Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.venere.com we stayed at the Royal Hotel, Rue Maguelune, www.royalhotelmontpellier.com very handy for the station, which is in the centre of the city and a short walk from the heart of the old town. It is very reasonably priced with helpful staff.

Restaurants

Les Caves Jean Jaures, 3 Rue Collot, is a great restaurant with a wine selection from a whole wall of wines, a wine lover’s paradise. The set three course dinner is incredible value, the food is outstanding, the service excellent and there is even a coffee menu, booking is advisable.

La Girafe, 14 Rue de Palais, is in a lovely old building but with a modern style menu, really enjoyed the dishes we chose and the service was good, it is popular therefore booking is recommended.

Le Prince de Minorque, 1 Rue des Teissiers, is one of a number of restaurants in this street, it does a very reasonably priced lunch menu.

Le Bouchon St Roch ,15 Rue Du Plan D’Agde, does a wonderful value set lunch and set dinner, particularly great in warm weather when you can sit outside as the inside is not so appealing.

Mi Barrio, 11 Rue Du Plan d’Agde, just by St Roch Church, this wine bar is run by Claude and has a great reasonably priced selection of wines with special tastings and live music on some nights plus cold dishes such as a selection of cheeses.

At the bottom of the above street is a small local bar with some great outdoor tables.

Times Café, Rue des Tessiers, is a small wine bar doing cold meats and cheeses.

In this part of South Eastern France there are so many places that can be visited, see some suggestions below.

Carcassonne

Everyone goes there to visit the old walled city and there is shuttle bus from the new town to the old part but is doesn’t run at lunchtimes and it’s not easy to find the stops therefore ask at the tourist office. Inside the old city there are numerous places to eat, some are very touristy. One to try is restaurant Le St Jean, 1 Place St Jean, it is in a lovely setting with a variety of menus including one where you can have the famous Cassoulet.

Sete

This is a lovely town on the coast with lots of canals and beaches. Quai General Durand, which is on one side of the main canal, is full of fish restaurants from very up market to more basic.

Nimes

A short journey from Montpellier and great for a day trip, the Amphitheatre is amazing and there is no shortage of places to eat. For a drink go to the Café on the roof of the new Carre Modern Art Museum called Le Ciel de Nimes, a wonderful setting and the food looked good.

Perpignan

Lots to see strolling round the old town, it has more of an edge than Montpellier and it is easy in the old part to wander into areas that need a bit of caution.

Check out the usual web sites, we stayed at the Hotel de La Loge, Rue Fabriques d’en Nabot, www.hoteldelaloge.fr, it is a reasonably priced hotel in the heart of the old town, it is very old fashioned but well appointed for the price.

Casa Sansa, Rue Fabrique Couverte, is a great Catalan restaurant with a huge menu, good service and a lovely feel to the place.

Le Divil, 9 Rue Fabrique d’en Nabot, is a restaurant specialising in grilled meats, also with a good wine list, definitely worth trying.

Café de La Maree, 7 Rue Paratilla, is a wonderful, friendly, local bar with great wines and cold dishes such as pate, cheese and cold meats, also has great music.

Le Grand Café Del La Poste, Place de Verdun, one of the better cafes to sit outside with good service.

You are in the Languedoc Roussillon wine growing region, the single biggest wine producing area in the world, which in the main produces red table wine. However the quality of the wines is improving in the face of competition from other countries. Some of the more common grape types are carignan, grenache and syrah and the wines tends to be blends and full bodied.

Picpoul de Pinet is a white wine produced from one part of the region and is increasingly being found on restaurant wine lists in the UK. It is a floral, citrusy wine that goes well with seafood.

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.venere.com , the two areas that I like and which mean you have lots to do on your doorstep in the evenings are the Marais and Bastille area and also around the Canal Saint Martin.

On our most recent visit we stayed at Le 20 Prieure Hote, 20 Rue du Grand Prieure, a smart modern hotel, reasonably priced for Paris and in the heart of the excellent 11th Arondissement.

As Paris hotels are not cheap there is also the option of renting an apartment and there are lots of sites where you can search for available apartments in a variety of areas.

A la Biche au Bois, 24 Avenue Ledru Rollin, Gare de Lyon, only opens Monday to Friday and booking is essential. It has a 4 course meal for a very reasonable price, given the quality, featuring terrines and other starters, grilled steaks, coq au vin, etc. then a cheese board , followed by dessert. Very reasonably priced wines and lovely staff, it is a real gem.

