Puy de Dôme

The highest of the Chaîne des Puys volcanoes, rising 1,465 metres above the Limagne plain west of Clermont-Ferrand, its summit bearing the ruins of a Gallo-Roman temple to Mercury and a nineteenth-century meteorological station. The summit panorama on clear days extends to the Alps, Pyrenees, and across the complete volcanic chain of the Massif Central. A rack tramway operates seasonally to the summit as an alternative to the GR trail ascent.