Montpellier

Youthful, spritely Montpellier has been buzzing with life in the south of France for thousands of years. Traders from right across North Africa and the Mediterranean once came to hawk spices and silks, wines and wares on its streets. These days, those same streets are gilded with grand mansions and merchant homes left over from long centuries of viticulture. But it's the students that really breathe energy into the place – there are more than 50,000 of them, always packing out the bars, reveling on the nearby beaches, filling the museums and plazas.

Écusson, the Old Town core still laid on its original medieval grid is where you will want to base yourself. It's awash with coffee shops, French boulangerie, wine bars, and tapas bistros, but also comes tip-top with the elegant La Place Royale du Peyrou and the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, a short walk away from the La Place de la Comédie, the focal point of the town.

When it's time to escape, there are scintillating beaches that arc around the Med in nearby Palavas-les-Flots and La Grande-Motte, both of which are easily reached on local bus links. Alternatively, you could quiz your Montpellier tour guide on the best open-air cafés and eateries in the quarter of Antigone, where the Lez River drifts through handsome Neoclassical monuments.