Montpellier - Where to shop?

Montpellier is a really popular place in the South of France, it's like the capital of the South. The city is full to the brim with students because of all of the great schools there (I was one of them), during the summer full of tourists and full of locals on a regular basis. Loads of people go to Montpellier purely to go shopping, because it's got all of the best shops all in one place. If you've never been there before then it can be quite overwhelming because you'll have absolutely no clue where to go; that's where I come in.

First of all, getting to Montpellier is so easy; you have 3 options, you can either take the train, the bus, or the car. The train is really easy because the station is right in the centre of the city, so all you need to do is walk out of the station and you're in the middle of the busy city. With the buses it depends on which one you take, some of them drop you off in the centre, but others drop you up just outside and then you have to take a tram to the centre, but no worries, trams are easy. The last option is by car, this can be really annoying (driving in any big city is) but there are a few underground and overground car parks all right in the middle of the city so you'll be fine.

There are 3 main areas to shop in; the Polygone, the Antigone and the side streets. To get to the Polygone all you do is go to the Place de la Comédie and walk to the end of it, next to the park you'll see the massive building which is full to the brim of shops and restaurants. To get to Antigone you'll need to take a tram (super easy, the tram you need to take is literally called Antigone) and it takes about 20 minutes; this takes you to a bigger outside shopping centre with a massive Ikea next door, this place is full of shops and restaurants and is really really pretty. The last place is the side streets, and there's no specific way to get to them, you just have to kind of get lost in the city and you'll discover the best ones. There are a lot of independant shops which sell loads of awesome stuff. If you're looking for a bargain then you should go to Montpellier during the sales (right now as I'm writing this it's the sales) but bear in mind it'll be quite busy seeing as that's where and when everyone goes; the other option is to hunt out the second hand vintage shops. I've personally never found them because I've never looked (I'm an online shopper) but I have some friends who swear by them and say they're absolutely amazing.

There shouldn't be much of a language barrier in the shops, most of the sales people are used to tourists popping in the shop and do their best to communicate with you. Montpellier has every kind of shop you can imagine; vintage clothes, LP shops, vintage furniture shops, comic book shops... there are also some pricier shops like Vans and Zara among many others, so you'll be spoilt for choice.

I'll always recommend Montpellier for shopping, so if you're in need of anything, anything at all, get yourself down there!

Gina.