Auvergne is a region of unspoilt beauty, home to one of the largest protected nature reserves in Europe. Its 109 springs have produced magnificent spas including the famous mineral water Volvic. Its 80 green-covered volcanoes lend it an otherworldly feel; it might be 6,700 years since the last of the red-hot lava flowed, yet they are still classified as dormant rather than extinct. The most famous is the Puy de Dôme.
The area has no shortage of manmade wonders, either. Le Puy-en-Velay was one of the four starting points for the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and the city is also a starting point for the Stevenson trail, named after the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879) based on his experiences a year earlier. Some 250 romanesque churches survive: edifices of simple beauty, distinguished by round arches created before the gothic point was introduced.
Le Puy-en-Velay is also home to the annual Roi de l'Oiseau Renaissafortress of Polignacnce festival, which this year takes over the town on 18-22 September and features archery competitions and medieval music. The best shot becomes the king of the birds, named after the old French sport of shooting parrots.
Greatest of all Auvergne's Romanesque wonders is the 12th-century basilica of Notre-Dame du Port in the regional capital of Clermont-Ferrand. It is in pristine condition, having been comprehensively restored in 2008, sparsely decorated with narrative carvings and inlaid stone. Contrast it with the soaring towers of the city's gothic cathedral, built entirely out of black volcanic rock.
Clermont-Ferrand is the cultural, as well as administrative, centre of Auvergne, with more than 20 music, film, dance and theatre festivals a year, including the celebrated short film festival in February and the Europavox music festival on 23-25 May.
Besides Le Puy-en-Velay and Clermont-Ferrand, three other towns have been awarded France's prestigious "villes et pays d'art et d'histoire" label – Montluçon, Moulins and Riom – as have the districts of Saint-Flour and the Haut Allier.
The Allier district, birthplace of the Bourbons, also boasts hundreds of chateaux, of the fortified and the dignified kind. And that's just one part of the Historic Road of the Auvergne Chateaux, laid out in six tours. Often perched on volcanic rock, with commanding views of the area, these magnificent buildings alone would be worth the visit.
For a stay in the area, the Nattitude network of ecologically aware hotels, guest houses and campsites offers comfortable, high-quality accommodation in a variety of stunning Auvergne locations.
To find out more about this destination, visit gotofrancenow.com/auvergne
