Recommended train trips from Clermont-Ferrand?
Jan 4th, 2003, 06:16 PM
#2
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Lucky you, I've always wanted to go there, maybe I'll make it one day. I think that area is best for car trips, of course, with tons of scenic areas in the countryside with the mountains and volcanos. I don't know if the train trip is scenic to these places, as I haven't done it, but for day trips I'd recommond Lyon and Le Puy-en-Velay. I know both of those have trains from Clermont.<BR><BR>Le Puy en Velay is a site with volcanic peaks rising from a plain, and has a UNESCO heritage site (Notre Dame cathedral), as well as some museums, and it's a center of lace-making. Here's their web site with ideas and some photos:<BR>http://www.mairie-le-puy-en-velay.fr/tourism/angl/summar.html<BR><BR>I think it is supposed to be a scenic route going south from Clermont-Ferrand through the mountains by train towards Nimes and that may be the route of the train to Puy-en-Velay. I think there are people on Fodors who know that area better than I do and they will post, hopefully.
Jan 5th, 2003, 08:13 PM
#5
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Tho its an industrial town dominated by the enormous Michelelin factories, it's an old town and a good base for tourists<BR>to visit the main attractions, the rivers, mountains and inspoiled wilderness.It's really two towns, Clermont andMontferrand. In old Clermont<BR>there are two churches worth a visit, the Basilica of Notre Dame-duport and the Cathedral of Notre Dame de l'ässumption.. Be sure to go take the excursion to the top of the Puy de Dome to see one of Europe's finest panoramas viewing this vast and wild region. This is the Auvergne where they found the lost sauvage child that Truffaut made a film about.You really should rent a car to see this area.So I can't tell you about the trains. The puy de Dome is the highest of the extinct volcanoes.
