Montpellier
Montpellier is a city in the South of France.
Apart from an attractive city in itself, it is situated next to a main motorway A9/E15 connecting cities such as Perpignan and Barcelona to the South, Aix-en-Provence and Marseille to the East, Lyon and Paris to the North, and Toulouse and Bordeaux to the West.
Contents
Hitchhiking out
East and North Marseille, Lyon, beach
The "all directions" tip above, or: If you like safe and easy hitchhiking, it's advised to take Tram number 1 to Odysseum, get off at Place de France, which is one stop before the last stop, then walk a bit back to the roundabout and go the Av. du Mondial up to the north. Walk straight and you will see a hill on the left, right in front of the highway. Go up (better to have good shoes on!) and you find at the top this brilliant hitchhiking spot - Elf petrol station. You can try there, or stand with a sign on Av Pierre Mendes, just before the entrance to the station. where it is?
South or West towards Perpignan, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Barcelona
From first large gas station Aires de Service de Montpellier ENI Fabrègues
First large gas station headed west on the A9 from Montpellier, 'Aires de Service de Montpellier ENI Fabrègues'
To get there, take the tram line 2 until the final station 'Saint Jean de Védas Centre' (from the station Gare Saint-Roch it will take you 21 minutes according to the agency's website). That same station is where bus line 33 begins, able to be taken with the same ticket as the tram. The 33 does not run so very frequently (outside of peak hours and most especially on weekends and holidays), and so it is useful to coordinate with its scheduled departures, which can be found here (searching for 33, direction is 'FABRÈGUES - Lou Paillas').
Once on the 33, you have to options:
Walking route 1: via trail to Chemin des Fabriques
Getting off at 'Les Hauts' [NB: user probably means 'Les Cousses'; according to the bus agencies website there is no stop 'Les Hauts'). You will be on 'Avenue Charles de Gaulle'. You go down this road to the crossing with Larenas road. You will see a square of shops (one sailing trailers), go along it on its right side when you face it. You will find an empty field on your right that you cross (there is a little path and a hole in the little fence at his end) to reach a little park, go until 43.554730, 3.789669 where the dry (summer 2019) stream is totally crossable (even in winter since it not really wide). Pass under the brigde that is above the road D613 and simply follow the path that locals use (and is on no maps) and you are going to reach the 'Chemin des Fabriques' that leads you directly to the gas station 'Aires de Service de Montpellier ENI Fabrègues': 43.547322, 3.794899.
Walking route 2: via D185 to Chemin des Fabriques
Getting off at 'Collège Ray Charles', you walk back the route that the bus took when it just got off the D613: up the street past the roundabout to Rue Turk et de Groot and then down that road to the next roundabout (which will be slightly to your left when merging onto Avenue Charles de Gaulle). You continue straight across the roundabout to the bridge over the D613, that bridge the beginning of the D185. You continue on the D185 through the next roundabout on the other side, and then down and up a small incline. You will walk across a bridge that does not have *that* much space for pedestrians, but traffic is fairly limited on the road there. You walk until to your right there will be a gated access road, which to its left has a clear pedestrian access point. Turn left on the road that it immediately meets (Chemin des Fabriques), which shortly leads you to the gate of 'Aires de Service de Montpellier ENI Fabrègues'. You may need to hop its gate, but it does not have those pesky height extensions that some do as as to impede access. Total time walking will be around 25 minutes. A map of this walking route can be found here
Options without taking tram, from péage, or gas station
Option One: Another option is to get to Place de L'Europe ([1]), for example by taking tram line 2. From there you can already see signs to the motorway. You can either follow those signs and the main road Avenue de Président Pierre Mendes France for about 15 to 20 minutes, or get a ride from where this road starts to either your destination or to a better location further up the road, at the roundabout where the main motorway A9/E15 actually connects to the Avenue de Président Pierre Mendes France.
Note: There is not a very good spot for cars to stop, but they stop at the roundabout for traffic with enough time to ask drivers for a ride, and for them to open the door.
Option Two: A second option is the roundabout off Avenue de Palavas (near Tramway 4 - Garcia Lorca). However there is no good spot for cars to stop at the roundabout, and nowhere on the ramp either. Zac waited for an entire day for a ride to Perpignan without luck and shamefully retreated to the train station.
Option Three: Take tram to stop "Sabines" and walk down Avenue d'El Alamein. You'll find roundabout.
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