'About the area'

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Auvergne is an area located in the central part of France and does not have any coastal areas. It lies in the Massif Central. It is largely an isolated region of mountains, and rugged countryside with rocky outcrops and gorges. Clermont-Ferrand is the capital of this region. This is a wilder area of France with not many large towns. The main attractions are the stunning countryside and quaint French villages. The countryside in the Auvergne is popular for walking and hiking holidays and consists of large amounts of forests with some volcanic landscapes.

The central area is designated the Natural Regional Park of the Volcanoes of the Auvergne (Cantal and Puy-de-Dome departments) and the scenic Parc Naturel Regional Livradois-Forez also falls within the Auvergne area (in the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dome departments). Because of its altitude this area can have heavy snowfalls in winter making it difficult to travel around but in recent years, because of an improvement in transport links it has increased in popularity as an all year round destination because of the watersports like rafting and other mountain activities. The departments in Auvergne are: Puy de Dome, Haute Loire, Cantal, Allier