The hills of Chamalières

Departure from Royat-Chamalière station (parking available nearby).

(S/E) With your back to the station, turn right onto Place de la Gare to reach Avenue de la Gare. Turn left to go up towards the thermal baths. Note the beautiful hotels lining this street, particularly the last one on your left as you reach Place Landouzy, the Pavillon Majestic. Follow the yellow disc markings until further notice.

Turn left to go around the Pavillon Majestic and continue along Boulevard Bazin. As you round the bend, note the beautiful façade of the Hôtel Majestic with its large veranda. Continue along this boulevard, which becomes Boulevard Barrieu, leaving Rue Jocelyn Bargoin on your left. Further on, note the beautiful Hôtel Victoria with its yellow shutters.

Cross the boulevard and take the small passageway just to the right of this hotel, which leads down to Boulevard Vaquez. Turn left to cross the boulevard and arrive at the foot of the yellow directional signs (Quartier Thermal marker). Walk a few metres to the left, then take the path on the right that runs between the thermal spa and the Buvette Eugénie. Note the two beautiful sequoia trees on your right. Continue straight ahead, walking alongside the casino.

(1) Before going under the viaduct, turn left for a very short detour to the Fontaine des Gouteux, a small pavilion at the foot of the viaduct, fed by the Tiretaine. On the left, the ancient Roman baths, built between the 1st and 4th centuries, were unearthed in the 19th century.

Return to the small car park at the casino and turn left to pass under the viaduct. On the other side, continue straight ahead on Avenue des Thermes, the street below. Ignore Rue Saint-Victor and Rue de la Papeterie on your left. At the next fork, turn left onto Rue Pierre Poisson. Ignore Rue de la Papeterie on your left once again.

(2) About 70 metres further on, turn left onto a staircase that goes up under a building (clearly marked in yellow). You will come out on Avenue de Royat. Cross the road and walk about 20 metres to the right. Turn left onto Place Charles-de-Gaulle (pedestrianised) and go around the building on your right.

Then take the footbridge over Avenue de Fontmaure to reach a small park. Continue straight ahead on Allée du Parc, then cross Place de Geretsried. Then turn slightly left towards a sort of gazebo and go down a few steps to find the yellow directional signs for Place de la Saigne.

(3) Cross the square towards the painted wall in front of you. It overlooks the Bassin de la Saigne, an artificial resurgence of the Tiretaine river. Take Rue du Languedoc on the left of the painted wall. Turn into the first alley on the left (just before Rue de Jemmapes, which branches off to the right at an old carriage entrance). You will come out onto the Tiretaine. Walk along the river on the right, in a tiny park.

Follow the path that soon leaves the Tiretaine. Note the Wallace-style fountain and, on the other bank of the Tiretaine, an old wash house. Then take the path that branches off to the right to reach Rue des Saulées. Turn right and then take the first street on the left, Rue de la Coifferie. At the fork in Place des Sarrazins, turn left onto Rue Amélie Murat, opposite the Romanesque church of Notre-Dame.

Head towards the fountain and walk around the church via Rue de l'Arsenal and Rue Desaix before turning left again behind the church to return to Place de l'Arsenal. Then take Rue Amélie Murat on the right to reach Avenue Joseph Claussat. Turn left, passing Rue des Saulées on your left, cross the Tiretaine, then turn into the first street on the left, Rue Dolly. Continue until you reach Place de la Saigne. Turn right onto Avenue de Villars and continue straight on until you reach the intersection with Avenue de Fontmaure.

(4) Turn right, then, after passing Teilhard de Chardin College, turn left onto Rue des Savarounes to begin the climb towards Les Hauts de Chamalières. Continue straight ahead on Rue du Roc Blanc. At the fork, keep right, still on Rue du Roc Blanc. Notice a pretty house on your left. You will come out onto Avenue Thermale.

(5) Cross the road and walk a few metres to the right to take Chemin du Roc Blanc on the left. Further up, go under the railway line, then turn left and continue along Chemin du Roc Blanc, which immediately turns right. You will come to Rue Edgar Degas. Go up the steps in front of you and follow the path on the left to find the yellow directional signs for the Edgar Degas marker.

Turn right for a short return trip to the orientation table: on Boulevard Paul Cézanne, cross at the first pedestrian crossing, then take the path opposite that leads up to the orientation table. From here, you can see Clermont-Ferrand below. Go back down to the Edgar Degas marker and continue to the right, towards Puy de Chateix, on the path that descends into the park. You will come to a dead end.

(6) Walk a few metres to the right, then take the steps down on your left. Continue left on Allée des Vignettes, which soon turns right and leads to Voie Romaine. Leave the yellow disc markings and turn left, go under the railway line and continue to the junction with Avenue Thermale. Follow it to the right until you find Rue des Rapeaux on your right.

(7) Take this street and pass under the railway line (before entering the tunnel, press the pedestrian button and wait for the light to turn green). On the other side, turn right onto Rue Rothmard, which becomes Rue de Roche Bonnet further on.

At the end of this street, continue along the path to discover the Chapelle des Sœurs-de-Sainte-Marie. This building is a mortuary chapel, where the deceased sisters of the Congregation of Saint Mary of the Assumption are laid to rest. The congregation owns the land and the site below, L'Hermitage.

