Vulcania educational theme park in the Puy de Dôme

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I had been to Vulcania many years ago, but it has developed considerably over the years after a very slow start. Its biggest handicap has always been the fact that it is situated in what most people consider to be the middle of nowhere. Nevertheless, its location was pretty much compulsory because 1) it would have been ridiculous to put a volcanic park anywhere other than in the volcanic region of France and 2) the whole point of the park was to attract more people to a rather forlorn region that they would not visit otherwise. It is near the city of Clermont-Ferrand, home of Michelin and not much else. Clermont has never been a tourist destination either; at best it has been a brief stopping point for people travelling between the north and south of France and wanting to take back roads rather than the main autoroutes. The only attraction of note besides Vulcania is the Puy de Dôme which gives its name to the département. It is not a particularly huge extinct volcano, but it does offer a spectacular view of all of the volcanoes surrounding it from its summit at 1465 metres. A tourist railway was already built to spril around to the top in 1906, but it never made a profit, so it was abandoned immediately when a toll road for cars was completed in 1926. That road is now closed except for emergency use because a new rail line has been built and opened for tourists in 2012. The road used to be a major challenge for cyclists, but they are no longer allowed to use it either except when special events or competitions are held there.

I didn't have time to go there this time, so I lined up with the other cars to get into Vulcania, about 10km away.



I was happy to be there at opening time because I had a good spot in car park #1. The car park numbers went up to #15 and they were really really far away.



The entrance is in the crater of an artificial volcano. 90% of the park is underground.



There are very interesting and constantly changing sound effects: crackling, rumbling, groaning, hissing and sometimes rising to a deafening roar.









The first attraction that I visited was the sacred volcano ride.



It takes one around the world to various volcanoes that have been worshipped or prayed about -- America, Japan, India, Italy, Hawaii, Mexico...







       





The little cars sometimes had to cross pools of lava with a sharp rise in temperature. It was all pretty silly but kind of fun.

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Elsewhere, it was almost time for the pyroclastic flow.



You could watch tree trunks being flattened by a blast of smoke in a glassed-in chamber every ten minutes.



There were also prehistoric gardens in mist.

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Most of the "attractions" cannot be photographed, either because they are 3D movies or else are projected in dynamic rooms where you need seatbelts or need to grip railings as you are tossed around. There was a simulation of a modern day volcanic eruption in Auvergne, a trip down "tornado alley" (straying a bit from the volcanic theme!), a virtual flight over the chains of puys, a visit to the geysers of Iceland, a dragon ride down through a volcanic chimney with an attack of bats and snakes that spit in your face (damn those little hidden sprayers on the seatback in front of you!), etc.

Then there was the Abyss Explorer to take you 2km down to the bottom of the ocean to see volcanic activity.



The bathyscaphe "descent" came with a warning to hold on to the railings and for children not to put their mouths anywhere near them, because it got very bumpy.







I think we hit some whales and stuff before crashing into the bottom of the ocean.



Then we exited for an excursion into an area that looked suspiciously like the Carrières de Lumière in Les Baux-de-Provence.



It didn't take long for a volcanic eruption to begin.









Once the lava cooled down, the fish returned and it was all quite lovely.







Yes, I'm still a kid.



The exit was in the fern forest.



There was a relief map of the entire volcanic area of Auvergne.

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One symbolically impressive item on display is the meteorite of Tamentit. It was found in Algeria in 1864 after falling to earth around 1400.





It is one of the only displayed meteorites that people are allowed (and encouraged) to touch. "This is your only chance to touch something 4 billion years old."





It was time for me to emerge from underground.

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After being underground for a couple of hours, it seemed appropriate to go up in the tethered helium balloon.







This one only allows 10 passengers at a time, and unfortunately you cannot move around once you have been positioned.





There's the Puy de Dôme and its weather station.











It was a nice ride. They suspended the next ascension indefinitely because the wind was rising to about 35 km/h which is the limit.







One last look down the hole. There is something mesmerizing about a chasm, even an artificial one.





back to the car park



Then I was on the road to Paris and everything turned grey.

[bixaorellana]

Sooper-dooper interesting report! I am sooooo jealous about the balloon ride. Lucky you got to do it before the wind got too high.

If someone had asked me to name countries with volcano parks, I doubt seriously I'd have said France. Very cool that the place combined amusement park type features with the hard science elements. When you look down into the crater, does the steam (mist?) rise to the level of the visitors? Are there blasts of heat? A really dumb question: would all active volcano areas be surrounded by ferns and other plants that thrive on humidity, i.e., is there constant steam/mist to create those conditions?