Погода: Монпелье, июнь

Two things define June here. The mistral comes down the Rhone valley and this city sits where it lands, but regulars are clear that it is mostly a winter and early spring wind - on a May or June trip you might meet it for a couple of days, and it is unpleasant rather than disabling, pushing hard sun and clear blue sky in behind it. Our wind column sits at 19.4 kph, which is that pattern flattened into an average. The other is lavender, in flower from about mid-June into mid-July, so the second half of the month is the half to book. The heat is real at 29.8C, with mid-thirties in a bad week, though 56.1 percent humidity keeps it reading as 29C, and nights fall right back to 15.9C. Rain is 45.7mm across 6.4 days. The record: 13.1 hours of sun and AQI 51.

Forum posters describe November in Montpellier as coming after the region's wettest months, typically bringing clear blue skies, with sunny mornings reaching 15C or higher by 10am - though posters are direct that year-to-year variation is real, with some Novembers mild enough for pools to stay open and others turning properly cold, with nights occasionally dropping near 0C. Posters generally describe Montpellier's winter as milder than northern Europe but still capable of real rain at this time of year. Posters generally recommend layered clothing to handle the day-to-night temperature swing and the genuine uncertainty about which kind of November shows up. Posters generally rate November as a pleasant, if unpredictable, time to visit Montpellier.

May in the South of France is the forum's sweet spot — warm enough to be outside all day without summer's oppressive heat — and Montpellier runs near 22°C with rain on under six days. The honest part is the sea. Nearby Le Grau-du-Roi averages about 17°C in May, which the forum describes plainly as too cold for some, and the beaches that month are quiet: more walkers and people playing games than swimmers. Bring light layers you can add and shed, because May here is pleasant without being predictable.