The Cantal is a land of extinct volcanoes, glacial valleys, characterful villages and castles. The Puy Mary, the Cantal mountains and the Truyère gorges form a middle-mountain landscape.
This itinerary spreads the best-rated sites in the catalogue over three days.
The map shows the numbered stops in visiting order, with one colour per day. The line follows the roads where available; otherwise it joins the stops as the crow flies. Distances and times are approximate (by car, without traffic).
This day brings together 3 sites close to each other: waterfalls and towns and cities. It passes through Saint-Flour. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
Driving for the day: about 38.8 km, or 51 min behind the wheel in total (excluding visits).
Many waterfalls and torrents can be discovered along the Lagnon river, with chances for refreshing picnics by the water as well as remarkable heritage (Roman bridges, the Pas de Bœuf buron, the Prapsou cross…).
View full page →↓ 11.5 km · about 23 min by car to the next stop
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.
View full page →↓ 27.4 km · about 29 min by car to the next stop
Episcopal town built on an impressive basalt plateau, overlooking the Ander valley from its rocky promontory and its Gothic cathedral.
View full page →This day brings together 5 sites close to each other: natural wonders and waterfalls. It passes through Saint-Jacques-des-Blats. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
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.
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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.
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The waterfall is caused by the presence of a latite flow (biotite trachy-andesite) about ten metres high and partly cut by the stream.
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The Puy Griou is an emblematic summit of the Cantal volcano. It is very pointed and reaching its top can be vertiginous.
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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.
View full page →This day brings together 4 sites close to each other: villages, natural wonders and castles. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
Formerly, the rival houses of Tournemire and Anjony disputed supremacy by iron and blood.
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The Jordanne Gorges discovery path is in the heart of the Cantal, very near Aurillac.
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The château de Vixouze, on the inventory of Historic Monuments, is between Aurillac and Vic-sur-Cère.
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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.
View full page →From May to October, roads and trails are accessible. Summer is the ideal time, but storms can be sudden. Winter is snowy, and several mountain roads are closed.
A car is the simplest way, as distances are long and public transport rare. Mountain roads are slower. Check their condition in winter.
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.
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.
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.
The Alagnon rises at Font-d'Alagnon at about 1,450 metres' altitude. It comes from the meeting of two little streams, Combe-Nègre and Couelle. Fast at the start, it sinks into gorges, then spreads out in the valley towards Murat.
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.
The Puy Mary (1,787 m), in the heart of the classified Cantal Mountains massif, in the Volcans d'Auvergne Regional Nature Park, is the most visited natural site in the département (about 400,000 visitors a year).