Cantal: what to see and do
60 sites listed in the département. In the heart of the Auvergne volcanoes, the Cantal offers landscapes of burons and summer pastures where Salers cows graze, dominated by the largest stratovolcano in Europe. Waterfalls, crater lakes and characterful villages make up this mountain département still spared mass tourism.
Salers
It was around the castle of the barons of Salers that the town grew up, and it was in the fifteenth century that the ramparts were built to protect against the English.
Cascade de Faillitoux
The lava came out through a fissure and diverted the Faillitoux. The river found its bed and took its place again. The waterfall crosses a basalt flow (vertically prismatic) with large crystals of pyroxene and olivine.
Le Pas de Cére
A gigantic landslide, the Enfer de Casteltinet is, over more than a kilometre, an enormous heap of blocks of mysterious, easily frightening shapes, a dangerous labyrinth between the sheer drop of a sheared cliff and the impetuous Cère.
Plomb du Cantal
Highest point of the Cantal mountains at 1,855 metres, reached by cable car from the Lioran resort, with a 360° panorama over the whole Massif Central.
Saint-Flour
Episcopal town built on an impressive basalt plateau, overlooking the Ander valley from its rocky promontory and its Gothic cathedral.
Cascade Du Pont D'Aptier
Cascade de Cornillou
This pretty little hike on the D679 between Condat and Coindre, at the place called Cournillou, will let you discover magnificent waterfalls in the forest.
Cascade de Liadouze ou du Luc
The waterfall is caused by the presence of a latite flow (biotite trachy-andesite) about ten metres high and partly cut by the stream.
Cascade de Montval
Cascade de Salins
The fall of the Auze, near Salins, is one of the most beautiful waterfalls of Haute Auvergne. Among all these waterfalls, the one at Salins is the most majestic in its dimensions and the most curious for its setting.
Cascade du Saillant
Cascade du Sartre
The Sartre waterfall, in the Cheylade valley, is one of the many natural curiosities of the glacial valley of the Petite Rhue, in the heart of the Volcans d'Auvergne Regional Nature Park, in the Cantal.
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre
Château Saint-Etienne
Château d'Alleuze
Château d'Anjony
Château d'Aurouze
Château d'Auzers
Château d'Oyez
Château de Branzac
Château de Carbonat
Château de Conros
Château de Couffour
Château de La Grillère
Château de La Trémolière
Château de La Vigne
Château de Lamargé
Château de Laroque
Château de Longevergne
Château de Messilhac
Château de Pesteils
Château de Saint-Chamant
Château de Sedaiges
Château de Val
Château de Varillettes
Château de Vixouze
The château de Vixouze, on the inventory of Historic Monuments, is between Aurillac and Vic-sur-Cère.
Château des Ternes
Château du Chassan
Gentiane express
Géothermia
La Cascade de Terrisse
La Cascade des Veyrines
It is there, between Allanche and Marcenat, among pansies and daffodils, that the Veyrines waterfall breaks the fascinating uniformity of this plateau at 1,000 metres' altitude.
La Cascade du Saut de la Truite dans la haute vallée de Brezons
La Cascade et Moulin de Chambeuil
The Chambeuil mill has recently been restored. With its simple mechanism dating from the Middle Ages, it is typical of the great majority of old mills in the Cantal massif.
La cascade du Cheylat
La cascade du Trou de la Conche
Le Lioran
Le Puy Griou
The Puy Griou is an emblematic summit of the Cantal volcano. It is very pointed and reaching its top can be vertiginous.
All sites (12)
- Le Rocher de Ronesque · Cantal
- Le Viaduc de Garabit · Cantal
- Les Cascades de l'Alagnon · Cantal
- Les cascades de la rivière le lagnon (Albepierre-Bredons) · Cantal
- Les gorges de la Jordanne · Cantal
- Marcolès · Cantal
- Musée de la Résistance d'Anterrieux · Cantal
- Puy Mary · Cantal
- Tournemire · Cantal
- la Roche de Landeyrat · Cantal
- Aurillac · Cantal
- Chaudes-Aigues · Cantal