Things to Do in Montpellier

The second largest zoo in France, the Montpellier Zoo covers 60 hectares just north of the city center. Opened in 1964, the zoo is laid out like a safari park with open enclosures where most animals roam free. A children’s farm was added in 1982, new enclosures were developed for lions, bears and the rare white rhinoceros in 2001, and giraffes arrived at the zoo in 2010. Altogether, visitors can see more than 100 different animal species, including 50 species of mammals from Africa, South America, Eurasia, Oceania and France, reptiles and amphibians from South America and birds from Africa, South America, Oceania and France.

A greenhouse known as Serre Amazonienne opened in 2007 that is home to 3500 tropical plants. Split into seven climactic zones, the greenhouse covers 2600 square meters and is also home to 500 animals, including anacondas, alligators,  piranhas and tarantulas. Every two hours an artificial rainstorm pours down to create the feeling of being in an Amazon rainforest.

Housed within an old apothecary, this small two-room museum spotlights the pharmaceutical history of Montpellier, a city with a long-standing medical heritage. Exhibits include ceramic pots, barrels, mortars, and other vessels and tools—made mostly in Montpellier and used to make and store various medical remedies and antidotes. 

The museum is divided into two separate rooms, one holding equipment and utensils typical of an 18th-century pharmacy, and the other displaying objects common to a 19th-century pharmacy. Many visitors combine a trip to the Pharmacie de la Miséricorde with a visit to the adjacent 19th-century Chapelle de la Miséricorde, where a charitable order of nuns would often distribute medicines from the pharmacy to the city’s sick. Period paintings hang on the chapel’s walls. 

A single entrance ticket grants visitors access not only to the Pharmacie de la Miséricorde and the Chapelle de la Miséricorde, but also to the Museum of Old Montpellier (Musée du Vieux Montpellier). Some sightseeing passes of Montpellier include access to the Pharmacie de la Misericorde. 

Pharmacie de la Miséricorde is situated in the historic center of Montpellier, about a 10-minute walk from the city’s Arc de Triomphe (Porte du Peyrou), and about five minutes from Place des Martyrs de la Résistance. If coming from outside of the historic center, take the tram (lines 1 or 2) to Comédie station, and make the five-minute walk from there. 

Pharmacie de la Miséricorde is open every day except Monday. The museum is usually quiet and free of crowds. 

Ticket-holders for the pharmacy museum are also entitled to free access to the Museum of Old Montpellier. Housed inside a historic mansion, the museum’s collections including religious icons, carvings, antique furniture, paintings, weapons, and other decorative as well as functional objects. 

At just 658 meters high, it might be surprising to learn that Pic St-Loup is one of the most beloved emblems of the city of Montpellier. After all, the Alps are not that far away. But thanks to low vegetation, impressive 300-meter-high cliffs, and a surrounding relief of just 150 meters, Pic St-Loup is very prominent and can be seen from just about everywhere in the Hérault department. It is, by definition, part of the lower end of Massif Central.

Because of its micro-climate and unique flora, the mountain is a protected site and houses a thriving population of prey birds. The mountain is a very popular day trip from Montpellier for both curious tourists and serious hikers; there is an old chapel, castle ruins, a hermitage, and a symbolic cross atop the mountain. Not to mention the unobstructed panoramas, which stretch all the way from the Mediterranean Sea to the south to the Cevennes Mountains to the north. The wine produced on the low slopes of Pic St-Loup is some of the most highly-regarded terroirs in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.