The banks of Vichy and its guinguettesThe banks of Vichy and its guinguettes
©The banks of Vichy and its guinguettes|Xavier Thomas
An air of dolce vita

The banks of the Allier

You dreamed of leaving your hotel in Vichy in a bathing suit on a hot summer evening to take a refreshing dip in the Allier. After this swim, you would have met up with friends in a bar to sip a margarita or a strawberry gingham before walking down a beautiful alley lined with century-old trees to return home to the heady scent of honeysuckle. This dream of dolce vita: Vichy did it.

The city, the trees of a century-old park and the river Allier

Winning triptych

During the day, joggers and families with strollers will prefer the upper dike and its uninterrupted flat walkways, when brisk walkers, students, young people, families without strollers, and everyone else will choose to spend a good time on the riverbanks.

Activities for everyone

A seaside stroll

Playgrounds, certified nap lawns, snack bars, ginguettes and restaurants dot the walk. Everything is there for the family, the children: here and there banks, tables, loung chairs, wading pool, water games. As the icing on the cake, sweeping, gently sloping stairs lead you to decks that jut out over the river. Painters and lovers will appreciate…

From the square in front of

la Rotonde

Pedestrians can walk down to the waterfront by taking a wide deck to cross the dock and the nautical beach, before arriving at the guinguettes, or leave on the top of the dike and continue their journey with the Napoleonic parks on one side and, on the other, aview of the beaches and river.

And in the evening, for the lingering walkers the spectacle takes on other tones, because it’s beautiful also a shore at night.

An itinerary

Close to the water

The walk for pedestrians continues on the natural banks of the river in an environment of helophytic plants. Rest assured, these are not carnivorous plants but simple irises, meadowsweet and other mints…

 

2019

The loop is closed

Beautiful shores

57 years after the creation of the current lake, twelve years after the completion of the esplanade of Lake Allier and the renovation of the Rotonde which launched the renovation of the right bank; six years after the development of the promenades in the Napoleon and Kennedy parks, the rebirth of the Célestins beach and the metamorphosis of the guinguettes, the loop of the lake is finally closed. Bellerive had not worn its name so well for a long time!

 

 

Vichy-les-Bains becomes

Vichy-les-Flots

Now that Bellerive also has its boards, the invitation is too good to leave the sacrosanct tour of the lake to offer a small escape against the current, on the side of the campsites and straw huts.

Feet (almost) in the water

Guinguettes

When evening comes, the liquid pleasures take on the more circumscribed dimension of a drink with friends, an aperitif shared in the quietude of an announced starry night.

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