About Villa Alarelle

Villa Alarelle is situated in the middle of the small hilltop village of Montouliers in the Minervois. The primary activity in the village is wine-growing although the village also boasts a Church dating back to the 10th Century and small general stores providing bread, cheese and other basic groceries.

As well as other local village stores there is also a large supermarket in the town of Capestang about 10 minutes drive away. The historic towns and cities of Carcassonnne, Beziers, Narbonne and Montpellier are all within 30 minutes to an hour’s drive of the Villa and the nearby motorway leads quickly south to Barcelona and east to Provence.

Although Villa Alarelle is primarily based in a wine growing area, it is also centrally placed to some of the finest restaurants in the Languedoc Region. There are a number of fine restaurants, many offering al fresco dining within 10 minutes drive. In the larger towns of Carcassonne, Narbonne and Beziers, a little further away, there are, of course, a full range of restaurants, bars and nightlife together with extensive shopping facilities at both out-of-town shopping parks and within their historic town centres. Our particular favourite is Montpellier. There is a drive of an hour or so to get there but it’s shopping and facilities are amongst the best in France and its architecture is stunning.

The nearest beach to Villa Alarelle is at Gruissan, about 30 minutes drive away, a rather unusual resort with an extensive beach area and a large number of stilted beach chalets made famous in the film Betty Blue. Valras Plage is another more traditional French resort just south of Beziers which is well worth a visit. However, the whole coastline between the Spanish border and the Camargue to the east of Montpellier is made up of sweeping sandy beaches interrupted by lagoons, fishing villages and occasional resorts which give countless opportunities to explore together with the historic countryside and hills of Cathar country around the Villa.