Before we start: the difference between PBVF and “village of character”
The association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (PBVF, the Most Beautiful Villages of France) has officially awarded its label since 1982. Strict criteria: fewer than 2,000 inhabitants, at least 2 protected sites or monuments, consistent architectural quality. In 2026, 12 villages in Auvergne carry the PBVF label: Arlempdes, Blesle, Lavaudieu, Lavoûte-Chilhac, Polignac, Pradelles (Haute-Loire), Charroux (Allier), Marcolès, Salers, Tournemire (Cantal), Montpeyroux, Usson (Puy-de-Dôme).
This label is a mark of quality. But it doesn't tell the whole story: some remarkable villages do not carry it (Murol, Besse, Hérisson), without being any less interesting for the traveller. We have included both kinds in this guide, flagging the status clearly.
1. Charroux (Allier): PBVF
350 inhabitants, set on a hillock in the Bourbonnais. Charroux is ochre, medieval, miniature. You can walk round it in 45 minutes. Here, the speciality is Charroux mustard. Allow 2-3 hours on site to make the most of it, lunch break included.
What to see: church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste (12th century), Tour de l'Horloge (clock tower), Porte d'Orient, Cour des Dames.
2. Salers (Cantal): PBVF
320 inhabitants, perched at 950 m, with a view of the Puy Violent from the esplanade de Barrouze. Salers is built of dark, almost black volcanic stone. The village lives off Salers AOP cheese (different from Cantal, made only on the farm, from raw milk, from 15 April to 15 November; Salers Tradition, for its part, comes only from the milk of Salers cows).
What to see: place Tyssandier d'Escous, the old bailiwick, maison des Templiers. Where to stay: Maison d'hôtes La Grange (4.9/5), about 200 metres from the ramparts. Where to eat: at the Burons de Salers, on the road to the Puy Mary, the repas du buronnier (the mountain-hut herdsman's meal), built around truffade, is served at lunchtime, by reservation (2026 season: May to the end of September).
Allow 3 hours on site. Combine it with a hike up the Puy Mary (Grand Site de France) if you are staying for the day.
3. Murol (Puy-de-Dôme): village of character
No PBVF label here. 672 inhabitants, at the foot of the castle of the same name, 5 minutes from Lac Chambon. The Château de Murol (4.6/5) offers guided tours in costume and knights' jousting, which especially appeal to children. The nearby Cascade de la Biche makes a pretty walk.
Allow a day if you combine the castle + Lac Chambon (swimming in summer).
4. Orcival (Puy-de-Dôme): village of character
250 inhabitants. The Basilique Notre-Dame d'Orcival (4.6/5) is one of the five major Romanesque churches of Auvergne (with Saint-Nectaire, Issoire, Saint-Saturnin and Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont). Virgin in Majesty covered in sheets of silver and silver gilt, plain and pure interior. The Lac de Servières, 8 km from the village, is a crater lake.
Allow 1 hour 30 for the basilica and the village centre, then 50 minutes for the 2 km loop around the lake.
5. Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise (Puy-de-Dôme): village of character
1,442 inhabitants. Medieval town of volcanic stone in the heart of the Monts Dore. 15th-century belfry, cobbled lanes, market halls, fortified houses. Besse is also the gateway to Lac Pavin (4.8/5) and the Super-Besse resort (7 km away), which makes it a good base for 2-3 days in the Sancy.
What to see: church of Saint-André, belfry, Lac Pavin, Cascade de Vaucoux (4.7/5).
6. Saint-Nectaire (Puy-de-Dôme): cheese village
822 inhabitants. Saint-Nectaire is less photogenic than Charroux or Salers, but it is the birthplace of Saint-Nectaire AOP cheese, and its Romanesque church (4.5/5) is one of the five major Romanesque churches. The tourist speciality is the farm visit: in the commune, the Ferme Bellonte, which makes and matures its farmhouse Saint-Nectaire AOP, opens the milking and the cheesemaking to visitors free of charge, with a shop on site.
At Saint-Pierre-Colamine, in the Sancy massif, the troglodyte fortress of Jonas, dug out by human hands in an old volcano, is worth the stop: a chapel covered in 11th-century frescoes, a castle and 60 cavities.
7. Murat (Cantal): small town of character
1,770 inhabitants, overlooked by Notre-Dame de la Haute-Auvergne, a cast-iron Virgin 8 m tall, in place since 1878 on a 6 m stone base, at the top of the rocher de Bonnevie and its basalt columns. Murat is the gateway to the Plomb du Cantal and to the Parc des Volcans on its east side. The Maison de la Faune (4.6/5) offers natural history exhibitions of good quality. On the cheese side, the Ferme La Grange de la Haute Vallée (4.8/5), in Albepierre-Bredons, makes three AOP cheeses (Salers, Cantal, Bleu d'Auvergne) and sells them in its shop.
What to see: statue of Notre-Dame de la Haute-Auvergne, Rocher de Bonnevie, medieval centre.
8. Hérisson (Allier): medieval village
555 inhabitants. It overlooks the Aumance valley with the ruins of its Bourbon fortress. Small, little visited, ideal if you are looking for calm.
Allow 1 hour 30 on site. Combine it with the Forêt de Tronçais, 30 minutes away by car (one of the most beautiful oak forests in France).
9. Le Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire): not a village, but a place you have to see
18,500 inhabitants, so clearly not a PBVF, but we add it because no trip to Auvergne is complete without seeing it. The Notre-Dame cathedral is UNESCO-listed as a stage on the Compostela route. The Notre-Dame de France statue (22.70 m high, made with the metal of 213 cannons) at the top of the Rocher Corneille, and the Chapelle Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe (4.6/5) perched on top of an 82 m volcanic neck, are the town's other visual signature.
Specialities: green lentil of Le Puy AOP (the only AOP lentil in France), Verveine du Velay (a liqueur), Le Puy lace (a craft that is still alive).
Half a day at least, a full day ideal.
10. Vichy (Allier): UNESCO World Heritage entry
25,000 inhabitants. Not a village, we know, but we include it the way you do at the end of a list, where you cheat a little. Vichy was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2021 as one of the “Great Spa Towns of Europe”. Second Empire architecture, Hall des Sources, Art Nouveau opera house, Parc des Sources and the Napoléon III parks. One day is enough to see the essentials.
Bistrot Le Victoria (4.8/5) for lunch.
The other PBVFs in Auvergne
These 10 villages also carry the PBVF label in 2026, to slip into your route if you are passing by: Arlempdes, Blesle, Lavaudieu, Lavoûte-Chilhac, Polignac, Pradelles (Haute-Loire), Marcolès, Tournemire (Cantal), Montpeyroux, Usson (Puy-de-Dôme).
How to combine
A few possible “village” routes depending on your time:
- A day in the Allier: Charroux + Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule (vineyards) + Hérisson.
- A day in the Cantal: Salers + Tournemire + Plomb du Cantal.
- A day in the Puy-de-Dôme: Saint-Nectaire + Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise + Murol.
- A weekend in the Haute-Loire: Le Puy-en-Velay + Lavaudieu + Pradelles.
For a 3-day plan that combines a village + the rest, see our 3-day Auvergne itinerary.
