Car parking in Beziers (town not airport)

[Judith]

I need to go to Beziers tomorrow - sous prefecture and CPAM, which I know are at the top of the allees near the theatre.  I have a street map, but this useful map (as far as I can see) does not tell me where the car parks are, and though I have looked on the Beziers web site, and it lists parking places, there is no map.

I know I could park in the new Polygone carpark, but that is  quite a stretch to walk uphill, but I will use that if all else fails.

Ideally, I'd like to find a place to park within walking distance of the centre (I don't mind walking 15 mins or more) which is free, or where I can leave the car safely for some hours, (as I can in Narbonne within 10 minutes walk of the centre), but which I can get to relatively easily coming in to Beziers from the west (along the Carcassonne road).

I've also thought of parking on the outskirts and getting a bus in, but I don't know Beziers very well (and I will be on my own with no navigator to help) and the way into Beziers from the west is a bit of nightmare to me!  I have never driven into Beziers before, the only time I've been  before I went by train from Narbonne, but from where we now live that is not the best solution I think.

Any ideas, thoughts, from some kind soul who knows Beziers better than I do?

[Braco]

Hi Judith

 

If you are lucky you may find a place on Allee Paul Riquet (side of road opposite the shops) if not try:

Vinci Park Services - Place Jean Jaurès, 34500 Béziers, France +33 4 67 28 53 71 ‎  

 

[Judith]

Braco,

Thanks, though I suspect "lucky" would be the operative word in the allées!

Hoping not to have to penetrate the centre with the car, so unless anyone turns up with a better suggestion, I have decided to go and see what happens, and if necessary explore.  It is not the be-all-and-end-all if I don't succeed tomorrow, I have some time in hand before I journey north, which is when I want to have it all done by..... but insurance renewals are coming along etc, so useful if I can get it all done at the same time.

I'd nearly always do a recce before setting off, but I'm short of time for this one....

[Judith]

Too tired on return yesterday to post!

OK. I ended up in the Polygone, but got there by the route I did not plan, via the centre (saw the parking Jean Jaures, thanks Braco, but rejected it) - but, I now have my bearings!

Whilst waiting in the sous-pref I looked at the map, and now know where I went "wrong", and can see what I can do next time.

Unfortunately, there will be a next time.  Changing the carte gris turned out to be much easier than I expected (just a bit of wait), but I will have to return to CPAM, as, inevitably, I did not have the right formulaire.  It would have been difficult to have taken it with me as I did not know I needed it, and the web site says nothing about a form ......!!!

For those who are interested, it took between 10 and 20 mins to walk to the centre from the Polygone (depending on just where you needed to be, your speed of walking and how good you are at going uphill) so for me no problem, and the parking cost 1.40€ for 2.5 hours - quite acceptable.

The entry to Béziers from the west is still devious, but I plan to crack that one the next time I go, and I made only one wrong turn on the way out, which I regard as brilliant being without a navigator at the time.

So a successful first foray - I am much encouraged and will not fear going again, though I'm not sure I like Béziers as a town even now!

[5-element]

Respect, Judith. We ALWAYS get lost in Beziers, which is a nightmare even compared to Montpellier. Having said that, we wanted to go to le Polygone, and were prepared to get lost yet again, and then suddenly we were there -  by accident. So maybe le Polygone is going to be one of those landmarks now!

[Judith]

5E - merci!

Yes, I had feared the need to go to Béziers, as our (now) nearest sous-pref, for all those things that you cannot do without a trip, but now I've cracked it (I hope!) I will be much happier when I need to go.  Yes, I think the Polygone (though the shopping centre is not the most exiting. even with its MAC shop!!!!)) may well be the easiest and simplest place to learn how to get to - it certainly takes the pressure off the parking problem.  And now I know which entry / exit I need (I nearly left at the Montpellier exit rather than the Narbonne one!), it should be simple (ha,ha!) next time.

I think the answer was to go not worrying about where I might end up, take it easy, and not in a panic, and see what happened.  It worked.

And 5E, we have always got lost in Montpellier - so now we (again) only go when needs must.  I had enough of big towns in London, (even though I knew it pretty well after 20 years there!), so Montpellier has to have something really good that I need / want to do, before I'll go again! 

[5-element]

Congratulations on having mastered the Béziers maze anyway.

Polygone Béziers: the first and only time we went (with some trepidation, as it is more accessible than Polygone Montpellier) was an icy windy day in January... what a nasty surprise to discover that the whole centre is....in the open!!!

I still feel more at home and at ease in Montpellier - having lived there for a while. But it is quite tricky with all the new buildings/new roads that are mushrooming all the time.