Cournon-d'Auvergne lake

In 2026, swimming at the Cournon-d'Auvergne lake was allowed and supervised every day from 1 July to 31 August, from 13:00 to 19:00, in the marked-off area. The water was rated excellent from 2022 to 2025 by public health monitoring. It is the big leisure area on the edge of Clermont-Ferrand: 18 hectares beside the Allier, enough for a proper day with your feet in the water.

Swimming: beach, green flag and water games

The swimming area covers 5,000 m² and is supervised in season by lifeguards. One simple rule: you only get in the water when the green flag is up, during supervision hours. The beach access and the fishing jetty are adapted for people with reduced mobility.

Each summer, swimming depends on a municipal order. It had been banned for the whole 2024 season, for lack of lifeguards and because of green algae, then suspended in August 2025 after water tests came back non-compliant.

For children aged 3 to 14, a water games area runs at the same hours as swimming. Fed by the drinking-water network, it can close in a drought: in 2026, it closed as early as 4 August.

A typical day on site

On the water: wakeboarding, canoeing and kayaking on the Allier, fishing from the jetty. On land: mini-golf, tennis, a skate park, sports pitches, pétanque and a fitness area.

With children, string together the water games, the play areas and the Épis animal park: llamas, donkeys and goats (feeding is not allowed, you have been warned). Also on site: the lake's bar-restaurant and its terrace facing the water, picnics allowed everywhere (barbecues only in the designated areas), a free car park and, next door, the 3-star Le Pré des Laveuses campsite.

Our take

Supervised beach, water games, wakeboarding, mini-golf and an animal park on one site: you can fill the day without getting back in the car. As swimming only opened at 13:00 in 2026, arrive late morning to picnic and lay out your towel. Without a car, the T2C network takes you there: line S15 to the Cournon Plan d'Eau stop, or line C to its terminus, Cournon Allier.

Off season: time for walks

After 31 August, the towels are put away: outside the supervised period, swimming is not allowed. The site itself stays open every day, all year, with its waymarked paths and its orienteering course (maps to pick up at the town hall). The greenway laid out along the Allier lets you extend your walks. And on the hillsides of Cournon, the discovery trail is 6 km, about 2 hours.