Salers is one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France (the Most Beautiful Villages of France), built in dark volcanic stone and perched at 950 m above the Maronne valley, in the north of the Cantal. The village is tiny: around 300 inhabitants, a tangle of fortified lanes that takes an hour and a half to two hours to go round if you stop. And in high summer, the village fills up with day visitors.
The accommodation on offer in the village is therefore bound to be limited: a handful of hotels, a few gîtes, and most of the beds in the neighbouring communes (Saint-Bonnet-de-Salers, Saint-Martin-Valmeroux, Tournemire, Fontanges). This guide sorts the options according to whether you want to sleep right on the cobbles, 5 minutes away by car, or out in the countryside.
Choosing your location
In the village itself. You wake up to the bells of Saint-Mathieu, and you have the lanes to yourself before 10:00 and after 19:00, when the village empties of its day visitors. It's the choice for couples on a weekend away, photographers and heritage lovers. The trade-off: few rooms, quickly full in season.
Immediate outskirts (route du Puy-Mary, Saint-Bonnet-de-Salers, 1 to 5 km). You're somewhere quiet, parked without a second thought, and the village is a few minutes away. The right choice for families and for stays of 3 nights or more.
Maronne valley and Fontanges (5 to 10 km). Hedged farmland (bocage), old farms, very little traffic. Ideal for hikers and long stays.
Mauriac and the west (15 to 25 km). A small town with more on offer and lower prices. The budget compromise when everything is full on the Salers side.
The hotels in Salers and nearby
Le Bailliage (31 rue Notre-Dame, in the village). Three stars, run by the same family since 1962, a semi-gastronomic restaurant, a spa and an outdoor pool. It's the village's benchmark for a refined stay: book early.
Hôtel des Remparts (32 avenue de Barrouze, on the esplanade side). Three stars, some rooms with a view of the mountains, a spa area with a pool, hammam, sauna and jacuzzi, and a restaurant that goes for the gourmet side. The village's other safe bet, and in 2026 the only hotel in Salers open all year, apart from two short closures (8 to 22 March, then 16 to 26 December).
Le Beffroi (17 rue du Beffroi). A small hotel-restaurant with 9 rooms, simple and well kept, a stone's throw from the belfry, as it happens. The most affordable option for sleeping within the walls. One thing to know before you get carried away: in 2026, the establishment's season runs from 4 April to 30 September.
La Bastide du Cantal (9 route du Puy-Mary, about 800 m from the village). Three stars and 25 rooms: you sleep surrounded by greenery with the village a quarter of an hour away on foot. In 2026, the season is short: from 3 April to 17 October.
Gîtes and rentals
Maison d'Hôtes La Grange (1 Les Prés de Nards, five minutes on foot from the village). Five chambres d'hôtes (B&B rooms) on a two-hectare property, with the village and the Puy Violent opposite, breakfast included. Our pick for a weekend for two away from the crowds.
La Maison Saluces (4 rue de la Martille, right in the village). The former Hôtel Saluces has become a large gîte with 6 bedrooms for 14 people: the best address in the village for a big group or a birthday, in a house with character.
Around Salers, there are plenty of rural gîtes on the Saint-Bonnet-de-Salers side (the gîte Aux 5 Tilleuls, the rooms Chez Dany), Fontanges and the Maronne valley: renovated old stone farms, for 2 to 8 people, often with a garden.
In Tournemire (about twenty kilometres away), the Auberge de Tournemire lets you sleep in another of the Plus Beaux Villages de France, at the foot of the Château d'Anjony. Five rooms open all year in 2026, by reservation out of season: the right fallback when Le Bailliage, Le Beffroi and La Bastide du Cantal have shut up shop for the winter. Allow two nights minimum in a room, three in the studios.
Campsites
Camping municipal Le Mouriol (7 route du Puy-Mary, Salers). 85 pitches and ten chalets, open from 4 April to 31 October in 2026, with the village shops 800 m away. The best location for the price for visiting Salers early in the morning.
Le Moulin du Teinturier (Saint-Martin-Valmeroux, 10 km). A municipal campsite on the banks of the Maronne, family-friendly and shaded.
L'Échappée Verte (4 allée de Triniac, Pleaux, 20 km away). Pleaux's municipal campsite: 51 pitches on a shaded site, close to the village, the pool and the tennis courts, open from 4 April to 15 November in 2026. The hamlet of Longayroux, on the shore of Lac d'Enchanet, is 13 km from Pleaux: in July and August 2026, its activity centre rented out electric boats, paddleboards and canoes.
Booking tips
Plan ahead. July-August is packed, with peaks around 14 July and 15 August; the village hotels are booked up several weeks ahead, and gîtes are booked from the spring for the summer. May-June and September stay more flexible.
Watch the opening dates from September. In 2026, the Salers season doesn't wait until November to wind down: Le Beffroi closes on 30 September, La Bastide du Cantal on 17 October, and Le Bailliage holds on until 15 November. The Hôtel des Remparts is the only hotel in the village to stay open, apart from its closure from 16 to 26 December 2026.
Parking. In the village, parking is banned for visitors all year round: it's reserved for residents, seasonal workers and guests of the accommodation, and only on the spaces marked on the ground. On rue des Nobles, rue de la Martille, place Géraud Maigne and place Tyssandier-d'Escous, it's banned for everyone. The streets aren't closed to traffic, but driving is strongly discouraged in season, as they aren't made for it. From Easter to All Saints' Day, the two paid visitor car parks (route de la Vallée and rocade Charles Maigne) were €4 a day in 2025; there's a free car park at the bottom of rue Notre-Dame. Out of season, everything is free. If you're sleeping in the village, your host will tell you where to park.
The real luxury: timing. Salers is packed from 11:00 to 18:00 in high season, then empties all at once. Staying the night means having the lanes, place Tyssandier-d'Escous and the esplanade de Barrouze to yourself at sunrise and sunset. That's exactly why this guide exists.
Where to eat once the visitors have gone? In season, the village still has good restaurants open in the evening: La Diligence, La Poterne, Le P'tit Comptoir, Les Templiers, or Chez la Préfète on the square for something simpler. After the end of September, evening service thins out quickly: book, or ask your host who's open that evening. And truffade (sliced potatoes with melted cheese) tastes different when the street is quiet.
To combine with
Puy Mary and the ridge road (20 km south-east). The Cantal's emblematic summit (1,783 m), reached from the Pas de Peyrol: allow a day with the scenic road. One thing to sort out before you leave: the pass roads close every winter, generally from the first snows of November until early May. Our full page: Puy Mary.
Tournemire and the Château d'Anjony (about twenty kilometres). Another of the Plus Beaux Villages de France. The château can only be visited with a guide, and for a fee: allow a quarter of an hour's walk from the compulsory car park at the entrance to the village.
Salers AOP (protected designation of origin) cheese (all around). Farms and burons (the old stone huts of the summer pastures) open their doors in season for tastings.
Mauriac (20 km west) and its basilica of Notre-Dame-des-Miracles, if you like Romanesque art.
To wrap up
Salers is a special case: a tiny village, much visited, with few beds on offer. Those who take the trouble to sleep there, in the village or in a neighbouring one, discover a different place from the one seen on a 14:00 visit. Book ahead, choose your timing, and the village is yours.
To go further: the 5-day Auvergne road trip goes through Salers, the village page lists what to see and where to eat in the village, and if you're arriving from the north, here's where to stay in Clermont-Ferrand. For families, the Auvergne with the family guide completes the itinerary.
