On 10th July 10 2020, the Tour de France will pass in front of Les Camélias. During the Châtel-Guyon to the Puy Mary (Pas de Peyrol) stage. It is the stage with the most meters of climbings during this edition of the Tour de France: 4,400.

The following day the Tour de France leaves from Clermont-Ferrand. Easily accessible by bike or car from Les Camélias.

Take note: we only still have 1 apartment available during this period! This is our Puy de Dôme  apartment. The minimum stay during this period is 4 days.

Interested? Contact us now!

We have no availability left from February 8 up to March 6.

Up until our departure for France, Erwin was treasurer of the Vajra Foundation. We wanted to continue to support this foundation and did therefore decide to donate € 1,= of each Les Camélias invoice to this foundation. In 2019 we got up to 270 invoices, and therefore we did recently donate € 270.

In November 2017 we had the privilege to visit one of the Vajra foundation's projects:  the Vajra Academy. A school at which all the ideals of the Vajra Foundation come together: quality education, solidarity and sustainability. We enjoyed the extensive tour and lunch made with vegetables from their own school garden and cooked on biogas and solar energy!

About the Vajra Foundation: The Vajra Foundation is an organisation which is contributing to the welfare of the poorest in Nepal through several projects. With the help of many volunteers, donors and sponsors the Vajra Foundation is able to build and finance hospitals, schools and water projects.

The Vajra Foundation strives to have the projects run independently after their launch. The Vajra Foundation does not only offer real help, but also likes to contribute in the field of information provision about the problems in developing countries.

We first of all would like to wish you a beautiful & healthy 2020!

We also have a few things to share with you.

Winter availability

If you would like to stay with us this winter, you should not wait too long to make a reservation. We only have very limited availability left.

The Tour de France in our street

Just like in 2008, the Tour de France will pass in front of Les Camélias. During the 13th stage on 10th July 2020, from Châtel-Guyon to the Puy Mary (Pas de Peyrol). It is the stage with the most meters of climbings during this edition of the Tour de France: 4,400.

The following day the Tour de France leaves from Clermont-Ferrand. Easily accessible by bike or car from Les Camélias.

We have no availability left for this period.

For sale

You may already have read it somewhere, but Les Camélias is for sale. You can view the sales advertisement on GreenAcres, among others. After 12 years, we would like to use the experience gained at Les Camélias at another location. We will of course continue to accept reservations and welcome guests for the time being!

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us!

Thanks to you - our guests - we achieved our highest total score on Booking.com ever this year: 9.4!

We are naturally proud of this and happy with it.

But do you know that we pay no less than 16,1% to this company for every reservation via Booking? We would therefore be a lot more happy if you book directly with us ;-)

This is very simple, for example by filling in our Contact & reservation form.

On this page you will find 9 reasons to visit the Sancy Massif in the winter. The page is in French, but we’ve made an English overview:

1. the 3 ski areas: Super-Besse, Le Mont-Dore and Chastreix Sancy of which Super-Besse and Le Mont-Dore are connected to each other
2. a white paradise: from the Puy de Sancy you have a 360 ° view of the snowy Central Massif
3. the food: after a day in the snow regain strength with a truffade - potato slices with melted cheese, served piping hot in a frying pan and accompanied by cured ham and salad.
4. the cross-country skiing possibilities: the largest continuous cross-country skiing area in the Massif Central
5. the snowshoeing possibilities: 100 km of marked walks with many more possible walks, with or without a mountain guide.
6. wellness: relax after all efforts with a wonderful massage or a visit to the sauna
7. other sporting and fun activities: what about air boarding (making a very long sled ride after the ski slopes close ), fat biking, sled dog tours or a ride on the mega-zip line? It is all possible!
8. child friendliness: many villages, accommodations and activities are specially equipped for welcoming children
9. the best season to come across an ermine!

In addition to, for example, skiing, cross-country skiing, sledding, fat biking and snowshoeing, there are 2 new activities this winter that can be done at the foot of the Puy de Sancy: sled dog rides and riding on a machine that prepares the ski slopes!

During the Christmas Holidays we have the following availability left:

• from Friday 20 December up to Sunday 22 December: apartment Puy Ferrand
• from Wednesday 25 December up to Saturday 28 December: apartment Puy de Baladou

Climbing the Puy de Dôme on a bicycle will be possible on Sunday 28 June 2020 during the La Montée du Puy de Dôme event. A maximum of 300 cyclists can participate in this event.

More information can be found on the FFCT website. On this page you will soon also find a link to the Registration form.

If needed we can help you with the registration.

In this article you will find 10 reasons to visit our area. The article is in French but the photos speak for themselves!

Incidentally, the 10 reasons are:

1. Hiking in the natural reserve of Chastreix-Sancy
2. Visit to the Vallée de Chaudefour
3. The tasty spring water
4. The thermal baths
5. The many lakes
6. The waterfalls
7. The castles
8. The medieval town of Besse
9. The many beautiful villages
10. The many parks and gardens

Sunday 12 January 2020 the Trail Hivernal Oxsitis Sancy Mont-Dore ill again take place. Participants can choose between 20 kms with 900 meters of climbing or 30 kms with 1.500 meters of climbing.

Be quick, the maximum number of participants is limited.

Pre-registration as of 21 October 1 pm.

Below a foretaste with images of the 2018 edition of this really well organised event.

Book a stay (of at least 4 days) directly with us in September 2019 for the Spring half-term 2020 (14 February to 24 February) and enjoy a delicious breakfast the first morning!

Interested in this offer? Then contact us via our website. We only have very limited left availability for this period.

The offer is only valid when booking through this website in September 2019 for a minimum stay of 4 days in the period from 14 to 24 February 2020).

