Mont Saint Bauzille, Fabrègues

This is a nice little walk on the outskirts of Montpellier that takes you up a small hill to some spectacular panoramic views of the area. 

The hill itself is only 185 m high so not very challenging: at the top you find a small but well preserved ruin of a 12th century chapel (the chapel of Saint Bauzille); but mostly you will enjoy the sweeping 360 degree views: from here you can make out all the seafront towns, étangs and marshes from Sète to Grau du Roi, pick out landmarks in Montpellier and observe Pic St Loup and the hills of the Cévennes stretching beyond.

There are two ways to access it: one is from a roadside car park at the foot of the hill, where you can follow some rocky trails through garrigue scrubland straight up the hillside. This takes about 20 - 30 mins or so and  is a rubbly, but not a challenging walk.

The second way is to drive in from the main road a bit further along, to an off-road car park from which you can follow a longer, wider, flatter trail that winds around the north western side of the hill. This is popular with dog walkers and joggers and would be suitable for pushchairs.

It's a good place to take a pair of binoculars to pick out local landmarks and do a spot of bird-watching. We saw several Montague hen harriers, Sardinian warblers and a western sub-alpine warbler. There is a bit of tree cover at the top and you can find some shady spots to sit under and picnic at, but the main vegetation cover is garrigue, so you probably wouldn't want to walk it in the midday sun in the height of summer.

How to get there

By car: Take the D612 Route de Sète out of Montpellier from St Jean de Védas, exit at the D185 towards Fabrègues, turn left onto the D185 and you will find the roadside car park on the left hand side just a couple of hundred metres along, right after the animal shelter. The off-road car park can be accessed via a left-hand entrance a little further along the main road. 

By public transport : The closest TAM access is the number 32 bus (which you can get from St Jean Le Sec on the tram line 2), bus stop 'Maison d' Arrêt'. From here it's about a 15 min walk to the foot of the hill.