# The Languedoc: Coast, Canal and Garrigue — The South of France
> The least-hurried corner of the Midi. A guide to the Languedoc — the oyster lagoons of Thau, the canal, the vineyards of the garrigue and the sea at Sète.

*Source : https://the-south-of-france.com/en/languedoc/languedoc-guide/*

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By **The Editors** — _the Hérault_

Spring 20268 min read Share LinkMail

The Languedoc is the Midi before it learned to pose. The vineyards run all the way to the sea, the towns keep their working harbours, and a bottle that would cost a fortune two regions east costs almost nothing here. It is the south for people who would rather not queue.

## I. The lagoon and the sea

At **Bouzigues**, on the Étang de Thau, the oysters are pulled from the lagoon and eaten on the quay an hour later. Across the water, **Sète** climbs its hill above a working port — eat a tielle, watch the water-jousting in summer, and climb to the cemetery Paul Valéry wrote into the sea.

“In the Languedoc the wine is honest and the prices have not heard the news.”

From the notebook

![A harbour town on the Languedoc coast](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1577026624672-ec2ba6b8946f?fm=jpg&q=74&w=1400&auto=format&fit=crop)

Sète at dusk — the canals empty, and the port keeps working.

## II. The garrigue and the vine

Inland, the scrub of the garrigue runs up to the vineyards of the **Minervois**, **Faugères** and the **Pic Saint-Loup**. The wine here has gone from bulk to serious in a generation, and you can taste it at the cellar door for the price of a coffee elsewhere. The Canal du Midi threads it all, plane trees and slow water.

The Practical Carnet · Carnet pratique

### Plan the _region_

When to go

May–June and September. The coast is busy in high summer but never Riviera-busy.

Eat & drink

Oysters at **Bouzigues**; tielle at **Sète**; the cellars of the **Minervois** and **Pic Saint-Loup**.

Getting around

By car for the vineyards; by bike or boat for the canal.

Read next

[The Canal du Midi by bicycle](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/languedoc/canal-du-midi-velo/)

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About the Author · L’auteur

#### Élise Marchand

Travel Editor — based in Marseille

Élise has been driving the back roads of the Midi for the journal since its first issue. She pays for her own rooms and her own lunches — and only writes about the places she would return to.

[More by Élise Marchand — voir ses articles](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/journal/)

Continue reading · À lire ensuite

### More from the _South_

[

![The Languedoc coast](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1568291569071-6ca1b2b11672?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Languedoc

#### The Canal du Midi by bicycle

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/languedoc/)[

![A table in the south](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1580513860129-dee8825dfe44?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

The Table

#### The Provence table, a field guide

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/the-table/)[

![A wine estate in the Languedoc](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1604851146774-d43a41372d71?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop)

Stays

#### Where to stay in the Languedoc

](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/stays/)