From September 26 up until September 29 the Volcanic Blues Festival will take place.

A great event with blues music in the many bars & restaurants in Le Mont-Dore. Below a sneak peek.

Why not combine a weekend of hiking or cycling with great concerts?

We only have limited availability as of Saturday left during this week-end.

We have no availability left during the holiday period. We can welcome again you as of August 31st.

Making a reservation is easy: fill out this from our phone us at: +33 (0)4 73 65 04 67.

For the picnic during the guided road cycling Tour d’Auvergne that we organised last week, we made these muffins. On request the recipe.

Ingredients
50 grams of oatmeal
3 ripe bananas
50 grams of pitted dates
3 eggs
100 grams of almond flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
Salt
2 hands of red (frozen) fruit

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees
2. Grind oatmeal in a blender to flour
3. Add bananas, dates and eggs and mix until smooth
4. Add almond flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt and mix again
5. Add and mix with a spoon the red fruit and distribute into muffin molds

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven.
 

In the right sidebar of this website you can see the latest Instagram photo that Margriet took.

Margriet's Instagram account is puymargriet. She will be out and about with 20 French cyclists next week. They cycle our Tour d'Auvergne. This certainly will lead to beautiful photos.
 

During the summer months you will find each day of the week a market close to Les Camélias. Click on the picture for an overview.

Horizons - Rencontres "Arts Nature" takes place up until September 22 around the Sancy massif. 11 landscape art objects can be visited. A great combination with the already beautiful surroundings.

The accompanying map shows how the artworks can be reached. For some object visitors will have to walk a bit, while other objects are very easy to visit.

3 objects are in the vicinity of Les Camélias; at the origin of the Dordogne river and on the Col de la Croix Saint Robert here in Le Mont-Dore and next to the Fenestre Park in La Bourboule.

Margriet already saw 1 object during the exploration of a walk for Hiking Auvergne.

The video below gives an impression of 5 of the 11 artworks.

E-mountain bikes can now be rented from Sport Mountain (Skiset) in Le Mont-Dore.

Recently a guest rented such an e-mountain bike. After 2 days she found it was a great shame that her holiday was over and that the bike had to be returned to Sport Mountain! It was a great experience to be able to conquer the cols around Les Camélias with pedal assistance.

On presentation of a voucher, our guests receive a 10% discount on the rental of an e-mountain bike at Sport Mountain (Skiset).

Together with Livia van Eijle from Le Relais de Voissières we organize walking holidays. This under the name Hiking Auvergne. These extremely flexible walking holidays are tailor-made. And sometimes a new route has to be explored. Like last Tuesday.

I explored the area between Pessade and Lac d’Aydat on my mountain bike. The Puy de Combegrasse is also located in this area. An old volcano that is easy to climb. And where you have great views. On the Chaîne des Puys, the Sancy Massif, the Livraidos-Forez and the Lac d’Aydat.

Visit our Facebook page for more photos.

Visit the Hiking Auvergne website if you feel like going on a flexible hiking holiday.

Or read all about walking from Les Camélias

Immediately after our own holiday (cycling on Gran Canary and a family weekend in the Netherlands) it was full house at Les Camélias. Including 5 mountain biking French. They reserved a welcome dinner.

We spoiled them with:

• Mustard-ginger soup
• Stuffed red pepper and stuffed eggplant with a mixed salad
• Strawberry trifle

During their stay they cycled 3 beautiful, very varied day trips.

It was by the way a nice home coming; the walls of the entrance and the stairwell were refurbished during our absence.

From Thursday July 25 up to Sunday July 28, the 9th Mont-Dore Retro Rockin' festival will take place. For 4 days Le Mont-Dore will be in the devoted to Fifties rock 'n roll concerts which will be held in the open air and in the many bars and restaurants of Le Mont-Dore. 

During this festival we still have availability (although very limited). 

More information can be found on the website of the festival.

Up until our departure for France, Erwin was treasurer of the Vajra Foundation. We wanted to continue to support this foundation and did therefore decide to donate € 1,= of each Les Camélias invoice to this foundation. In 2018 we got to a record number of no less than 350 invoices, and therefore we did recently donate € 350.

In November 2017 we had the privilege to visit one of the Vajra foundation's projects:  the Vajra Academy. A school at which all the ideals of the Vajra Foundation come together: quality education, solidarity and sustainability. We enjoyed the extensive tour and lunch made with vegetables from their own school garden and cooked on biogas and solar energy!

About the Vajra Foundation: The Vajra Foundation is an organisation which is contributing to the welfare of the poorest in Nepal through several projects. With the help of many volunteers, donors and sponsors the Vajra Foundation is able to build and finance hospitals, schools and water projects.

The Vajra Foundation strives to have the projects run independently after their launch. The Vajra Foundation does not only offer real help, but also likes to contribute in the field of information provision about the problems in developing countries.

Le Mont-Dore and its direct surroundings are not only great for (snow shoe) walking, road cycling, mountain biking and (cross country) skiing but also for trail running.

No less than 9 signposted trail run circuits start in Le Mont-Dore.

Below a video to get in the mood for a bit of trail running. Moreover, the video is also worth watching for non-trail runners!

The oldest funicular (cable train) of France (1898) is located in Le Mont-Dore. From the village this funicular takes users in 10 minutes 250 meter higher. This way the steep walking paths going out of Le Mont-Dore are being avoided and at the top one can choose from a very wide, less steep network of walking paths in the Pic du Capucin area.

With the so-called "Ticket Duo" one can - from June to September - with a discount once use the funicular and once the téléphérique (gondola lift to / from the Puy de Sancy).