VISIT THE CEZALLIER PLATEAU, AUVERGNE

It is impossible not to visit the cellars carved into the tuff, like giant mouths emerging from the earth, originally built to store wine, before being used for maturing cheeses. Few refiners use them for the refining of Saint-Nectaire, despite their particular atmosphere particularly conducive to the development of the best Saint-Nectaire which will stay there for up to 12 weeks.
Between AOP Saint-Nectaire, Cantal, Salers, Bleu d’Auvergne and Fourme d’Ambert, here cheese is king and you will have understood it, the mountain pastures are more frequented by Salers or Aubrac cows than by men. It is moreover in these landscapes shrouded in mysteries, isolated, and thereby favorable to monastic life, that the monastery of Marcenat will appear to you, like a mirage, erecting its golden domes in the sky of Cézallier.
If you wonder if it’s true that at the Cézallier plateau, you can walk there for days without meeting anyone, the answer is yes ! You can be the only ones to brag about these fabulous places that it keeps secretly, these treasures like the dozens of waterfalls that dot the 300 km of this magical plateau.
To take you to the heart of these landscapes, the slow rhythm of the Vélorail created along a railway line – which at the time it was in operation, was known to be one of the most beautiful in Europe – is a fun and sporting course, a way of discovering the immensity that surrounds you. This sort of pedal boat with two saddles and two independent pedals, which can take 3 passengers in the back, will take you through the magical landscapes of the Cézallier plateau.

However, some of the most mysterious sites in Auvergne are best observed from the sky and we advise you to take the height to contemplate these traces of pastoral structures of which we know almost nothing, this juxtaposition of small cells linked to the shepherds’ shelters which would correspond to very old residential remains.
You could end your flight above another jewel of Cézallier: the two lakes of Godivelle. The lake below, of glacial origin, and the one at the top, a volcanic lake, a crater filled by the flow of water, with around twenty traces of medieval houses.

On the edge of Lake d’En-Bas, the Sagnes de La Godivelle Nature Reserve is home to an exceptional natural heritage, a paradise for all nature and photography lovers. The reserve can only be visited accompanied by a guide who will make you discover this unique place, which is home to typical flora and fauna, including several glacial remains, such as the Siberian ligular or the Lapp willow which recall by their name the time. where the Cézallier was covered with an immense glacier. You will meet protected butterflies, hosts of the gentian pneumonanthus and further down, on the shores of the lake, exceptional fauna such as the otter, a passing host, or the bug monkey, a small dragonfly extremely rare in Europe.

You can also decide to cross the Cézalier plateaus by following a legendary route long 128 km, called the Tour des Vaches Rouges or Tour du Cézalier over 5 or 8 days. We will help you choose the formula and the itinerary that best suit you to enjoy a holiday in Auvergne as close as possible to the sky.