Montpellier is a city with a real buzz, and it is the perfect destination to reach by train. Less than 3 hrs 30 mins from Paris by fast train, and served by many other high-speed routes, Montpellier is good for a city break or longer stay. Sooner or later, most devotees of French rail travel find themselves making a stopover in Montpellier.

The historic city centre is just a stone's throw from the main station - which is called Montpellier Saint-Roch. The listings of train departures from Saint-Roch are in themselves an invitation to adventure. You'll find direct services to Barcelona or Brussels, Metz or Madrid. Take your pick. Marseille and Avignon are both just a short hop away. There are direct trains running west to Carcassonne, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

Sunny Montpellier is one of France's fastest growing cities. It's stylish, fast-paced and during term time packed with students who now comprise about a quarter of the city's population of 275,000. There are a number of showpiece new developments, not least a new out-of-town railway station which opened in mid-2018 amid a squabble as to how many trains will actually serve the new station. For now, at least, Montpellier Saint-Roch is secure in its position as the major rail hub for the city with only a handful of trains using the new station which is called Montpellier-Sud-de-France.