🏞️Gorges in Auvergne

Prades

• 1 h to 2 h
• Free
• Outdoors

80 km of wild canyon in the Haut-Allier, between basalt cliffs and villages clinging to the rock.

Chantelle

• 2 h 30
• Free
• Outdoors

Four kilometres of gorges carved by the Bouble between Chantelle and Deneuille: remains of mills, a steep-sided river and paths with open access all year round.

Saint-Cirgues-de-Jordanne

• 1 h to 2 h
• €
• Outdoors

A trail at the bottom of the gorges, right alongside the Jordanne: footbridges, waterfalls and rock walls, 20 minutes from Aurillac.

Goudet

• 45 min to 3 h
• Free
• Outdoors

The young Loire runs between basalt columns and sandy beaches, at the foot of Château de Beaufort. Easy path from the bridge.

Laveissière

• 1 h to 2 h
• Free
• Outdoors

The Alagnon gorges trail, in Laveissière: a path laid out by volunteers, six footbridges and a trout river where the otter lives.

Menat

• Outdoors

Three stops and a river that loops right round: the Belvédère du Paradis at Queuille, the Viaduc des Fades and Château-Rocher, plus canoeing in the warmer months.

Messeix

• 30 min to 2 h
• Free
• Outdoors

Between Messeix and Avèze, the still-young Dordogne runs through a rocky corridor covered in forest. A bridge, anglers' banks, fast-flowing water.

Saint-Gal-sur-Sioule

• 1 h to 2 h
• Free
• Outdoors

The Sioule's 15 km of canyon, a panoramic road and perched castles.

Saint-Floret

• 1 h to 2 h
• Free
• Outdoors

Thiézac

• 45 min to 1 h 30
• Free
• Outdoors

A walk under the trees to the waterfall and cliffs of the Pas de Cère, at Thiézac.

Ceyrat

• 2 h to 2 h 30
• Free
• Outdoors

Gorges cut into the granite by the Artière, beneath pines and chestnut trees.

Enval

• 1 h 30 to 3 h
• Free
• Outdoors

A wooded cleft where the Ambène tumbles down in rapids and waterfalls, a stone's throw from Riom. Shaded, green and properly wild.

Anglards-de-Saint-Flour

• 1 h to 2 h
• Free
• Outdoors

Brioude

• 1 h to 2 h
• Free
• Outdoors

Monistrol-sur-Loire

• 1 h to 1 h 30
• Free
• Outdoors

Waterfalls, giants' kettles and a legend of a petrified devil: a small granite canyon in the heart of Monistrol-sur-Loire.

Mazirat

• 1 h to 3 h
• Free
• Outdoors

The Cher squeezed into wooded gorges, a century-old dam and a lake that has stayed wild between Allier and Creuse, 12 km upstream of Montluçon.

Valbeleix

• 45 min to 2 h 30
• Free
• Outdoors

A small road follows the Couze de Valbeleix at the bottom of wooded gorges: a restored bridge that seems to date from Gallo-Roman times, the pailhats of Courgoul and an easy 2.5 km loop.

Olloix

• 1 h 30 to 2 h 30
• Free
• Outdoors

A wild corridor where the Monne runs as a torrent between jumbled boulders, south of Clermont. Expect a waterfall, a basin and the Riberolles bridge.