Bouzigues

Understand

thumb|300px|The waterfront. You can see the square tower of the church to the left.

Get in

Bouzigues sits on the northern bank of the Étang de Thau, between the larger towns of Mèze (6 km) and Balaruc-les-Bains (8 km). Sète is 14 km away, while the regional capital Montpellier is around 30 km distant. The town is therefore within easy reach of other transport options, notably Sète which receives trains from all parts of France, as well as ferries from Morocco. Montpellier Méditerranée Airport () is 35 km away; if driving, take the D66 from the airport up to the A709 autoroute, and merge onto that road following signs for Barcelona and Béziers. After a few minutes, you will pass through a toll gate and join the A9. Exit at junction 33 and follow signs for Bouzigues.

Get around

Everything you'll want to see is within a short walk from the port, though some people prefer to discover the town on their bikes. Really though, the narrow alleys and winding streets of old Bouzigues and the picturesque seafront will entice even those stuffed to bursting with seafood to get up and explore.

If you wish to use Bouzigues as a base to tour the wider area, then you will ideally need access to your own wheels, as the bus services, while cheap and reasonably frequent, offer a fairly limited set of direct destinations (basically Mèze, Montpellier, and a handful of local villages). Driving and cycling are easy and popular ways to get around the Thau Basin.

See

Most of the enjoyment you will get from being in Bouzigues will just be down to mooching around the seafront, taking in the views, listening to the local chatter and smelling cooking fish and ozone mingling in the salty air.

Do

thumb|300px|La plagette on what passes for a busy day Bouzigues has two small beaches: Both beaches are officially dog-free as advertised by large signs, but France is a place where personal preference nearly always trumps official dictat, so don't be surprised to find yourself sharing the beach or even the water with family pets. Topless swimming and sunbathing is allowed and commonplace on both beaches, but full nudity is forbidden. There are no lifeguards, so you swim at your own risk.

Buy

thumb|A quiet backstreet There is an ATM cashpoint, offering free withdrawals, on the wall of the (mairie) on rue du Port.

Drink

The local white wine, Picpoul de Pinet, is lush with seafood or as an apéritif. Black label (étiquette noire) Picpoul is fruitier and sweeter, while white label (étiquette blanche) is drier and smoother. There are many vineyards open to the public for buying and tasting Picpoul and other local wines in the triangle of land between Mèze, Marseillan and Pézenas, though of course all of the local shops and supermarkets stock most of the good Languedoc wines, and some of the bad ones.

Aside from food, Bouzigues is no place for nightlife. There is only one bar in town, not counting those in the hotels listed below:

Sleep

thumb|Little egret in the étang

There are not a great many accommodation options in Bouzigues, which is one of the reasons it's nice and quiet. As well as what's listed below, there are a handful of self-catering gîtes and tiny B&Bs (chambres d'hôtes) scattered around the place.

In addition to the rates posted, a tourist tax of €1.65 per person per night is levied on all visitors by the municipality of Bouzigues.

Connect

The bar (Le Globe) offers free wifi; just ask for the code. Otherwise, the nearest internet café, called cyberphone7, is at 13 rue du 11 novembre 1918, in Sète.

Go next

thumb|300px|Time to move on: flamingos in flight over the étang

Loupian - Bouzigues' attractive inland neighbour is an interesting village worth an hour of wandering. Most travellers visit the Gallo-Roman villa, which has some truly exceptional mosaics, but miss out Loupian itself; don't be like most travellers. Drive or catch the bus (104). Mèze - more or less a larger version of Bouzigues, with a great market on Sundays and Thursdays, a very pleasant harbour and large sandy beach. Drive or catch the bus (103). Sète - nearby large town with an interesting port area, a good regional art museum and links to the musician Georges Brassens. Drive. Montpellier - unmissable city with a youthful buzz and cosmopolitan energy that Bouzigues just hasn't got. Drive or catch the bus (103 or 104 to tram stop, then tram L2 into city centre. Ask the bus driver to include the tram fare in the ticket; it doesn't cost any different to buying them separately, but it saves on time at the other end.) Nîmes - some wonderfully-preserved Roman ruins, including a monumental amphitheatre still in use. Drive or catch the train from Sète (TER is cheaper than TGV).