"Conquistad'Oc"'s cuisine is honest, hearty, colourful, spontaneous and living, taking its inspiration from the Languedoc countryside that lies at the crossroads between Provence, Catalonia and the Toulouse region. It is based on tradition but can also be contemporary and innovative.

A breath of sea air and thoughts turn to seafood from the nearby Etang de Thau, shellfish and the morning’s catch of sardines; or you can try the very local "cuttlefish stew" with black olives, or the "fisherman’s stew", which used to be cooked down on the beach. Here, the sea is a menu washed down by lively white wines and aromatic rosés. The nearby Cévennes offer local gastronomy their authentic flavours: chestnuts, mushrooms, charcuterie and goat’s cheeses.

Béziers Méditerranée is not just a magnificent larder, its chefs also have flair. A number of young chefs, some of whom have "come down" from Paris to rediscover the taste of local products, have shown real genius in updating the Languedoc’s gastronomic heritage. What a joy it is to share honest, hearty food with its tastes of the seaside and the Cévennes foothills!

A land of transit, a land of settlement, a land of conquest: "Conquistad'Oc" is marked by its history, from Antiquity to modern times. Its rich heritage can be seen in the museums, but also in the places where its inhabitants once lived.

Just stop for a moment in our villages! Take a look at the circular pattern of these streets, known as "circulades", that carriage entrance, those ramparts and that church! This fountain, that square, this large house, that monument! What does it all tell you? Listen! Listen hard! Let the stones tell you the story of the men and women who built the region … Imagine them, still living on in the words and stories of their descendants today.

Why hide it? Béziers Méditerranée knows how to party! Here we play, sing, dance, eat, drink and have fun, but there’s always a reason. Wine festivals, music festivals, medieval and Occitan festivals or even saint’s day festivals… they’re all an opportunity for enjoying the art of living in "Conquistad'Oc". The people here are fighters and sometimes a bit rough – we are a rugby region after all! – but they are imbued with knowledge and history.

If you want to learn about one of the many facets of the region, you should be in Béziers during the week of 15 August! This is "Feria" week, when Occitan culture and Spanish-style bullfighting come together for a major celebration. Béziers puts on its "costume of light" and lives at the rhythm of "corridas", "bodegas", "casitas", concerts, dances and flamenco.

Throughout the region you’ll see the traditional South of France, with its cicadas, hot sunshine and siestas in the shade of stone walls, but its originality and fertility stem from the converging waters of its two coastal rivers, the Orb and the Libron, the Canal du Midi, the Etang de la Maïre and the Mediterranean. Here you’ll find a surprising variety of unspoilt countryside: grouped in a thousand different landscapes, the vines on the stony hillsides and silt-laden plain combine with the wetlands to offer a hugely interesting range of plant and animal life.

Throughout the region you’ll see the traditional South of France, with its cicadas, hot sunshine and siestas in the shade of stone walls, but its originality and fertility stem from the converging waters of its two coastal rivers, the Orb and the Libron, the Canal du Midi, the Etang de la Maïre and the Mediterranean. Here you’ll find a surprising variety of unspoilt countryside: grouped in a thousand different landscapes, the vines on the stony hillsides and silt-laden plain combine with the wetlands to offer a hugely interesting range of plant and animal life.

Down through the ages, man has dedicated his genius, determination and courage to making wine to quench "his thirsts", his natural thirst and his thirst for the absolute, for pleasure and for sharing. Here, wine tells a story of a region and a life. It offers a very special encounter with the man or woman who made it. In the "Conquistad'Oc" region, vines and wine are a religion and an art of living.

Unspoilt countryside, an outstanding climate and high-quality services: there's everything you need to enjoy your favourite hobbies and sports: play golf at Saint Thomas, cruise on the Canal du Midi or go big-game fishing off the coast.

Or why not just go out and explore the region? There's plenty of walking, potholing, diving, horse-riding, mountain biking, 4x4, quad-biking� and you can even ride a donkey. If you want to take to the dizzy heights, you can try a microlight, kite-surfing, climbing, bungy jumping and tree acrobatics or, if you prefer the excitement of water sports, there's sailing, canoeing and regattas, perhaps even a pedalo, jet-skiing or water skiing. Whether you're a beginner, a seasoned competitor or just doing it for fun, there's all this and more besides. "Conquistad'Oc", the land of rugby, is also a land of leisure sports and "joie de vivre".

Throughout the year, Béziers Méditerranée offers a highly accessible coastline whose beauty, maritime traditions, warm welcome and wide range of watersports activities will delight you and make you feel very much at home.
Every day, the beautiful, eternal Mediterranean gives birth to the first dawn of the world. To experience this magical moment, take off at dawn along the fine sandy beaches and the highest dunes on the French Mediterranean. Walk along the riverside and watch the many different types of local fishermen at work with their crates of live fish. Learn to fish yourself in a pleasure boat, or simply go off and look for mussels, razor shells, sea urchins or "tenilles", to taste this living, bountiful Mediterranean. Here, you can enjoy the Mediterranean 365 days a year, under the watchful eye of a permanent lifeboat station (SNSM). The beaches slope gently down to the sea and you can sail all year round.