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Mid-April in Avignon is usually a very pleasant month, with the standing caveats that a showery day happens and the mistral may blow. Avignon catches it coming down the Rhone valley, and regulars describe real physical force up on the Rocher des Doms and an evening that can feel five degrees colder than the thermometer says - our row's 6.9C night reading as 4C under a 20.8 kph average is the same effect, smaller. Their advice is not to reorganise the trip around it: it is a strong wind, unpleasant rather than disabling, a thin windbreaker handles it, and the compensation is the sky it leaves behind, scoured clear and blue. The record: 19.9C days, 57.2mm across 7.9 precipitation days, 10.4 hours of sun and AQI 42.

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.