The old town and Montélimar Castle

Start at Montélimar station. Car parks are available outside the station, near platform 1 (Lyon to Marseille direction), to the right or left behind the coach station.

(S/E) On leaving the station, cross the square diagonally to the left, keeping a car park on your right and the coach station on your left. Cross Rue Olivier de Serres at the pedestrian crossing and follow it to the right for about twenty metres.

(1) Turn left and enter a public garden. Pass a statue on your right and walk along the left-hand side of an animal enclosure (goats, peacocks, etc. in May 2023) and then a pond. Walk past a remarkable tree (a Caucasian pterocary, according to a sign) and, at a fork in the road, turn right. Leave the park and cross Boulevard Desmarais in two stages.

Head straight ahead onto Rue des Quatre Alliances. Take the^second left, Rue du Petit Paris. At the end, turn right (note, on the left-hand side, an old nougat factory). Turn into the^first right and cross Place du Marché (buildings with arcades on the right-hand side). Cross Rue des Quatre Alliances and follow Rue Sainte-Croix to the entrance of the collegiate church of the same name.

(2) Just past the church, turn left and cross Place des Halles, which is adorned with flowerbeds. At the end, turn left. Take the^first right, Rue Faucon, and follow its winding course. Then turn left into Rue Chrétien. Cross Rue de Coston on the right-hand side, then turn right into Rue des Frères. Pass under a porch and, at the exit, turn left. At the junction, go straight on into Rue Juiverie. Pass a small square on the right and cross Rue des Bourges on the left.

At the next junction, turn right onto Rue Arc du Pin. Cross Rue Saint-Martin and climb the steps opposite. At the top, continue straight ahead and uphill along Rue du Château. Turn left then right with the street and climb a flight of steps. Then turn right to reach the entrance to the château (admission fee applies).

(3) Go down a flight of steps on the left and enter the castle grounds. Turn immediately left and follow a wide path that runs alongside ancient walls on the left. Go through a gate and leave the grounds. Then turn right and, at the T-junction, right again. Walk down a very steep street. At the bottom, turn right and walk alongside a car park. Go round a junction on the right and continue straight ahead to the bridge over the Roubion.

(4) Then turn right (do not cross the bridge). You will pass Rue du Fust on your right, then Rue Chapon. Turn left onto Rue Maurice Meyer and go straight on. At the town hall annex, take the^second right, Rue Roger Poyol, and follow it to the end. Then turn left and take the^first right, Rue Diane de Poitiers. Walk past a square on your left (town hall, fountain). Turn right onto Rue des Jésuites then left onto Rue Raymond Daujat.

At the end, cross Boulevard Desmarais again in two stages. Walk past a playground on your right and cross the park along a wide, hard-surfaced path.

(1) At the junction you passed at the very start of the route, walk on for about twenty metres and turn left to cross Rue Olivier de Serres again at the pedestrian crossing. Turn left to return to Montélimar station (S/E).

A good pair of trainers is all you need for this short urban walk.

Bars, shops and restaurants can be found almost all along the route.

Walk completed by the author on 26 May 2023.

- Public park (1).
- Narrow streets in the town centre.
- Arcades at Place du Marché.
- Sainte-Croix Collegiate Church (15th–17th centuries) (2).
- Montélimar Castle (3).