Lodève

Lodève, a gateway to the Mediterranean, a town of art and history, boasts a vibrant cultural life but also knows how to make the most of its varied landscapes.

Lodève France

Lodève enjoys a superb location. It is on the A75 motorway, 30 minutes by car from Montpellier, Béziers and Sète.

It has benefited from a cultural policy which is bold and innovative and has many studios and galleries dedicated to arts and crafts. Its strategic position at the meeting-point of a network of routes was what gave Lodève its economic and cultural wealth. This ancient town of cloth-merchants, with its historical monuments, is a staging-post on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, and you can see evidence of its prestigious past everywhere.

The town’s Fleury Museum regularly hosts major exhibitions of paintings. There is a wide diversity of landscapes to be found in the Lodève area: plateaux, "cirques", "garrigues" (scented Meditteranean scubland), and green plains marking a natural transition between the plateaux and Languedoc. Lodève was built at the meeting-point of two rivers, surrounded by hills with wooded slopes, and not far from Salagou Lake and the vast, wild stretches of the Larzac plateau. It displays all the variety that you would hope to find in the countryside. Nature-lovers, walkers, horse-riders and mountain-bikers can follow many footpaths and bridleways.

Things to see in Lodève: - Lodève’s Cathedral of Saint Fulcran (13th century). - The ancient and modern carpet factory, created by Colbert. - The former Bishop’s Palace, now the Town Hall. In the area: - The Priory of Saint Michel de Grandmont (12th century). - The Buddhist Temple of Lérab Ling. - Salagou Lake. - The Cirque de Navacelles. - Labeil Cave.

Date for your diary

- Poetry Festival "Mediterranean Voices" bringing together poets and musicians from all over the Mediterranean basin (July).

INFORMATION -Tourist Office - 7 place de la République - 34700 Lodève - Tel: + 33 (0) 4 67 88 86 44 Website