Places to visit in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
15 places to visit in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Chauvet Cave, Vieux Lyon, Vanoise National Park and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes volume.
2 UNESCO World Heritage sites · 1 Heritage site · 7 Famous places to visit · 5 Hidden gems
UNESCO World Heritage sites in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (2)
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Chauvet Cave
A cave in a limestone cliff above the old bed of the Ardèche, holding some of the best preserved figurative paintings in the world: lions, horses and rhinoceroses from the Upper Paleolithic. The cave itself is closed to protect it, and a full scale replica nearby shows the art.
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Vieux Lyon
One of Europe's largest Renaissance quarters, 24 hectares of old streets between Fourvière hill and the Saône. Its three parts, Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges, are threaded with traboules, covered passages that cut through the buildings from one street to the next.
Heritage sites in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (1)
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Vanoise National Park
France's first national park, created in 1963 between the Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys in the Alps. Its high country of glaciers and peaks shelters ibex and chamois, and footpaths link mountain refuges across the massif.
Famous places to visit in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (7)
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Aiguille du Midi
A granite needle of 3,842 metres in the Mont Blanc massif, reached by cable car straight from Chamonix. The top station has terraces facing Mont Blanc and a glass box, the Step into the Void, hanging over a sheer drop.
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Annecy
The largest town of Haute-Savoie, on the northern tip of the lake that shares its name, 35 kilometres south of Geneva. Its old town is cut through by the canals of the Thiou, with the Palais de l'Isle, a medieval building shaped like a ship's prow, sitting in the middle of the water.
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Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
A white basilica built between 1872 and 1896 on the hill above Lyon, on the site of the old Roman forum that gave the hill its name. Inside, the walls glitter with mosaics, and the terrace beside it looks out over the whole city.
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Lake Annecy
An Alpine lake in Haute-Savoie, ringed by mountains and clear enough for swimming in summer. The city of Annecy sits at its northern tip, where the lake drains away through the Thiou river and the canals of the old town.
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Mer de Glace
The longest glacier in France, a river of ice 7.5 kilometres long on the northern slopes of the Mont Blanc massif. A rack railway climbs from Chamonix to Montenvers above it, and an ice cave is cut into the glacier each year for visitors to walk through.
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Mont Blanc
The highest mountain in the Alps at about 4,807 metres, its snow dome on the border between France and Italy. It rises above Chamonix, and the climb to the top usually takes two days, with a night in a mountain hut.
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Puy de Dôme
A lava dome among the young volcanoes of the Chaîne des Puys, rising above Clermont-Ferrand. A rack railway climbs to the summit, which holds the ruins of a Roman temple to Mercury and looks over dozens of other volcanic cones.
Hidden gems in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (5)
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Le Brévent
A 2,525 metre summit in the Aiguilles Rouges, facing Mont Blanc across the Chamonix valley. Cable cars run to the top, and its cliffs are a launching point for paragliders and wingsuit flyers dropping towards the valley.
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Musée des Confluences
A science and anthropology museum opened in 2014 at the point where the Rhône and the Saône meet. The building is a cloud of steel and glass that seems to float over the water, with collections ranging from natural history to human societies.
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Parc de la Tête d'Or
Lyon's largest park, about 117 hectares in the 6th arrondissement, with a lake for boating in summer and the city's botanical garden. Joggers and cyclists circle it all year, and a small zoo sits among its lawns.
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Pont d'Arc
A great natural limestone arch spanning the Ardèche river, 5 kilometres from Vallon-Pont-d'Arc at the start of the Ardèche gorges. Canoes pass beneath it in summer, and it has been a protected natural site since 1931.
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Vulcania
A volcano theme park and museum opened in 2002, 15 kilometres north west of Clermont-Ferrand. It sits among the extinct cones of the Auvergne, and its shows and exhibits explain how volcanoes and the Earth work.
Collecting in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
What are the best places to visit in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes?
LOQAH lists 15 places in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The best known include Chauvet Cave, Vieux Lyon, Vanoise National Park, Aiguille du Midi and Annecy. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes?
15, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
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