For a good day's walk and a thorough exploration of the puys, take the train from Clermont to Volvic-Gare. Follow the D90 road beside the train line for about 1km until you join up with the GR441 path, where the road turns right under the track. Keep along your side of the train track for a few minutes longer and follow the GR441 round to the left, almost doubling back southwest along the line of the wooded Puys Nugères, Jumes and Coquille to the northern foot of the Puy de Chopine (2–3hr). Here you join up with the GR4 and follow the combined GR4–441 across the Orcines–Pontgibaud road to the summit of the Puy de Dôme (about 2hr 30min from the road). From the Puy, descend to the Col de Ceyssat in half an hour (good chance of a lift back to Clermont), or continue to LASCHAMP (50min), where there is a gîte d'étape (7–8hr, though a fit and experienced walker could do it in 6hr).You should not set off without either the relevant section of the GR4 Topoguide or, preferably, the IGN 1:25,000 map, the Chaîne des Puys, which also marks the GR441 from Volvic-Gare. If you don't feel up to a walk, there's a really beautiful train ride from Clermont to the town of Le Mont-Dore, all round the chain of the puys.
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