Continue along this path, which overlooks the Clermont-Ferrand urban area. Further on, ignore a path that branches off to the right and backwards. Shortly afterwards, you will arrive at the yellow directional signs for Puy de Chateix.

(8) Turn left to descend towards Royat. At the intersection, continue right onto Rue du Paradis, where you will have a beautiful view of the old town of Royat and its fortified church. Turn into the first street on the left, Rue du Docteur Alexandre Petit. At the end of this street, go down a few steps and turn right onto Avenue Antoine Phelut to reach Avenue Auguste Rouzaud.

(9) Cross carefully and take a few steps to the left to take the stairs down to the Parc Thermal. At the bottom, turn left to pass between the Tiretaine on your left and the playground. Turn right to go around the playground, then turn left again to continue along the Tiretaine. Note the various information panels on the geology of the Chaîne des Puys.

Further on, cross the stream and continue to the right to leave the park. Continue straight ahead across the car park to reach Boulevard Vaquez at the Quartier Thermal signpost. Follow the boulevard to the right, then, at the bend, turn left onto Avenue de la Gare to return to the station (S/E) via the same route you took on the way there.

Easy hike. Although this route is almost entirely urban, the section of trail on the heights of Chamalières requires hiking boots.

Discover more hikes in this area with a description or the Visorando app here

The Royat Chamalières railway station, still in operation, was built in 1886 by the architect Jules Martin. Its architecture is typical of railway buildings from the early Third Republic: the style is both functional and picturesque. There are numerous decorative features: capitals, rosettes, dentil cornices, stone bands decorated with alternating balls and rectangles with a kind of coat of arms at the corners, and cast iron canopies decorated with lion heads. The entrance hall is intact, with its wooden panelling, ceiling highlighted by a cornice supported by pilasters, terrazzo-style tiling and furniture.

Built on the model of the basilica of the Roman emperor Constantine,the Royat spa, which specialises in arteritis, has welcomed prestigious visitors including Gustave Corot, the Goncourt brothers, Stéphane Mallarmé, Félix Faure and Maurice Barrès. The building is characterised by a façade composed of three bays and a remarkable entrance hall with fully painted vaults and a floor classified as a Historic Monument. Enlarged several times, the spa straddles the two municipalities of Royat and Chamalières.

The Eugénie spring is the most important spring in Royat-Chamalières. In 1954, the spring was captured in a 5-metre diameter basin. In 1970-71, the structure was deepened to 27.4 metres and the well was lined with stainless steel. Originally exploited by artesianism, since 1961 the water has been collected by pumping at a rate of 30 m³/h at a temperature of 33°C at the tap. It supplies the refreshment bar and the thermal establishment.
In 1936, architects Chanet and Liogie designed the current kiosk, which resembles an ancient temple with a circular mosaic counter by Gentil and Bourdet.

The Roman baths. The remains of an ancient swimming pool, located in the spa park near the railway viaduct, evoke the spa's ancient past. Originally, the ancient baths consisted of three large pools aligned on the same axis and four rooms heated by a hypocaust system (heating distributed through the floor and the thickness of the walls).. All these rooms, separated by walls over a metre thick, were richly decorated with marble of all colours, mosaics, arabesques, and bronze or marble statues. The first pool, left open, is located in a rectangular room whose walls were reinforced at the end of the 19th century with a pentagonal structure made of volcanic stone.

Located in the heart of the spa park, the Casino is one of the resort's most iconic buildings. The first casino was built in 1873-1874 by the architect Cournol. A 700-seat theatre designed by the architect Charpentier was added in 1891-1892. In 1919, a fire destroyed the "chalet" but spared the theatre. The new casino was built in 1920-1921 by the architect Tronchet. Its two façades are a subtle blend of modernity and antique motifs: a monumental colonnade with composite capitals, a semicircle pierced by alternating oculi and arched openings.

La Tiretaine, a beautiful stream that can be followed in Chamalières, in the small park shortly after (3) and then in Royat, in the Parc Thermal, is unfortunately too often covered over in the municipalities of Chamalières and Clermont-Ferrand, whereas it is beautifully showcased in Royat. It was for health and practical reasons that two-thirds of the river was buried in the Chamalières area. With the context having changed, the town of Chamalières now wishes to showcase the sections that are in the open air and, in the long term, to unearth others.

The Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame de Chamalières is one of five sanctuaries built in medieval times in the centre of Chamalières. The western massif and the nave, built in arkose, are pre-Romanesque. The design of the chevet, comprising four radiating chapels, was typical of Romanesque churches in Auvergne, before being transformed by the 17th-century ribbed vaulting in Volvic stone.

The Congregation of Sainte-Marie de l'Assomption was founded in 1825 to care for women with mental illnesses. Until then, they had been interned in prison! The Clermont-Ferrand psychiatric hospital was founded in 1836. The deceased sisters were then buried within the grounds of Sainte-Marie Hospital. This practice was banned after the Second World War. The sisters then wanted to build their own vault in Chamalières, within the grounds of their Hermitage rest home, founded in 1925. The Chamalières municipality refused, but Orcines accepted. At the chapel, the boundary between the municipalities of Chamalières and Orcines corresponds to the path we are following. The chapel, on our right, is therefore on Orcine territory, while the hospital is on our left, below.