Saint-Nectaire is a quiet village built around a 12th-century monastery. It is known as one of the places where Saint-Nectaire cheese is produced, as well as the surrounding caves with rich dripstone form.
The town was founded in the 12th century around an abbey founded by the Dukes of Auvergne. Its remnant is a magnificent Romanesque-Gothic church, inside which you can admire numerous works of Romanesque sculptural art, including unusual columns carved in the form of holy capitals.
In the vicinity of Saint-Nectaire, there is the Saint-Nectaire-le-Bas thermal spa with more than 40 hot mineral springs. They are now used in spa facilities and thermal baths. The area is also famous for the production of excellent cheeses.
In the mountains surrounding Saint-Nectaire there are caves with a rich dripstone form. Their great attraction is the Petrified Fountains of Saint-Nectaire of volcanic origin. A cave with a 14-meter fountain is open to the public, and next to it there is a museum presenting the history of the formation of these unusual rock formations.
