Le Grand Sancy

Super-Besse and Le Mont-Dore flank the puy de Sancy, the highest point of the Massif Central at 1,885 m — an extinct volcano whose silhouette dominates the whole of Auvergne. Together the two resorts offer 84 km of runs and are in theory linked by the ridges, but beware: this link is only open when there is enough snow, which is far from systematic. Le Mont-Dore is a 19th-century spa town with an old-fashioned charm and its neo-Byzantine thermal establishment; Super-Besse, higher and more modern, is better covered by snow. It is the largest ski area in the Massif Central and, volcanically speaking, by far the most unusual.