The south of France in brief:
From the Riviera to the Pyrenees
 The South of France, the regions that make up what the French refer to as "le Midi", is generally speaking the most popular tourist region in France, and needs little introduction. The coastal region is very busy in Summer, and travelling to the south of France by car on a summer Saturday can be a nightmare experience; but the region has masses to offer, in terms of climate, history, and landscape.
Those who do not want to spend their holidays being mass-grilled on a beach will prefer areas inland from the coastal strip, notably to the hills and mountains of Provence,with their dry landscapes and deep river gorges and valleys, or the valleys of the Cevennes, more wooded and rural, or the inland areas of the Languedoc, with their huge vineyards and "garrigue", arid rocky Mediteranean hills with their vegetation of scrub, aromatic bushes and occasional fields. On their  southern flanc, the Massif Central mountains are similar to those in upper Provence, and cut through by deep valleys such as that of the Tarn. (photo).
The area has a lot of historic cities, such as Nimes with its superb Roman remains, Avignon with its famous bridge, Arles, and the university town of Aix en Provence. The Languedoc region coast offers large expanses of sandy beaches, between rather brash modern or sixties resorts such as Cap d'Agde.
The Pyrenees, forming a natural land barrier between France and Spain, are a beautiful range of high mountains, thickly wooded on their lower slopes, but offering good mountain and hill walking higher up - not to mention the attraction of day trips into Spain, and also skiing in winter. The biggest city in the Pyrenees area, Pau, was in the early 19th century a favourite haunt of English travellers. On the Spanish side, the Pyrenees are much drier. Between the Pyrenees and the southern flank of the Massif Central, southwest France is in summer a land of warm rolling hills and valleys, a rich agricultural area famous for its abundant crops and cereals.
In the Midi-Pyrenees region, Historic cities such as Toulouse, the "pink city", and Albi, with its astonishing fortified mediaeval cathedral built almost entirely of red brick, are rich in atmosphere. But if you're driving down from the UK or northern Europe, don't underestimate the journey time, and remember too that these areas can get very hot in summer.
The Riviera ("la Côte d'Azur") itself is fairly heavily built up in many parts, and accommodation is expensive, particularly in the most famous resorts like St. Tropez, Cannes or Nice. The mountainous hinterland, on the other hand, the "Alpes de Haute Provence" and the "Alpes Maritimes", is very attractive, with its small villages and towns, many of them perched precariously on hillsides or beside trickling rivers that become raging torrents in the springtime.
Main cities:
Toulouse, Pau, Montpellier, Marseilles, Toulon, Nice
Going further:
Accommodation:
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