⛪Castles and heritage in Auvergne

Moulins

• 1 h to 1 h 30

Le Puy-en-Velay

• 45 min to 1 h 30

The UNESCO-listed cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay. Black Virgin, pilgrims' mass for the Via Podiensis, Romanesque architecture with Byzantine influences.

Ruynes-en-Margeride

• 30 min to 1 h 30
• Free
• Outdoors

Before the Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel was already putting his name to a red iron giant: 565 metres long, 122 metres above the Truyère. You can take it in from the D909, the A75 or by boat.

Le Puy-en-Velay

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Outdoors
• With the family

Orcival

• 45 min to 1 h 30

A major Romanesque church of Auvergne, built in the 12th century. In the choir, a Virgin in Majesty carved around 1170, in walnut and gilded silver.

Issoire

• 45 min to 1 h 30

The largest of Auvergne's five major Romanesque churches, with an east end inlaid with black basalt mosaics.

Arlempdes

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

13th-century fortress perched on its basalt crag, just above the young Loire. The first château the river meets on its course.

Saint-Nectaire

• 30 min to 1 h

One of the five major churches of Auvergne Romanesque art. 103 capitals, including the historiated set in the choir, and a Romanesque Virgin.

Chavaniac-Lafayette

• 1 h 15 to 1 h 30
• €
• With the family

Lafayette's birthplace, where he was born on 6 September 1757: his room, Madame de Lafayette's salon and a park with an arboretum, a pond and a 300-year-old oak.

Jenzat

• 15 min to 20 min
• Free

Bourbonnais village church with a cycle of 15th-century wall paintings almost entirely preserved. Free self-guided visit.

Tournemire

15th-century fortress at Tournemire, lived in by the same family since it was built around 1435.

Volvic

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

Medieval fortress on its volcanic spur, partly restored, above Volvic. Guided visits in July and August, and on certain autumn and winter weekends.

Le Mont-Dore

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

Historic 1898 funicular, the oldest electric funicular in France still in service.

La Chaise-Dieu

• 1 h 30 to 2 h 30
• Under cover

A Gothic abbey church paid for by a local pope, a 26-metre Danse macabre, 14 Flemish tapestries of the 16th century: a thousand years of history at 1,080 metres, on the Livradois plateau.

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.

Brioude

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Free

The largest Romanesque basilica in Auvergne. Ask at the entrance for the floor plan with the route marked, so you don't miss the 12th-century frescoes in the Saint-Michel chapel.

Saint-Rémy-de-Blot

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

The ruined fortress perched above the Sioule gorges.

Orcines

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Outdoors

Chanonat

Château classified as a historic monument at Chanonat, with 19 hectares of formal French gardens, cascades and a maze of greenery.

Saint-Flour

• 30 min to 45 min

A 14th-15th century Gothic cathedral in black basalt at the top of the Saint-Flour rocky spur, with a medieval black Christ inside.

Saint-Pierre-Colamine

Aiguilhe

• 45 min to 1 h 30

A 10th-century chapel perched on an 82 m volcanic pinnacle, reached by 268 steps.

Clermont-Ferrand

• 45 min to 1 h 30

Great mosque opened in 2010: a prayer hall with room for 1,500, a glass dome and two towers. Guided visit by appointment.

Souvigny

• 45 min to 1 h 30

Clermont-Ferrand

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Free
• With the family

Pale 12th-century Romanesque church, below the black cathedral. UNESCO-listed as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela, free entry, open every day.

La Roche-Blanche

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Outdoors
• With the family

Vichy

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

Thiers

• 2 h to 3 h
• Free
• With the family

Riom

• 45 min to 1 h 30

Murol

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

Medieval fortress founded in the 11th century, perched at 1,050 m facing the Sancy. Costumed tours, jousting and recreated living quarters.

Lavaudieu

• 1 h to 1 h 30

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.

Orcival

• 45 min to 1 h 30

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.

Charroux

• 20 min to 30 min
• Free

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.

Polignac

• 1 h to 1 h 30
• Outdoors
• With the family

A medieval fortress above Le Puy, a 32 m keep, cradle of the Polignac family (11th-17th centuries).

Mozac

• 45 min to 1 h 30

A 12th-century Romanesque church with exceptional historiated capitals and the shrine of Saint Calmin in Limoges enamel. An audio guide is available from the tourist office, and it's really useful.

Vichy

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Free
• With the family

Taste Vichy's 5 mineral springs for free under the great cast-iron hall of 1903. Each has its own taste and virtues: compare them.

Saint-Menoux

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Free

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.

Mauriac

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Free

The largest Romanesque building in the Cantal and its 12th-century Black Virgin.

Volvic

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Outdoors
• With the family

An underground quarry turned into a visitor route: six centuries of extracting the stone that built Clermont cathedral.

Parentignat

• 1 h
• With the family

A private 18th-century château, owned by the Lastic family since 1707. Guided visits only, at fixed times, from June to September in 2026.

Bourbon-l'Archambault

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

The cradle of the Bourbon dynasty, dismantled during the Revolution but still imposing.

Riom

• 45 min to 1 h 30

Montluçon

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

The fortress of the Dukes of Bourbon overlooks Montluçon. Now a local history museum, with an open view over the rooftops and the Cher.

Busséol

• 40 min
• €

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.

Chouvigny

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• With the family

The 13th-century fortress perched above the Sioule gorges.