Auvergne: The Volcanoes of the Massif Central

Editor's note

Two nights by the Chaîne des Puys, the line of volcanoes west of Clermont-Ferrand, UNESCO-listed since 2018. Hike the rim of Puy de Pariou's double crater, and walk the twin cones of Puy de la Vache and Puy de Lassolas on the same paths. Ride the Panoramique des Dômes rack railway to the summit of the Puy de Dôme at 1,465m, where the ruins of a 2nd-century Temple of Mercury stand near a monument to Pascal's barometer experiment of 1648. Tandem paragliding flights with a qualified pilot launch from its slopes. At Saint-Ours-les-Roches, Vulcania is a park about the region's volcanoes.

Editor's note

Two nights in the Sancy. Take the cable car from Mont-Dore towards the Puy de Sancy and walk to the summit, at 1,885m the highest point of the Massif Central. Look for chamois on the crags of the Vallée de Chaudefour, and walk round Lac Pavin, a crater lake formed 6,900 years ago and at 92m the deepest in Auvergne. The castle of Murol stands on a table of basalt where three Roman roads met, with a Romanesque chapel and a Renaissance palace. Below it, Lac Chambon, formed when the Tartaret volcano blocked the river, has two beaches for swimming and water sports in summer.

Editor's note

Two nights in the Cantal. The road over the Pas de Peyrol, 1,589m, is the highest pass in the Massif Central; from it a path and steps climb the Puy Mary, 1,783m, with seven glacial valleys radiating below. Below lies Salers, with its Renaissance mansions of black basalt; taste its AOP cheese, made only in summer from raw milk, and look for the mahogany Salers cows. The Plomb du Cantal, 1,855m, is the high point of the largest stratovolcano visible in Europe. Walk up from Prat de Bouc to the triple watershed, where the Cère, the Brezons and the Alagnon run to the Dordogne, the Garonne and the Loire.

Editor's note

One night near Saint-Flour, a town in two storeys. The upper town stands at 900m on the Planèze, the great volcanic plateau of the Cantal. Go into the cathedral of Saint-Pierre, look out over the plateau, then find the basalt organ pipes on the road down to the lower town. The Garabit viaduct, built by Gustave Eiffel's company in 1880–1884, carries the railway 122m above the Truyère and was the highest viaduct in the world when it opened. Boat trips on the Lac de Grandval leave from Garabit from May to October, and the ruined 13th-century castle of Alleuze stands on its rock above the lake.

Editor's note

One night at Le Puy-en-Velay, a gathering point for pilgrims to Santiago since the 10th century. Climb the stairway to the cathedral of Notre-Dame du Puy for the Black Madonna, the frescoes of about 1200 and the multicoloured stone of the cloister. Then climb the 268 steps up an 85m volcanic plug to the chapel of Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe, built in 969. On another plug, climb 262 steps inside the 22.7m statue of Notre-Dame de France, cast from 213 cannons taken at Sevastopol, to its crown.