Le Patache, 60 Rue de Lancry, Canal Saint Martin, is a new addition by the owners of the wine bar next door, see below, it is typical of what you would expect from a Paris Bistro. The food was good, the wine reasonably priced and the service lovely, highly recommended.

Le Chemise, 42 Rue de Malte, Republique, is a very smart modern restaurant which was highly rated in reviews. We booked the set lunch and thought the food and service was outstanding, this is a definite on the list for a return visit.

Le Cambodge, 10 Avenue Richerand, Canal Saint Martin, is Cambodian and very popular, it always packed and there are frequently queues. Go as it opens at 7pm to be sure of getting a table, the food is great, lovely tastes and reasonably priced. Service was very friendly and helpful in explaining the dishes.

Dong Huong, 14 Rue Louis Bonnet, Belleville, is in the heart of an area packed with Asian restaurants and this Vietnamese establishment is very highly rated. A large space always packed and with really helpful staff who will guide you through what to have. Incredibly good value.

Chez Mammy, 3 Rue Valles, was recommended in a recent article of the area around the Marche Aligre in the 11th. We booked for lunch and it was packed, the food was good and the service friendly but felt rushed. The area nearby Rue Paul Bert is packed with places as is the Market area.

Le Bariole, 103 Rue de Belleville, Metro Pyrenees, is a local bar and restaurant with excellent traditional dishes such as confit de canard, steak and roast veal. There are places which probably have cheaper set menus but the quality was very good. The reviews mainly in French testify to the quality.

Flo Restaurants is a restaurant group which owns some of the most wonderful brasseries in Paris. They all have good value set menus and are some of the oldest traditional restaurants in Paris. The settings are superb, the food excellent and the experience of eating in such historic surroundings is not to be missed. They include the four below.

Terminus Nord, is opposite the Gare du Nord, they have a set lunch menu, it is not cheap but the place, service and food is excellent. Go before you head out to the airport they will whisk away your cases and feed you well.

Bofinger, Rue de Bastille, this is said to be the most beautiful brasserie in Paris and is really a stunning place to have a meal.

La Coupole, 102 Boulevard de Monparnasse, as an art deco masterpiece.

Julien, 16 Rue de Faubourg,  St Denis, this is an art nouveau style restaurant and smaller and more intimate than some of the other in the group.

Bars

Canal Saint Martin, metros Republique, Jacques Bonsergent, or Gare de L’Est, has some great local bars, many of which do good platters of meats, cheeses etc. The best ones we found are below.

Le Patache, 60 Rue de Lancry, is a wine bar with a selection of food available, they have a very good Happy Hour and you can just have a drink if you are on your way to or back from dinner. The owners have opened a restaurant next door, see above.

Chez Prune, Rue Beaurepaire, has the best tables by the canal and therefore is always busy.

Le Cinquante, 50 Rue Lancry, is a small bar with a couple of back rooms. Funky, retro feel with a good selection of music and customers. It serves affordable classic dishes in the evening. Very popular on the couple of times we visited recently.

Le Baron Rouge, 1 Rue Theophile Roussel, 12th is close to the Marche Aligre. It is a wine bar with a selection of meat & cheese platters in varying sizes. We have visited it on a number of occasions and always enjoyed the atmosphere, the staff are friendly, there is a mixed clientele and it is very reasonably priced.

Le Charolais, 15 Rue La Cotte, 12th, is just around the corner from Le Baron Rouge and opposite the market. A very local, rugby supporting bar, with a good selection of wines and very popular with locals eating both at lunchtime and in the evening.

Bar Paris Haut, is just opposite the Parc Belleville, a wonderful place to sit and have a drink while gazing at the lovely views over Paris and it also had an interesting looking menu.

The area around Belleville and Oberkampf has a wide range of bars and restaurants and is worth exploring.

The Rue and Place Sainte Marthe, near Metro Parmentier, is an artists quarter with a real local feel, the bar restaurant L’Autre Café, Rue Jean Pierre Timbeau, is a traditional bar and restaurant, popular with locals.

