Plan your visit
Puy de la Vache is one of France’s great natural sites — bring good shoes and a camera. Locate it on the map, book a room nearby in a click, or add it to your travel list to build your itinerary.
About Puy de la Vache
With its twin the Puy de Lassolas, the Puy de la Vache is one of the great red volcanoes of the Chaîne des Puys, a breached cinder cone whose rust-and-ochre slopes of exposed scoria make it one of the most colourful and photogenic summits in the range. The pair erupted together some 8,000 years ago, and their lava flow, the Cheires, still snakes through the forest below, having dammed the valley to form the lovely Lac d'Aydat. A much-loved circular walk climbs between the two open craters, revealing their vivid interiors and sweeping views over the UNESCO-listed volcanic chain. Striking, accessible and geologically vivid, the Puy de la Vache is a perfect introduction to the fiery landscape of the Auvergne volcanoes.