Clermont-Ferrand rewards visitors who explore both its compact medieval core and the volcanic landscape that frames it. The dark stone cathedral and the Romanesque Notre-Dame du Port are the architectural anchors of the old town, but the real draw for most visitors is what lies outside: the Puy de Dôme and the chain of extinct volcanoes that stretch north and south are an extraordinary natural landscape with no real equivalent in western Europe. The combination of a genuine working French city with this backdrop is what makes Clermont distinctive.