Vulcania in Puy-de-Dôme was originally dreamed up by volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft as a scientific park explaining how volcanoes are formed, their life-cycle, and the all-important science of predicting when they are likely to erupt.
Construction, costing €123million, began in 1994 and the park was inaugurated in 2002.
It is not purely scientific, however, and visitors could easily spend the entire day at Vulcania without really being aware of volcanoes, except as the general theme. I went during the autumn half-term holidays with a young friend (aged seven) who wants to be a scientist when he grows up. Over nearly two full days, we attempted to sample everything on offer.
As it was out of season, the whole place was pretty empty and the queues were often only 15 minutes, which was fabulous because standing patiently in a queue is hard work for a seven-year-old.
On the other hand, lots of things were not operating. The mining attraction where kids can pan for nuggets of gold was closed, and there were no performances.
The staffing was severely reduced too, so it was hard to find anyone when we needed to ask for directions.
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However, people report that in the high season, the park is incredibly crowded and the queues are all over an hour long. So you pays your money and you takes your choice I guess.
The main building is cleverly hidden half underground with the landscaped park unfolding around it. It means a lot of the attractions are indoors and underground; an advantage when it is raining or too hot outside. (When you first arrive, you see a large descending spiral.
Top tip: you can avoid walking down it by turning sharp right and going into the building in front of you where you can take the lift. Many of the cinematic attractions are down here, in the heart of the “volcano”.)
Many of the rides are basically short films in large screening rooms with seats that move.
There is a 3D one (Dragon Ride 2) which is pretty spectacular, especially when the ‘snakes’ nip at your ankles. I particularly liked Premier Envol, which gives the impression that you are flying around the mountains like an eagle.
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There was also an actor dressed up as a volcano who wandered around hugging tots, and that was quite popular.
Outside in the park, the rollercoaster (Namazu) was the wildest ride, and it was exciting enough for us, especially the bit where it drops through the floor at the beginning - but I suspect teenagers might find it a bit tame.
Fun for younger kids
A big hit was the water play park (La Cité des Enfants) for younger kids.
This is in three sections. The first has a whole series of enormous table-top basins with hose-pipes, buckets, fountains and balls you can balance on top of the spouting water. The second has games with refracted light, and the third involves large wooden toys. Although it was included in the entrance ticket, you still had to book it in advance which was a bit of a pain because then we ended up hanging about to get in, even though there wasn't a queue.
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The enormous planetarium and the labs are in a different building, and we both enjoyed the laboratory sessions. One (Dans la Peau d'un Astronaut) was about space, and another (Drôles d'Epériences) explored basic physics.
The animators were engaging and there was plenty of participation. We both enjoyed adding various liquids to beetroot juice in order to see the colours change and work out their Ph values.
Sticking with the habit of a lifetime, we took a picnic and there were plenty of nice places to eat it.
Perhaps for the whole experience we should have downloaded the app instead of using a paper map though, because we seemed to spend a lot of our time chasing the shortest queue for the big rides.
Looking at the website afterwards, we perhaps missed some of the more interesting activities such as the Volcan de Sable, a model which apparently erupts in front of your eyes, and the guided tours around the educational exhibitions like the Machine Terre.
