What is included?
Bus transportation
Snack in the bus
1 night hotel****
Breakfasts (one in the hotel)
Visit of Puy de Sancy
Visit of Village Saint Nectaire
Visit of Le lac Pavin
Visit of Clermont-Ferrand
What is not...
Drinks and personal expenses
Other meals not mentioned
Extra excursions not mentioned
Tips for the bus driver (2€/day/person)
Puy de Sancy
Puy de Sancy Auvergnat is the highest mountain in the Massif Central. It is part of an ancient stratovolcano which has been inactive for about 220,000 years. The northern and southern slopes are used for skiing, and a number of cablecars and skilifts ascend the mountain. Skiing has been practised on the mountain since the early 20th century. Two local priests traversed the Puy de Sancy on skis in 1905. In 1936, a cable car link was built from Mont-Dore to one of the needles just below the summit. The valley to the north is also the source of two streams called Dore and Dogne, which unite to form the Dordogne River, which flows through the nearby spa town of Mont-Dore and on to the Gironde estuary.
Saint-Nectaire
Two localities are united under this name: the spa resort of Saint-Nectaire le Bas, which stretches for 2 km in a green valley, and the old village of Saint-Nectaire le Haut, dominated by its magnificent church. Mount Cornadore, which bears Saint-Nectaire and whose name means "reservoir of water", was inhabited since Celtic times. The Romans established thermal baths there. In the Middle Ages, a Benedictine priory was established, depending on the Abbey of Chaise-Dieu; a castle, of which no trace remains, also rises on the mound.
It is inhabited by the glorious family of Saint-Nectaire, whose main illustration was a woman, Madeleine de Saint-Nectaire, an early widow, young, beautiful and virtuous, always followed by sixty men on horseback; she sided with the Protestants in the Wars of Religion, defeated the king's lieutenant in Haute-Auvergne, and ended up killing him with her own hand. The name "Saint-Nectaire" also applies to a well-known cheese, dairy or farmer, made for centuries in a specific area of the departments of Cantal and Puy-de-Dôme.
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It sits on the plain of Limagne in the Massif Central and is surrounded by a major industrial area. The city known for the chain of volcanoes, the Chaîne des Puys surrounding it, including the dormant volcano Puy de Dôme, one of the highest, topped by communications towers, and visible from the city. It is also home to the corporate headquarters of Michelin, the global tyre company founded there more than 100 years ago.
Our itinerary
Day 1 - 09.11.2020 - Departure from Paris
The bus will be at the Place du Trocadéro from 11:30 p.m, we will leave half an hour later. We will travel at night, in order to arrive at our destination very early in the morning. The little extra of this morning schedule; see the sunrise over the mountains when we have breakfast.
Day 2 - 12.09.2020 - Puy de Sancy & Saint Nectaire
At 6.30 am we will arrive in Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise, we will take a tour of Lac Pavin, a magnificent expanse of water that has formed in the middle of volcanoes. We will leave Besse at 9:30 am to go towards Puy de Sancy. Once you arrive at the volcano chain, we will tell you which cable car to take to reach the heights of the volcano. We will meet again at 3:00 p.m. to go to Saint Nectaire. This village is classified as one of the most beautiful in France, with its magnificent chapel perched on its hill. At 5:00 p.m. we will leave for Clermont Ferrand.
Day 3 - 13.09.2020 - Clermont Ferrand
We will leave at the beginning of the afternoon around 1:00 p.m. This is to give you enough time to visit the Notre Dame de l'Assomption cathedral which is only a 7-minutes walk from the hotel, and stroll on the majestic Place Jaude, the ideal place to do some shopping before going returning to capital.