The Chaîne des Puys is a UNESCO World Heritage site: eighty volcanic cones, domes and craters in an in-line chain 32 km long, with the Puy de Dôme at 1,465 m in the middle and a rack railway to the top. None has erupted for around 7,000 years, which is recent enough for the shapes to still be sharp. The Sancy massif to the south is the highest point in central France; the Cantal is the eroded remains of what was once Europe's largest volcano. Around them, Vichy and Le Mont-Dore built spa towns on the mineral water the same geology produces.
© OpenFreeMap · OSM · terrain Mapterhorn · boundaries © EuroGeographics (Eurostat GISCO)
Headline places
What you come to Auvergne & the Volcanoes for.
Cities & bases
Where to sleep inside the area.
The region it sits in
Tourism areas and administrative regions are different geographies — both are true, and both are browsable here.
