Come For The Views, Stay For The Cheese And Wine: Spring In France’s Massif Central

With volcanic peaks, wild flowers and hot springs, the Cantal region is the perfect destination for a springtime road trip

Getting away from it all is surely the idea behind every holiday, yet as I drive through undulating countryside towards the village of Salers in France’s Massif Central, I wonder whether I’ve ever felt quite so away from everything.

This is the appeal of the Cantal, the rural heartland of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in which the Massif Central is nestled. If you continue east from the Dordogne and Lot, you’ll discover a land of volcanic peaks, hot springs and welcoming auberges in one of France’s least populated departments. And, as I learn, it makes for a refreshingly different destination for a springtime road trip. The snow lingers on those peaks until early April, but I’m here in early May and the meadows abound in an extraordinary display of wildflowers, such as arnica, narcissi, orchids and myriad other species that thrive in that volcanic soil. The landscape is one of the most richly biodiverse in Europe.