The Michelin brochure 'Les Plus Beaux Détours de France' calls Pézenas a "Not-to- miss" town. It is alive all year around; not only a summer city. The town is situated on the River Peyne and has a population of about 8,000. As each summer begins - Pézenas paints her face with special care and in courtly robes assumes her role as the Doyenne of Culture - in this place of Molière. For 36 seasons, the Mirondela de l'Arte has descended on the city with its music, its energy, its excitement - to remain En Résidence in Pézenas for the summer - offering you musical spectacles, theatre and endless street animation. When you walk over into the old-city, you cannot help but feel the pulse of life from a bygone time. Plus - all the surrounding domaines and villages point to Pézenas as their focal point. Everyone’s favourite - this is where it’s at. Pézenas offers you a fabulous all-day Saturday Street-Market of sights, smells and pleasing taste-testing. Plus temptations enough to fill that other suitcase. Pézenas is cited by the Official Preservation Registry as a Ville de Métier d’Art for its widely varied family of artisans - createurs and antique restoration craftsmen. A known centre of the Antique Trade and for its Bric-a-brac . The Cultural Walking Tours start at Place Gambetta - then through the XVI-XVII century city streets of old Pézenas. Old-fashioned cafes in a city virtually untouched by the drive of modern development. And all because the French Rail Road made a decision many-many years ago to BYPASS the city ! Pézenas truly offers a different holiday. From Pézenas – it’s fun to visit the beach at Cap d’Agde for its many activity-attractions, the pulsing electric-music and excitement. But then - it is also nice to be able to be able to retreat to the more measured couth of Bijou. Pézenas is between Montpellier (with its museum and university cosmopolitan lifestyle) and Béziers (renowned for its Féria in August, as well as its flower markets). To the east are the seemingly endless beaches of the Mediterranean from Sète to Marseillan Plage to Cap d’Agde (20-25 minutes). To the north and west, within easy reach, are the hills of St.Chinian, Faugères and Minervois - all regions known for their excellent wine.