Lunel as Montpellier airport is a thirty minute journey and Nimes is forty minutes away.  Both airports have flights to London Stanstead with Ryanair. Montpellier also has flights to Gatwick and other UK airports as British Airways and Air France operate from there.  It has good transport communication links with the A9 motorway located just to the south of Lunel and the town has its own railway station and local bus service.

There is a lively market here every Tuesday and Sunday morning from 7.00 to 13.00 hours where you can purchase local food, wine and crafts.  It is covered and situated in the centre of Lunel close to the Church Notre-Dame du Lac with a beautiful entrance gate decorated with the town’s crest surrounded by lions and a mosaic fountain in its centre.  The culinary speciality here is oysters,which are farmed from the nearby lagoons and the local wine is the sweet Muscat grown on the muscatel grape vines on the surrounding hills and in the Camargue area.  It is also a town which is famous for its bullfights which are held every Sunday in the local bullring, and bull chases where locals resembling cowboys perform some pretty risky stunts.

On the outskirts of town is an ancient bridge which spans the Vidourle River which forms a  natural border separating the departments of Herault and Gard.  On the road to Sommieres you will find le site d’Ambrusum,  which is a Roman archaeological dig with the remains of the Via Dimitia and original road which linked the Alps with the Pyrenees.

Leisure and sports activities in Lunel include marked trails for walks in the hillsides, horse riding, canoeing, cycling, tennis, freshwater fishing and golf.  There is a campsite just outside town which can accommodate caravans and tents and offers excellent facilities including a large adventure playground for children, minigolf, volleyball, table tennis, and bowls and it has its own cafeteria and bar.