Luxury hotel holidays to Central France and Auvergne

The Auvergne lies at the heart of the Massif Central, and it remains notably uncrowded and unspoilt, a landscape of extinct volcanoes, high green pastures, lakes, gorges and stone villages, with a strong sense of rural tradition and very few British visitors. Its character changes from north to south: around Clermont-Ferrand, the regional capital, the chain of volcanic domes known as the Chaîne des Puys rises above the plain of the Limagne; further south, the Monts Dore and the mountains of the Cantal are higher and wilder, with medieval villages such as Salers; to the south-east lies Le Puy-en-Velay, with its cathedral and chapels set on volcanic pinnacles; and on the southern edge, the high, open Aubrac plateau stretches into the neighbouring Aveyron. Our hotels reflect this variety. The Château de Codignat, a château-hotel dating in part from the twelfth century, set in wooded parkland around 20 kilometres east of Clermont-Ferrand, makes an elegant and peaceful base for the volcanoes, the Romanesque churches and the spa town of Vichy. Bras Le Suquet, high on the Aubrac plateau above Laguiole, is a small hotel built of glass and stone around the celebrated restaurant founded by Michel Bras and now run by his son Sébastien, and it is a destination in its own right for clients who care about food and landscape. Because distances in the Massif Central are significant and the roads are often winding, we usually recommend at least three nights in each base, and a combination of the two hotels gives a good introduction to the region.

The volcanic landscape is the defining feature of the Auvergne, and it is far gentler and greener than the word suggests. The Chaîne des Puys, a line of some eighty volcanic domes and craters just west of Clermont-Ferrand, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2018, together with the Limagne fault, as a World Heritage Site, and it forms part of the Parc naturel régional des Volcans d’Auvergne, one of the largest regional natural parks in France. The Puy de Dôme, at 1,465 metres the highest of the chain, can be reached without effort on the Panoramique des Dômes, a rack railway that climbs to the summit in around fifteen minutes, with views across dozens of craters and, on clear days, as far as Mont Blanc. Further south, the Puy de Sancy, the highest summit in the Massif Central at 1,886 metres, has a cable car, and the Puy Mary in the Cantal, a protected Grand Site de France, can be approached by a scenic road over the Pas de Peyrol, the highest road pass in the Massif Central. Crater lakes such as the Lac Pavin and the Lac Chambon offer level walks along their shores, and the Vulcania park near Clermont-Ferrand explains the geology in an accessible way. For clients who do enjoy walking, the region offers an extensive network of trails across open pasture, with wide views and very few people, and the Aubrac plateau, with its granite boulders, beech woods and wild flowers, has a quite different, almost Scottish character. We can arrange local guides who know the geology, botany and history of the volcanoes well.

The Auvergne has a remarkable concentration of Romanesque architecture, built in local volcanic stone. Notre-Dame-du-Port in Clermont-Ferrand, together with the churches of Orcival, Saint-Nectaire, Issoire and Saint-Saturnin, form a group known as the major Romanesque churches of the Auvergne, and Clermont-Ferrand’s Gothic cathedral is unusual for its dark lava stone. Le Puy-en-Velay has an extraordinary setting, with its cathedral, the starting point of one of the principal pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela and part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and the tiny chapel of Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe perched on a volcanic needle above the town. Salers is a well-preserved village of dark stone, Vichy, a Belle Époque spa town, has been part of the UNESCO listing of the Great Spa Towns of Europe since 2021, and the abbey church of Conques, with its medieval treasury, lies within reach to the south. Clermont-Ferrand is also the home of the Michelin company, founded here in 1889, whose museum tells its story. The food is the food of high pastures: the region produces five protected cheeses, Cantal, Salers, Saint-Nectaire, Bleu d’Auvergne and Fourme d’Ambert, along with Laguiole cheese from the Aubrac, Puy green lentils, Salers beef, and aligot, a dish of potato and cheese, together with the mineral waters of Volvic and Vichy and the light wines of the Côtes d’Auvergne and Saint-Pourçain. At the summit of the region’s gastronomy, Bras Le Suquet has been known for decades for a cuisine rooted in the plants and produce of the Aubrac, and a stay there is, for many clients, the centrepiece of a holiday in the region.

The Auvergne is best enjoyed with a car, and most clients either fly and collect a hire car, travel by train and pick one up at the station, or drive from the UK. Lyon is the most convenient major airport, with direct flights from London and several regional UK airports, and is around two hours’ drive from Clermont-Ferrand; Clermont-Ferrand’s own airport has limited services from the UK, and for the Aubrac and Bras Le Suquet, Rodez is the closest airport, with some seasonal flights. By rail, Eurostar connects in Paris with direct trains to Clermont-Ferrand, which take around three and a half hours, so the journey from London can be made in a day, with a hire car arranged at the station. For clients who prefer to drive, Clermont-Ferrand is around seven hours from Calais, and we recommend breaking the journey with at least one overnight stop, for example in Champagne, Burgundy or Paris; the A75 motorway then continues south across the Massif Central, crossing the Millau Viaduct towards the Mediterranean. The Auvergne’s central position makes it a natural part of a longer tour. It combines naturally with the Dordogne and the Lot to the west, the Tarn and Albi to the south-west, Languedoc and Carcassonne to the south, and Lyon, the Beaujolais and Burgundy to the east and north, and our Auvergne to Languedoc fly-drive tour and gastronomic tour of the Tarn and Auvergne follow these routes. We will advise on the combination and pace that suit the length of your holiday and allow for the winding mountain roads.

The Auvergne has a mountain climate, and the season matters more here than in many French regions. Winters are cold, with snow on the higher ground and some small ski resorts in the Monts Dore and the Cantal, and many country hotels and restaurants close for part of the winter, including some of the most celebrated. Late May and June are a particularly good time: the pastures are covered in wild flowers, the narcissus and gentians are in bloom on the Aubrac, and the region celebrates the transhumance, when herds of Aubrac cattle, decorated with flowers and bells, are driven up to their summer pastures, traditionally around the end of May. July and August are warm, with long days, though the weather in the mountains can change quickly and evenings are cool at altitude; this is the best time for the high roads, the cable cars and the lakes, and the region remains uncrowded compared with the coast. September and October are, for many of our clients, the most rewarding months: the light is clear, the beech woods and pastures turn gold, the mushroom season begins and the herds return from the high pastures in October. In Le Puy-en-Velay, the Renaissance festival of the Roi de l’Oiseau in September fills the town with costumes and music. Bras Le Suquet in particular is open seasonally, generally from spring to autumn, so dates should be planned around its opening. We will always advise on timing in relation to your interests and the opening periods of the hotels you are considering.