Another great area for bars, cafes and restaurants is the Rue de Charonne, Bastille, one in particular Pause Café won the best café in Paris award a few years ago, it has good French bistro cooking. Also Rue de Lappe & Rue Faubourg St Antoine nearby are both full of bars

In the same area is a lovely walk along Viaduct de Plantes above Avenue Daumesnil with excellent “Artisan” shops below and Viaduct Café at No 43 is very smart and has good food

On the Left Bank Rue Biche has a small market and some good places to eat nearby, the best bar is Bar du Marche but it’s prices are more in line with what you would expect in Paris.

Drink

Drink like the locals, if you sit outside a café on the Champs Elysees you will probably put an enormous dent in your budget, but if you go to some of the former fringe neighbourhoods around the Canal Saint Martin and Republique then you will be able to enjoy a wide variety of bars and cafes at reasonable prices. It used to almost always cost more to sit outside, less to sit inside and if you can stand at the bar even less, these days this is changing.

What to drink next, sample great French wines in some of the many new wine bars springing up or try some of the craft beers available in what seems to be a beer revolution in the city.

Like any major capital city you can drink anything you want but do follow the locals and do some homework, try some of the bars listed above.

Musee d’Orsay, if you can only visit one art gallery make it the Musee d’Orsay. What the French can do with an old railway station, they fill it with some of the best impressionist pictures under one roof in a wonderfully designed building.

The newly opened Foundation Louis Vuitton, in the Bois de Boulougne was designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry and it is worth visiting to see the building and the setting alone. The building has a series of terraces at different levels with wonderful views, the exhibition when we visited was less impressive than the building. There is a regular shuttle bus costing 1 Euro from Charles de Gaule/Etoile Metro, very handy as it drops you at the entrance to the building. At peak times booking tickets to the building on line is advised.

Take a trip up the Seine  on the famous Bateau Mouche boats to rest the feet and see the bits of Paris you have missed. You can also do a canal trip along the Canal Saint Martin through the working locks and down to the Seine.

The Marche Aligre in the 12th is an excellent area to explore, the market has recently re-opened and the streets around are packed with restaurants, bars and food shops. Rue Paul Bert nearby also has some excellent eating places so this area is definitely worth a visit.

Rue Mouffetard, Left Bank, is a great food street market, a real part of Paris and a chance to explore the Left Bank.

Le Marais is a lovely area to walk around and it has some of the most trendy bars and restaurants. Rue Vieux de Temples is a great street to walk down, the Bar Au Petit Fer a Cheval is an original zinc bar with excellent food.

Canal Saint Martin is lovely local area with lots of good bars and restaurants start at Metro Jaures and walk to Metros Jacques Bonsergent or further to Republique

Shoe shopping in Paris is fantastic in Rue Mesclay, off Place de La Republique and Parallel to Boulevard St Martin, it has dozens of shops with fabulous choices and styles, much cheaper than the same shoes in other shops in Paris.

Nice

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.venere.com I have no particular recommendations from previous visits but I would suggest that being near to the old town and the port area is preferable to the station side of the city. It can seem quite a long way crossing the city from that side to the old part although the new tram helps.

I have heard good reports about the Hotel Villa La Tour, it is a simple hotel and in a great location just two minutes from the Bus Station and on the edge of the old town.

Marseille

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.venere.com staying around the Quai de Belges gives you a great location and easy access for the train and airport and there is a much wider range of types of accommodation than when we first visited.

Nice

Vieux Nice

Le Safari, 1 Cours Saleya, is rated as the best of dozens in the street with terrace tables booked by locals so reserve or get there early The Cascade Nicoise as a shared starter is to be recommended and there is loads of choice.

Papayou, 35 Rue de la Prefectur, is a modern friendly restaurant with a different slant on Nicoise dishes, all very well cooked, there are other choices including some with a Moroccan influence.

Restaurant L’Escalinada , 22 Rue Pairoliere, try and get a table on the terrace, there are loads of local specialities and jugs of wine, but beware it is cash only. We received lots of free nibble to start but it is no longer as cheap as it was.

Lou Pilha Leva, Place Centrale, the thing here is to queue for your food and take it to one of the outdoor tables and then get drinks from the drinks part opposite, the local special is the “Socca” a chick pea pancake, there are also salads and hot dishes, it is pretty cheap.

Chez Palmyre, 3 Rue Droite, has a 4 course set menu, although one course is the vegetables for the main, it is a great old fashioned local place with very friendly owners and stick to the house wine and you will find it incredible value.

