Béziers is the second town of the Hérault after Montpellier, with around 80 000 inhabitants. Built on a promontory overlooking the Orb, some fifteen kilometres from the Mediterranean, it is one of the oldest towns in France. Its historic centre is organised around the Saint-Nazaire cathedral, a Gothic fortress visible from afar, and the allées Paul Riquet, a broad esplanade planted with century-old plane trees that crosses the town from the theatre to the plateau des Poètes.
The town owes much to Pierre-Paul Riquet, a native of Béziers and the designer of the Canal du Midi, whose nine Fonseranes locks, a UNESCO world heritage site, remain a major landmark. The Canal du Midi crosses the Orb by an aqueduct below the town. The Baltard-style covered market halls, the plateau des Poètes laid out by the Bühler brothers and the arena of 1897, which hosts the feria every August, round out a dense heritage. The station links Béziers to Montpellier, Narbonne and Spain.
Long the capital of a vast Languedoc vineyard, Béziers spread during the twentieth century towards the south-east, beyond the railway, with the large estates of La Devèze and L'Iranget, the Capiscol industrial estate and the retail parks. The old centre is the subject of long-running renovation work. The Béziers property market, flat for many years, has seen a marked rise over recent years while remaining very affordable, which attracts first-time buyers, retired people and investors from other regions.
