The area

Presentation of the area

The Gorges of the Allier

And down the middle flows a river

The source of the River Allier is located in the Cevennes mountains at le Moure de la Gardille at an altitude of 1503 metres. It quickly leaves the “département” of the Lozère to enter the Haute-Loire, at the south of the Auvergne region. Tracing their route between the basalt plateaus of the volcanic Velay and the granite of the Margeride, its turbulent waters have given birth to an extraordinary natural site: THE GORGES OF THE ALLIER.

A salmon’s paradise

Rightly named the King of Fish, the Atlantic salmon still occupies the river Allier, even if every year it is close to total disappearance. To preserve this priceless heritage, the area is also the home of the largest salmon restocking farm in Europe: the National Wild Salmon Conservatory.

Between granite and volcano

The river Allier forms a real natural frontier between the granite of the Margeride and the basalt flows of the volcanic Velay area, offering scenery as spectacular as it is varied.

An area for protected species

The Allier is one of the few remaining untamed rivers and is home for a remarkable variety of fauna and flora (The Massif Central Botanic Conservatory).

A land of art and history in the High Allier

With its large numbers of Romanesque churches, it rare heritage of mural paintings, its mediaeval castles, its villages so full of character and its thousand-year old abbeys, in 1998 the High Allier was awarded the renowned “Ministry of Culture” label.

A moment of relaxation