Central Nice off Avenue Jean Medicin

Vin Sur Vin, 18 Bis Rue Biscarra, is a wine bar and restaurant, we enjoyed fabulous food and the wine cave which you visit to choose your wine. The speciality is meat but everything from starters to cheese was excellent as was the service, definitely book in advance.

Wine Bar de la Tour, Rue de la Tour, is a pleasant place to sit out and soak up the atmosphere and sample some excellent wines.

Marseille

La Part Des Anges, Rue Sainte 33, just behind the Quai Rive Nueve, is close to the old port and is a wine bar and restaurant with great daily specials with the wine list on blackboards behind bar. They always have suggestions for daily specials and it was so good we went back twice.

Toinou, 3 Cours Saint Louis. off Le Canabiere, is a Marseille institution for seafood great platters of oysters, clams & langoustines plus moules & frites. It appears to now be self-service but most reports still say it is the place for seafood.

Place Aux Huiles has many recommended restaurants and bars and is a great place to sit out and watch the world go by.

Cours Julien is up the hill behind the port and has loads of places to eat, at lunch time it is a particularly pleasant for a meal.

Many bars offer free tapas in the early evening and some do 2 for 1 drinks, although in most cases it means you get two drinks per person and only pay for one.

Drink

Provence is one of France’s wine growing regions but this one is predominantly known for rose wine which accounts for more than half of the production. The area known as Cotes du Provence north of St Tropez produces around 80% of the rose of the region. Bandol near Marseille is unusual in that 70% of the production is red wine. A visit to this area is a great opportunity to sample local wines.

Pastis is another part of Provence life, particularly in Marseille, it is served with a jug of water in order that you can dilute it to suit your taste, in the UK we tend to think of Pernod but Pastis 51 is very common and there are numerous brands and people have their own favourite.

Nice

There are many museums and galleries, including ones relating to artists Matisse and Chagall although they are mainly in the suburbs and therefore a bus may be required.

Take the train along the coast and visit Monaco and Ville Franche which is a lovely place for lunch.

Marseille

Aix en Provence is a fabulous elegant Provence town with great markets and many very cheap lunchtime restaurants near the market in Le Carillon Rue Portalis. It is easily reached by train for a day trip.

Cassis is a beautiful sea side town with loads of places to eat and boat trips to visit the Calanques, the famous inlets that are only accessible from the sea.

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.venere.com Biarritz is a fairly expensive resort although there is a wide range of places catering for the more upmarket visitors but also the young surfing crowd.

Le Petit Hotel, Rue Garderes 11, is in a great location two minutes from the Grand Plage and reasonably priced, the staff are friendly and the rooms are fine. It is very popular so booking well in advance is advised.

The area around Les Halles market is full of fabulous bars and restaurants and being so close to Spain you have the added pleasure of not just excellent French food but also Spanish tapas.

Le Bistrot des Halles, Rue du Centre, is a lovely traditional place to eat, good French bistro food and reasonably priced and very popular, also quite small, so book in advance.

Le Comptoir Foie Gras, is a lovely bar on the corner of Rue de Centre and Rue des Halles, there are outdoor tables and windows to lean at, great little pinxtos to try and also plates of cold meats.

Bar Du Marche, 8 Rue des Halles, is a really friendly bar doing pinxtos and more substantial meals, a super local place.

Bar Jean, Rue des Halles, is the one most mentioned in the guide books and is very popular, the food is really good and sitting outside for lunch is great fun, the place is packed with locals having done their shopping at the nearby market. At night squeeze into the bar and try the pinxtos.

The Port du Pecheurs has a great selection of places to eat most of which unsurprisingly specialise in fish and seafood.

Le Corsaire is very popular and the food is good but it is on the pricey side.

The area around Rue Mazaran is full of bars, these tend to be for the quite young, the ones near Les Halles cater for an older crowd.

Drink

Biarritz is not in one of France’s main wine growing areas, but there is local Basque country wine produced south east in an area known as Irouleguy and of course lots of good wine from Spain as well as other French regions is readily available.

Look out as well for some local liqueurs including Paxtaran, made from distilled sloe berries, or Izarra from nearby Bayonne.

Beaches and surfing are the two main things in Biarritz, although the shopping is also good. Visit the market which is great and then sample the bars nearby.