The area around St-Bresson offers many, many things to do—so many that naming all of them is impossible. What we’ve done with this page is to give you an idea of the types of activities you can do and the types of places you can see in the region.

Market Days

In the south of France, the market is traditionally the place where residents buy everything—live animals, food, clothing, pottery, jewelry, furniture, and so on. In the last ten years or so, supermarkets and American-style malls have crept up around the country, but in the south the market is still an important part of the culture, and a fun experience for tourists.

Almost every town has at least one market day a week. Markets are typically spread throughout the center of town, often in the middle of the streets. Markets typically start at 8:00 am and end around noon or 1:00 pm. Tourist-friendly items such as linens and pottery are more readily available in the high season and mid season, but the markets are open year-round.

Here is a short list of local and not-so-local markets, with distances from St-Bresson:

• Le Vigan: 8.5 km / 5 mi
  Market days are Saturday and Tuesday.
• Ganges: 15 km / 9 mi
  Market day is Friday.
• Uzès: 60 km / 38 mi
  Market day is Saturday. Worth the drive for the huge selection of shops and market vendors. Uzès has become a favorite destination for visitors from Great Britain, and the tourist season seems to extend throughout much of the year

Art & Antiques

The light and shadow of southern France has inspired many artistic movements, including Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism. Painters such as Cézanne, Léger, Pissarro, Van Gogh, Matisse, Braque, and Picasso and worked in Languedoc-Rousillon or nearby.

Galleries and potteries abound in the region. Here are few we’ve discovered.

• Aux Couleurs de la Terre
  • St-Guilhem-le-Désert is a magnet for artists and tourists alike. The town has several galleries, and this particularly good pottery shop.
• St Quentin-la-Poterie-Maison
  • You can find excellent ceramics here in this studio specializing in the Mediterranean ceramic arts, in the lovely medieval town of Sauve.
• Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
  • You can find many galleries and shops here, about a 2-hour drive from St-Bresson.

Beaches & Swimming Spots

There is a very popular bathing spot at the Cascade de la Vis, only a 5- to 7- minute drive from St Bresson in St-Laurent-le-Minier. In the summer, this area is packed with picnicers and sunbathers, so the locals have dubbed it “the Riviera.”

If you’re in search of the real deal, you only need to drive an hour or so to the Mediterranean coast. Palavas les Flots is the most popular beach in Montpellier. For something less trendy, head southeast along the coast for the beaches near Sète, the “Venice of the Languedoc.”

For those of you looking for something more trendy, St. Tropez, Cannes, and Antibes are a 3-hour drive to the northwest. Marseille and the Côte d’Azur are a few hours away along the coast, east of Montpellier.