Mende

Mende is the little prefecture of France's Lozère department in Occitania, set along the River Lot amid mountain terrain and offering a café and restaurant scene that punches above its size. Settlement here dates to around 200 BC, when the place was known as Mimata — a name thought to reference the surrounding mountains. The seat of a Roman Catholic diocese, it sits roughly midway between Clermont-Ferrand and Montpellier, making it a practical base for the wider region.

• Population14,837
• Nearest water0.0 km
• Nearest mountain8.3 km
• UNESCO within 50 km1