A village at the edge of the Lez, at the foot of the pic Saint-Loup
Prades-le-Lez has 6,184 inhabitants on 8.8 square kilometres, on the edge of the Lez, the river that flows from Saint-Clément-de-Rivière and flows into the sea at Palavas-les-Flots. At 25 kilometres from the sea in flight from the bird and at the foot of the Saint-Loup peak, the commune has generally minimum temperatures 2 to 3 degrees cooler than in Montpellier, but higher maximums in summer. She also remained exposed to flooding during the autumn cevenol episodes : in 2000, a tornado that had hit Montpellier had also hit the commune, tearing off the roof of a closed supermarket for several weeks.
From the accommodation, 27 minutes before the arrival of the tram
The journey to Prades-le-Lez is 17.9 kilometres and about 27 minutes by car from Saint-Jean-de-Védas. The town is not yet served by the tram, but the arrival of line 5 is announced for the coming years, which will strengthen its integration into the Montpelliera area. In the meantime, it's a car ride, for half a day or a full day.
Restinclières Castle Park
Built under Louis XIV on the site of a 12th century castle, the Castle of Restinclières now houses the Departmental House of the Environment and serves as a seat for many activities, exhibitions and shows. Its park, acquired by the General Council in 1990, runs along the Terrieu Valley. The Natura 2000 site "le Lez", which covers 239 hectares in the commune, also makes it the only known presence of the endemic sculpin Cottus petiti, a small river fish.
The old medieval village and its fortified gates
The village developed behind a medieval enclosure of the 12th and 13th centuries, whose remains of two gates, north and south, remain visible today on both sides of the rue du Vieux-Prades, behind the church of Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur, cited in 1144. The old round road and a corner tower are still guessing along the streets that follow the route of the old ditches.
Growth that caught up with projections
A municipal project in the 2000s targeted 7,000 inhabitants by 2020, about 2,500 more than at the time. The commune, with its 6,184 inhabitants registered in 2023, is approaching, carried by new districts built around the old center. Today it is a small residential and quiet town, despite its immediate proximity to Montpellier.
A village born in the eighth century
The first written mention of Prades, in the form of "Villa Pratis", appears around 804 in the cartular of Gellone. In 1144, the church of Saint James the Majeur was quoted in the cartular of Maguelone, and the parish of Prades the Lez was formed in 1156. The village then developed slowly behind its medieval enclosure, before the demographic explosion of the 1980s and the 2000s, which brought the commune from a few hundred inhabitants to more than 6,000 today. With 482 establishments listed as at 31 December 2019, however, it remains a residential city more than a pole of activity.
Studio or duplex for a nature outing near Prades-le-Lez
For a walk to Restinclières Park followed by a lunch on site, the studio allows to prepare a basket with its equipped kitchen before leaving. Family, the duplex offers the necessary space for a full day between the old village and the park's trails, with which to wash hiking outfits on the return.
To continue north of the agglomeration, the pages dedicated to Montferrier-sur-Lez and Materials detail the neighbouring municipalities of Prades-le-Lez.
