France volcano
Puy de Sancy
You can see 223 km from here, looking east.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 223 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 223 kmFarthest ridgelooking east
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 151Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 1,858 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 151 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from July to September.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west-2 min before the sea-level sunset25%
- Febwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Marwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Aprwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Maynorth-west-2 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Junnorth-west-2 min before the sea-level sunset38%
- Julnorth-west-2 min before the sea-level sunset45%
- Augwestsets on an open horizon45%
- Sepwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset43%
- Octwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset34%
- Novsouth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Decsouth-west-2 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Puy de Sancy.
Highest mountain of the Massif Central in France
Puy de Sancy is a volcano in France, 1,858 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 223 km away, looking east.
151 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Plomb du Cantal (1,855 m), 52 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from July to September.
Get there and stay
- Aire de Camping-Car de CHASTREIXcampsite · 3.0 km · 45 within 10 km
- Auberge des Mancellesplace to stay · 3.2 km · 164 within 10 km
- Mont-Dorenearest town · 5.4 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in Mont-DoreBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne airport (CFE)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 40 km in a straight lineCar hire at CFE airport (Clermont-Ferrand)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 24other viewpoints within 5 kmPuy Ferrand, Puy de Cliergue, Puy de Sancy and 21 more
- 11named peaks within 5 kmPuy de la Perdrix, Mont Redon, Puy de Chabane and 8 more
- 100cable car and funicular stations within 5 kmFalaise, Perdrix, Bleue and 97 more
- 9marked trails within 3 kmTour des volcans et lacs d'Auvergne, La Vallée de Chaudefour, Le Puy de Sancy and 6 more
- 12shelters and huts within 5 kmBesse, Refuge de Merdençon and 10 more
- 16car parks within 3 km
- 4visitor centres within 5 kmOffice de Tourisme, Office du Tourisme, École du Ski Français and 1 more
- 6restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 45campsites within 10 kmAire de Camping-Car de CHASTREIX, Aire de bivouac de Chambon-sur-Lac, Aire de bivouac autorisé / réserve d'eau non potable sauf hiver / feux interdits and 42 more
- 164places to stay within 10 kmAuberge des Mancelles, Hôtel Sabrina, Bercail de Mira T3 and 161 more
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Puy de Sancy, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas83 mountains within 25 km
Lakeyas7 lakes within 15 km
Cascadyas1 waterfalls within 15 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Puy de Sancy
France
- 78Viewyas Score
- 223 kmFarthest ridge
- 151Peaks in view
- 1,858 mAltitude
Puy de Dôme
France · 29 km
- 78Viewyas Score
- 186 kmFarthest ridge
- 136Peaks in view
- 1,456 mAltitude
Puy Griou
France · 51 km
- 78Viewyas Score
- 186 kmFarthest ridge
- 39Peaks in view
- 1,651 mAltitude
Phare de la méditerranée
France · 239 km
- 90Viewyas Score
- 206 kmFarthest ridge
- 121Peaks in view
- 4 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q778597) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Lakeyas, Darkskyas, Cascadyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit 
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit