France with its regions and beauties. To be honest, I have never imagined that I am gonna spend that kind of summer holidays (a part of the holidays actually). There are too many things to see and discover in France. So, during our last-minute summer road trip, we have decided to visit Clermont-Ferrand, or more precisely 10 km from the city, in a calm and picturesque village called Mozac. It is really close to every site we’ve visited and seen, in less than 24 hours. Here Is the list of everything we could do.

Visit Clermont Ferrand

This is the biggest city in the region and its historical capital. Clermont-Ferrand reminds me a bit the city of Poitiers, with its narrow streets and its hills. The cathedral is very beautiful and named Notre-Dame de l’Assomption. It has a particular black color because it was built with the Volvic stones. And yes, Volvic is not only a brand of bottled water but an entire commune in France, with a lot of wealth.

The Tournoël castle

France is known for its castles, some of them bigger than the others, but almost every region should be proud of having at least one. If you stay for 24h in this region, I would recommend spending an hour discovering this medieval beauty. The castle is situated 10 minutes with the car, before the city of Volvic and its thermal sources. So, a 1 hour stop could be really interesting and an opportunity to learn more about the history. Moreover, the Tournoel castle is on the road to Volvic and Lemptegy volcano.

Visit Volvic

As you can already imagine it, the city is very well known for its thermal Springs which are one of the wealth of the city, followed by the Volvic stone. It is possible to visit the Volvic site, from April till October. Unfortunately, we didn’t do it because, on Saturday, visits are possible only in the afternoon. So it is really important to well organize your holidays and activities before. If you are staying the whole day of Saturday, there are plenty of activities you can do in the morning.

Lemptegy volcano

Only 20 minutes by car from Volvic, it was our 4th stop during our stay in the Auvergne region. You should have at least 4h for the full visit of the park. You can book tickets or buy them once you are there. We would prefer visiting the place by foot (this is our new hobby, hiking, walking) but we should have waited for 1 hour, so we chose the visit with train, with a guide. He is explaining the history of the volcano and all of its secrets. This is one of the must see in the Auvergne region or should I say Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.