Lac de Montcineyre

A crescent-shaped lake, tucked against its own volcano. The Puy de Montcineyre is less than 6,000 years old, and its lake keeps some mystery: for a long time, people thought the eruption had dammed the river. More recent studies see it rather as a third crater of the volcano. What is certain: a curved sheet of water of 40 hectares that hugs the cone, at an altitude of 1,182 metres, ringed by beech woods.

You can only get there on foot. On the GR4, allow 10 km there and back from the cemetery in Compains, 9 km from the Lac Pavin viewpoint. The shortest starts from the D36 coming from Besse: 1.5 km after Lac de Bourdouze, a 1.5 km track that vehicles cannot use leads to the lake. Better to warn you right away: you can't walk all the way round the lake, but a path goes round the puy, with access to the summit by an unwaymarked path.

The lake serves as a drinking water reserve, so swimming, boating and fishing are not allowed. You come to walk, breathe and look, not to dive in.