Grande Cascade du Mt Dore

La Grande Cascade du Mont Dore (the Big Waterfall of the Mt Dore) was a pleasant waterfall excusion that took in not only the waterfall but wonderful birds eye views of the alpine town of Mt Dore as well as the surrounding mountains and massifs including Puy de Sancy.

There were several cascades and waterfalls in the Mt Dore area, but the Grande Cascade was the most impressive one, which was why I cherrypicked it on our limited time at the source of the Dordogne River (note: I only realized we were at the source when I saw a local map showing a stream called Dore and another called Dogne join and form the Dordogne River near town). Although it was said to be 30m, it appeared taller than that probably because we were able to see it from across town near the Mt Dore visitor center (looking in the southeast direction high up above the trees on the cliffs).

Given its relatively light-flowing nature, I believe the falls would diminish rapidly when the snowmelt from the plateau above would have depleted. Thus, I’d imagine that Spring and early Summer would be the seasons to see this waterfall flow. However, even when the waterfall wouldn’t be flowing, the gorgeous views from above the falls would still be worth the effort (see the photos below).

To access the falls, I was able to walk from our accommodation in the town of Mt Dore and ascend le chemin de La Grande Cascade, which was a combination of sharing the road with cars as well as hiker-only trails. The visitor center and some accommodations in town had local maps to make it easier to find the correct path to walk.

The trail ascended over several long switchbacks before reaching the base of the falls fronted by a footbridge (as shown in the photo at the top of this page). It took me about 20 minutes of fast hiking to get from the start of the trail leaving the road to get here. At a more leisurely pace and including the time it took to walk through town and up some roads to finally get to the actual chemin de La Grande Cascade, I’d say it was about 45 minutes to an hour going up. Officially, it’s said to be 90 minutes round trip.

Although the footbridge at the falls can be the turnaround point, I highly recommend continuing on. I continued past the footbridge, up some steps, and then walked along a trail-of-use further up the plateau until I was high enough to look all the way across the valley containing Le Mont Dore below with the Sancy Massif all the way to my left as I faced town. It was one of the more inspiring views to be had in this region and one of the more surprising benefits of waterfalling in an area normally popular for skiing in Winter (by the way, this trail is closed in Winter due to ice).