Easy hikes and walks around Montpellier

This monumental gate marks the entrance to the Maguelone estate, between the Rhône à Sète canal and the coastal lagoons. Officially named "Portail de Maguelone", this monument is also commonly called "La Porte de Maguelone". Despite its appearance of an ancient gate, it is a 20th-century construction, erected following the conflict that at the beginning of the century opposed the owner of the estate, Frédéric Fabrège, to the municipality of Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone concerning a path giving access to the beach and the existence of a right of way.

Between the Palavasian ponds and the Mediterranean, the Maguelone peninsula occupies a former island space whose history dates back to Antiquity. Old maps still show Maguelone surrounded by lagoons: in 1570, it appears as an island, and its insular position is still clearly visible on a map of the diocese of Montpellier dated 1641.

This wooden footbridge or "Passerelle d'Ingril" allows you to cross part of the wetlands bordering the étang d'Ingril. The trail rises slightly above the marshy ground, offering direct contact with the different coastal environments of Aresquiers: lagoon, marsh, sansouïre, and pine forest. This landscape is closely linked to the history of the former salt pans of Frontignan, exploited for three centuries until 1968.

This wooden footbridge or "Passerelle d'Ingril" allows you to cross part of the wetlands bordering the Étang d’Ingril. The trail rises slightly above the marshy ground, offering direct contact with the different coastal environments of Les Aresquiers: lagoon, marsh, sansouïre, and pine forest. This landscape is closely linked to the history of the old salt pans of Frontignan, exploited for three centuries until 1968.

This wooden footbridge or "Passerelle d'Ingril" allows you to cross a part of the wetlands bordering the Étang d'Ingril. The path rises slightly above the marshy ground, offering direct contact with the different coastal environments of Aresquiers: lagoon, marsh, sansouïre, and pine forest. This landscape is closely linked to the history of the old salt pans of Frontignan, exploited for three centuries until 1968.

The Étang d'Ingril belongs to the vast complex of coastal lagoons of Frontignan. Between the Bois des Aresquiers, the old salt pans and the lido that separates it from the Mediterranean, it forms a landscape where lagoon environments, sansouïres (salt marshes) and pine forests mingle. This protected natural area hosts a rich diversity of birds and plants adapted to salty environments. In summer, the pond can also experience episodes of "malaïgue", a natural phenomenon linked to the proliferation of algae and heat, which can give the water a characteristic odor.

Between the ponds of Vic and Ingril, the Bois des Aresquiers forms an astonishing coastal pine forest of nearly 97 hectares. Its peculiarity lies in the immediate proximity between the forest and the lagoon environments: the pine forest succeeds the sansouires and salt marshes before reaching the banks of the ponds. Protected by the Conservatoire du littoral since 1980, the site also has an agricultural history. After belonging to a religious community, the estate was exploited for various agricultural activities, then for vines until the 1970s. Pine plantations and a period of non-management then contributed to forming the current woodland. This history has not prevented a remarkable plant diversity: about fifteen rare or threatened species have been recorded there, including Bupleurum glauccum, a protected species discovered on the site, and Ophrys cumbulifera, an endemic Mediterranean orchid.

At the entrance to the Bois des Aresquiers, a path begins that crosses a particularly original landscape of the Languedoc coast. Between the ponds of Vic and d’Ingril, the pine forest is interspersed between the lagoons and the salty environments, a proximity to the coast that makes this Mediterranean woodland rare. The site, protected by the Conservatoire du littoral since 1980, is home to remarkable flora: about fifteen rare or threatened species have been recorded there. Among them are Bupleurum glaucum, a protected species discovered on the site, and Ophrys des Corbières, an endemic Mediterranean orchid.