In the heart of the rugged gorgeous Auvergbe region in central France you can now take a journey to the center of the Earth.

Where is this Jules Verne sounding thing possible? At the recently renovated, reinvigorated Vulcania 'educational and interactive science center', located in the Parc Naturel Regional des Volcans d'Auvergne, which as its name implies is a region with a volcanic history.

The 'L'Aventure de la Terre' and three related interactive exhibits opened this March takes you into a volcano and explains it all.

So if traveling in the Auverge, and especially with kids this is a great chance to relate the things they see here with its bombastic volcanic history: www.vulcania.com

Open Mar 21 to Oct 7, 2007

Thanks for posting this, PalenQ. I love to see any thread on the Auvergne. It is indeed gorgeous, although often overlooked. We were there for two week in 2005 and aim to return at some point in the future.

I had read a couple of years ago that the Vulcania centre was bleeding a great deal of money. I hope the renos help them out.

Anselm

PalenQ; just saw this post. Looks interesting. Do you know any good hotels in that area?

Looks like fun.

Perhaps we can entice you into the "seismic simulator," Pal..I bet it shakes your pants off!

Doookie: it's not my pants that i'm afraid would be shaken off!

Tulips - no,i haven't been in the area for several years and then was camping with my son. So i don't know diddily about hotels.

In terms of the history of France, Vulcania is a new park, but it has been open for about 10 years. I went there about five years ago and thought it was fascinating, although it had a bit too much dry science for the younger visitors. They have been making it more family friendly in recent years.

I'm pretty sure it is still losing a fortune, because it is really hidden away from most foreign tourists.

We may give it a try; boost the local economy! If we do get there, I'll let you know how it was. Still looking for hotel first, in the general vicinity or further south.

This link from the Vulcania site proposes and accommodation package:
http://logis-de-france.fr/fr/promo/o...e/vulcania.htm

Tulips, we were in the Massif Central for several days in October and I had a terrible time researching hotels - very little info here and in the guidebooks. We spent two wonderful nights at a chambre d'hote called Ma Cachette in Arlanc (recommended by a fellow Fodorite), but that is a little further south and west than you are probably looking for. We wanted to stay at the Hotel de Paris in Murol but it was already closed for the season. They don't have a website but I found a listing for it online; it sounded very nice. We were quite happy with the Mercure hotel we ended up staying at in St. Nectaire - a lovely old building, nice modern rooms.

Sorry, I should have said Arlanc is south and EAST of the volcanoes!

Thank you hausfrau; I'll have a look at those.

Tulips,
We will be staying overnight (on our way to the south) at Domaine de Ternant, a chambre d'hôtes in Orcines which is in the Parc des Volcans d'Auvergne. It's a Gîtes de France, 4 épis. Friends of us have stayed here before and were very satisfied.
http://domaine.ternant.free.fr/

Thank you Myriam, that looks wonderful. I'll get in touch with them.