« Territory of volcanoes in the heart of France, Cantal is a land of resources !
For a stay or for life ! »
To the south of Auvergne, Cantal is a unique territory in Europe. Volcanic massif with grandiose landscapes, the natural, cultural, built and gastronomic heritages are preserved and alive there.
Cantal is a French department that is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the heart of France. The Department is administered by the Departmental Council of Cantal chaired since 2017 by Bruno Faure. It has 246 municipalities and 9 public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation (EPCI) organized into three living areas, the three main towns of which are: Aurillac – prefecture town, Mauriac – sub-prefecture town and Saint-Flour – sub-prefecture town.
Cantal is marked by an agricultural economy. Cattle farming is mainly practiced there for its meat and milk with emblematic breeds of the territory (Salers & Aubrac). The milk is used to make cheeses such as Cantal, Bleu d’Auvergne or Salers. Cantal also relies on its tertiary sector. Tourism and leisure activities play an increasingly important role around the mountains and well-being over the 4 seasons with emblematic sites such as Lioran – the most important mountain and ski resort in central France. –, the Puy Mary – classified as a Grand National Site of France –, Salers, Tournemire, Chaudes-Aigues, Marcolès, the Garabit viaduct or the Saint-Flour cathedral. Finally, the department hosts industrial jewels around the food industry, construction, pharmacology or luxury.
Its inhabitants, numbering nearly 145,000, are called the Cantaliens or, more familiarly, the Cantalous. We share more than 5,700 km² marked by the remains of an ancient volcano whose diameter is nearly 60 km (the largest in Europe). Indeed, the department of Cantal takes its name from Cantal, a mountain range whose highest point is the Plomb du Cantal at 1,855 meters. Cantal has a rich and vast hydrographic network with many valleys and many lakes including Lake Saint-Etienne Cantalès (562 hectares). Thus, various landscapes follow one another: the Monts du Cantal, the Cézallier, the Planèze de Saint-Flour, the Margeride, the Mauriacois or the Châtaigneraie.
Culturally, Cantal is a dynamic territory. Aurillac is home to the Festival Éclats – International Festival of Street Arts – with its production site as well as a center dedicated to dance and urban cultures with the choreographic campus of the Manufacture. Many festivals punctuate the year and mark the attachment of the territory to its heritage: gentian festival in Riom-es-Montagnes, chestnut fair in Mourjou, cornets festival in Murat, mountain pasture festival in Allanche, palhas festival in Massiac… Finally, the department has a varied, ancient and rich heritage thanks to the large number of Romanesque churches, castles, medieval towns (Salers, Tournemire…), spa towns (Chaudes-Aigues, Vic-sur-Cère…), villages of character (Menet, Pleaux, Murat, Raulhac, Saint-Urcize, Laroquebrou, Marcolès & Montsalvy), as well as a rich little heritage: burons, mills, washhouses, stone crosses, fountains, old ovens, bourgeois house, etc.
Service Cantal Europe
cantaleurope@cantal.fr / 04-71-49-33-84