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Lake Chauvet
Description
A beautiful hike in the Cézallier heights. The path leads along a stream, across footbridges, through beech woods and pastures to the Barthe waterfall and Lac Chauvet. A picnic area is located at point 3.
Technical Information
Altimetric profile
Starting point
Steps
Additional information
Distinctions
Listed PDIPR
Tips
- A stream.
- The Barthe waterfall.
- View of Super-Besse and the Barthe waterfall.
- A spruce forest.
- Lac de Chauvet (maar - ancient volcano at 1,176 m altitude).
- View of the Sancy massif and Picherande.
Updated by
Conseil départemental du Puy-de-Dôme - 10/07/2026
www.puydedome-tourisme.com/
Report a problem
Environments
Presence of livestock and guard dogs
Open period
From 01/01 to 31/12 daily.
Subject to favorable weather.
Contact
Phone : 04 73 65 20 21
Email : ot.sancy@sancy.com
Website : http://www.sancy.com
Location complements
From Besse-en-Chandesse, 46km southwest of Clermont-Ferrand, reach Picherande via the D978 then the D203. Start: between church and town hall.
Topo guides and map references
Topo guides references :
2015 - Randos au fil de l'eau - Discovering the Puy-de-Dôme - Conseil départemental du Puy-de-Dôme.
2019 - Volcano hikes - Discovering the Puy-de-Dôme - Conseil départemental du Puy-de-Dôme.
Reception complements
For your own safety, always take a bottle of water, a hat, warm clothing and footwear suitable for walking.
Depending on weather conditions, certain itineraries are not recommended in bad weather (fog) or are not practicable, or even forbidden, during the winter season.
Some sites are fragile, so stay on the marked trails. Avoid picking wild flowers and disturbing wildlife. Pick up your garbage.
Animals are not allowed on some routes.
Guidebook with maps/step-by-step
1/ Opposite the start sign, cross the road and head up towards the Mairie. At the first intersection and the second, turn right through Les Hauts de Picherande, then right again. Continue straight ahead past the tennis court, ignoring the Lac de Gayme road. At the road, turn right for 250 m and take a steep right-hand path to the road (view of Pic de Ravel).
2/ Go left. At the entrance to the hamlet of Ravel, turn left and follow the Route du lait. At the fork, keep right. Ignore the paths on the left until you reach a footbridge.
3/ Take the footbridge, cross the fence and follow the grassy path across the meadow, parallel to the stream. Go left up a steep path through the beech forest. At the pasture, follow the path to reach a footbridge over the waterfall. Cross it, pass the fence and go right (view of the Barthe waterfall), skirting the spruce forest. At the road, go right to the junction with the D203.
4/ Turn right for 900 m and, at the picnic area on the left, climb the path that runs alongside the road. At the intersection with the Lac Chauvet road, turn left as far as the lakeside house.
5/ Turn right (view of the lake). Keep right, then turn left at the T-junction. At the crossroads, turn right, then left again. At the road, go left and, at the fork, go right (view of the Sancy range). Continue until you reach the entrance to Grouffaud.
6/ Keep to the right. Turn right at the thatched house. Keep right as far as the junction with the D614. Climb the track opposite (view of Picherande), ignoring the first track on the left but taking the second on the left. Cross the Neuffonds stream on a boulder footbridge. After the farm, turn right. At the intersection, go straight ahead under the D614, up towards the main road, take the first left and continue uphill to reach the start.
Proposed and managed by the Conseil départemental du Puy-de-Dôme - PDIPR.
Animals
Yes. Dogs must be kept on a leash due to the presence of herds.
Data author
