This department is spread around the Cantal volcanic massif that gave it its name. If Cantal is a volcano, it is also an uncooked pressed cheese with a PDO since 1956, which can be enjoyed young, between two or old. The Cantal department is a rural territory essentially composed of the beautiful cow mountain of the upper Auvergne around Aurillac, the capital. In addition to its gentle green pastures where robust Saler cows graze, with their beautiful red coat and lyre horns, Cantal has an ancient heritage: many Romanesque churches, castles and medieval cities including Murat, Marcolès and Saint-Flour, a land of art and history. Added to this are villages of character such as Salers or Tournemire, one of the most beautiful villages in France with its Château d'Anjony and four elegant towers. The simple burons, mountain pasture farms of austere architecture, contribute to the beauty of the mountain landscapes, as well as the small heritage, stone crosses, fountains, ovens, etc.
Cantal, which, together with Lioran, hosts the largest ski area in the Massif Central, is also ideal for hiking and cycling. The itineraries - including the one on the Way of Compostela - are punctuated by many gourmet stops. In this generous land, you have enough to please yourself. Some events such as the Apple Festival (Massiac) or the Chestnut Fair (Mourjou) invite you to discover local customs. And to choose your classic or unusual accommodation, caravan, train wagon, buron... trust your tour guide.
When to leave? It is better to avoid winter in Cantal, at least if you are looking for the sun and laughing landscapes, and fear the harsh mountain climate. The best times to leave are spring and summer, which are well suited to the mountain pastures and villages of this destination. In the last fortnight of August, you will attend the Aurillac International Street Theatre Festival, which moves a very large audience. But before that, at the end of May, it is the festival of the Estive, a festive transhumance for the raising of herds on the mountain pastures. The full winter is the low tourist season, difficult to find, even in the most tourist villages and towns, an open restaurant. This does not apply to Aurillac, which remains well alive all year round. Or, of course, for Lioran, the ski resort that comes alive when the snow falls. If you want to enjoy the benefits of thermalism, know that its season extends from the beginning of March to the end of November, the opening dates of the new thermal and play thermal centre of Chaudes-Aigues, the southernmost spa in Auvergne and the only one in Cantal.
Cantal is divided into three climatic zones: the heavily watered western sub-oceanic, the central mountain with the highest rainfall in metropolitan France and heavy snowfall in winter, and the eastern subcontinental, cooler, drier and more southern. Aurillac, which often displays the lowest temperatures on the country's weather map because of its altitude, is nevertheless sunnier than Toulouse and Bordeaux!
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