Castles perched on a rock, villages you cross on foot, museums that hold their own against big-city ones, gardens where you sit down for a while. This page brings together everything worth visiting when you want to understand the area as much as look at it. Filter by département or by starting town, and look at how long you would spend there: some visits fit into an hour, others take the whole day.
Culture
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98 lieux
Museums
Rated 4.4 out of 5, 297 reviews
Le Puy-en-Velay
Pilgrims' hospital founded around 1140, rebuilt in the 17th century, in the heart of the cathedral complex listed by UNESCO. Today a digital art centre.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.6 out of 5, 21 reviews
Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille
A Romanesque abbey church in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille: a façade of coloured mosaics, a Gothic choir and an organ from 1518, among the oldest in Europe.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.5 out of 5, 118 reviews
Saint-Menoux
At Saint-Menoux, in the Allier: a Romanesque abbey church and its débredinoire, the pierced sarcophagus people slipped their heads into to cure troubled minds.
FindCastles and heritage
Rated 4.5 out of 5, 96 reviews
Charroux
Romanesque and Gothic in the heart of Charroux, rue de l'Horloge. Truncated bell tower, bells defended by the inhabitants in 1793. Self-guided visit, 30 minutes is enough.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.2 out of 5, 817 reviews
Montluçon
The fortress of the Dukes of Bourbon overlooks Montluçon. Now a local history museum, with an open view over the rooftops and the Cher.
Museums
Rated 4.5 out of 5, 69 reviews
Vichy
Albert Londres's birthplace in Vichy: manuscripts, first editions, and the prize that has borne his name since 1933.
Museums
Rated 4.3 out of 5, 430 reviews
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont's natural history museum, in Henri Lecoq's former town house: mounted animals, plants, rocks and fossils, a stone's throw from the Jardin Lecoq.
FindMuseums
Rated 4.4 out of 5, 194 reviews
Riom
Fine arts and goldsmiths' work in two 17th-century town houses, in the centre of Riom.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.0 out of 5, 4,524 reviews
Volvic
An underground quarry turned into a visitor route: six centuries of extracting the stone that built Clermont cathedral.
FindCastles and heritage
Rated 4.5 out of 5, 48 reviews
Jenzat
Bourbonnais village church with a cycle of 15th-century wall paintings almost entirely preserved. Free self-guided visit.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.4 out of 5, 155 reviews
Mauriac
The largest Romanesque building in the Cantal and its 12th-century Black Virgin.
FindMuseums
Rated 4.5 out of 5, 37 reviews
Aubière
The museum in Aubière, where you realise Clermont was ringed with vineyards: presses, large casks, winemakers' tools. Open to all, a one-hour visit.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.4 out of 5, 141 reviews
Riom
14th-century belfry, reworked in the Renaissance, in the heart of Riom. Panoramic view over the town and the Chaîne des Puys in clear weather.
FindMuseums
Rated 4.4 out of 5, 122 reviews
Chamalières
The Resistance in Auvergne, from the Mont Mouchet maquis to the deportation, told through the documents and voices of the period.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.3 out of 5, 219 reviews
Chouvigny
The 13th-century fortress perched above the Sioule gorges.
Parks and gardens
Rated 4.4 out of 5, 52 reviews
Royat
A 41-hectare forest arboretum at the gates of Clermont: more than 40 tree species, waymarked paths, free access all year.
Museums
Rated 4.3 out of 5, 170 reviews
Murol
The painters of the École de Murol(s), who came to paint the snow and the landscapes of the Sancy from the 1910s onwards, brought together in the centre of Murol.
Museums
Rated 4.3 out of 5, 165 reviews
Vichy
African masks and Asian Buddhas, brought together since 1923 in a pocket-sized museum in Vichy.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.2 out of 5, 283 reviews
Busséol
A fortified castle from 1170 on a volcanic dyke, a circular 12th-century fireplace and a view that runs from the Forez to the Sancy.
Museums
Rated 4.3 out of 5, 36 reviews
Vichy
The museum of an Auvergne Surrealist painter: François Boucheix shows his canvases and bronzes in Vichy, in the former Alhambra music hall.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.3 out of 5, 113 reviews
Lavaudieu
A Romanesque cloister still standing, a 12th-century fresco in the refectory, the Black Death painted in the church. Open for visits from May to September.
Castles and heritage
Rated 4.1 out of 5, 33 reviews
Riom
The Flamboyant Gothic chapel of the Duke of Berry, the only remnant of his ducal palace, within the precincts of the court of appeal.
Castles and heritage
Rated 3.7 out of 5, 143 reviews
Orcival
Formal French gardens designed by Le Nôtre, in front of a 15th-century château, 5 minutes from the basilica of Orcival. Only the gardens can be visited, a few weeks a year.
Villages
Arlempdes
One of the Plus Beaux Villages de France, set on a basalt dyke that the young Loire wraps in a meander. About thirty kilometres from Le Puy-en-Velay.
Villages
Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise
A medieval town in dark lava stone, more than 1,000 metres up, granted its charter of freedoms in 1270: belfry, cobbled lanes, four listed monuments. And Lac Pavin 10 minutes away.
Villages
Blesle
A former abbesses' fiefdom in Haute-Loire, with its Romanesque church and half-timbered houses.
Villages
Charroux
A former fortified town in the Bourbonnais, known for its mustard and its medieval lanes.
Villages
Hérisson
Ruins of a 12th-century castle sitting on a rocky spur above the Aumance, and a medieval village below. Free access, allow 1 hour to 1 hour 30.
Villages
Lavaudieu
A Plus Beau Village de France on the banks of the Senouire: winegrowers' houses in golden stone, an old bridge, a bell tower truncated during the Revolution, and an abbey in the middle.
Villages
Lavoûte-Chilhac
A Plus Beau Village de France in a meander of the Allier: Cluniac priory founded in 1025, old humpback bridge and a canoe base on the wild river.
Villages
Montaigut-le-Blanc
A Petite Cité de Caractère (a heritage label for small towns) above the Couze Chambon: a keep where you can sleep, the Saint-Julien cellars dug into the lava, the view of the Sancy.
Villages
Montpeyroux
A village of craftspeople in blond arkose, with its keep and a view over the Limagne and the Sancy.
Villages
Pradelles
Fortified village perched at 1,150 m, a stage on the Régordane Way facing the Margeride.
Villages
Saint-Floret
Petite Cité de Caractère in the Couze Pavin valley: Tristan and Iseult frescoes in the castle, rock-cut tombs at the Chastel.
Villages
Saint-Saturnin
Medieval arkose village south of Clermont, its castle and a major Romanesque church.
Villages
Salers
A village built entirely of black volcanic stone, perched at 950 m, and the birthplace of Salers cheese.
Villages
Tournemire
A small village in the Cantal tucked beneath the Château d'Anjony and its 16th-century frescoes.
Villages
Usson
A hilltop village where Queen Margot was exiled, with a panorama over the Limagne and the Sancy.
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