Montpellier, France

Faith

I'm going there for a month in the summer. Does anyone know anything about it? Nightlife and the likes? And what's this about the legal drinking age in France having gone up to 18?

Zaph

Beautiful city, but an absolute nightmare to drive in due to all the one way streets. Breakfast or a drink in one of the cafés on the Place de la Comedie is an absolute must - a great chance to watch the world and his wife go by.

jetsonx

Lovely City - being about 7kms from the beach and a student town makes this place buzz all year round. In comparison to other cities(Nice, Toulouse, Marseille) in France it has a real youthful vibe. Loads of outdoor cafe bars and restaurants.

Luas "style" tram system which is just about 4 years old which runs trough the
"centre ville" and to suburbs.

Good Irish Pub - forget the name though.

What you will notice about this town is due to the weather and the "low" cost of
living here (relative to Paris or Nice). It is the down and out capital of France and
if not Europe (IMO). They are on every street corner. (no kidding)


Also, if you get bored just hop on a train to Barca (~3hr on train). Enjoy.

jetsonx

P.S

The people in this region of France just rock..friendliest region of France by a long
shot.l

ToxicPaddy

Originally posted by jetsonx
P.S

The people in this region of France just rock..friendliest region of France by a long
shot.l

I have to agree there, spent some time in small town called Le Lattes a few miles from Montpellier and the people there are soooooooooooooooo friendly..

Its a must for a nice quiet relaxing break..

Tox

Ponster

Originally posted by Faith
And what's this about the legal drinking age in France having gone up to 18?

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure that the legal age hasn't gone up because you've always needed to be 18 to drink in bars.

The price of fags are going up though


[hijack]

Bumped this thread up for the other poster who's looking for info on Montpellier. Hmm, several threads about the same town in France. It's called the Ryanair effect I suppose:p

[/hijack]

Faith

****, I didn't realise I'd posted here about going before! I'm really sorry! But thanks for your help everyone. I'll be in a school in the mornings just off the Place de la Comedie, so I can check out the cafe's

Sorry again!

drane2

Originally posted by Ponster
Hmmm, I'm pretty sure that the legal age hasn't gone up because you've always needed to be 18 to drink in bars.

I'm not so sure about that. I keep meaning to read that sign they always have up in cafes about legal drinking age, but afaik, you can drink from sixteen in bars, but they won't serve you anything stronger than 12/13% until you're 18. I remember drinking beers in bars and buying bottles of wine in the supermarkets when I was on a French exchange when I was 16.

Ponster

Originally posted by drane2
I remember drinking beers in bars and buying bottles of wine in the supermarkets when I was on a French exchange when I was 16.

And I remember doing the same thing in Ireland



In France you needed to be 21 to buy drink in a bar up until 1981. They changed the law by dropping the age to 18 which it still is today. But just like rural Ireland, rural France will probably serve you a beer at 16/17 depending on how you're going to behave afterwards/who you're with/ how old you look....


It's true that supermarket control is a little lax when it comes to underage drinking but it really isn't that mush as a problem as the country doesn't have much of a 'drinking culture'.

drane2

Originally posted by Ponster
And I remember doing the same thing in Ireland



In France you needed to be 21 to buy drink in a bar up until 1981. They changed the law by dropping the age to 18 which it still is today. But just like rural Ireland, rural France will probably serve you a beer at 16/17 depending on how you're going to behave afterwards/who you're with/ how old you look....


It's true that supermarket control is a little lax when it comes to underage drinking but it really isn't that mush as a problem as the country doesn't have much of a 'drinking culture'.

http://tardis.redbrick.dcu.ie/2267/www.legifrance.gouv.fr

"In bars and all shops or public places, it is forbidden to sell or to offer to minors under 16 alcoholic drinks either to consume or to take away"

There's some other stuff around about classification of drinks in France. Basically there's five categories. The first two are non-alcoholic drinks like fruit juice etc.. and slightly alcoholic drinks like beer and cider. Those two can be served to people aged sixteen or seventeen, but thr rest (wine, spirits etc..) can't.