Tourism and surroundings

Coming to the HADRA festival is also an opportunity to visit the Allier!
If you have time before or after the festival to explore the surrounding area, we invite you to discover the landscapes, gastronomy and historical and cultural heritage of the Allier.

The Bocage Bourbonnais is home to a large number of festive events, with 45,000 festival-goers attending all of them. These include music festivals featuring jazz, classical music and trance, as well as patron saint celebrations with headliners worthy of the biggest variety stages of the moment. In addition to music, the spotlight is on monuments, with sound and light shows, and nature, with events focusing on the environment.

Découvrez le bocage festif

We are unable to welcome any festival-goers on site before the official opening on Thursday 22 August at 8am. If you’ve already made your way to the festival and you’re not far away, here are a few free rest areas in the vicinity of the festival:

1. Bizeneuille RD94, aire de covoiturage
2. Bizeneuille RD94, aire de repos
3. Côtes de Matra RD136, panorama – point culminant, forêt
4. Meillers RD73, aire de repos + 2 aires supplémentaires sur 2kms
5. Buxières-les-Mines RD68, parking du plan d’eau
6. RD953 (entre Bourbon l’Archambault et St Menoux), aire de repos
7. Aire des vérités de Montluçon : Rue Louis Renault Sortie 37, Technopole de la Loue, 03410 Saint-Victor
8. Air de camping car de Moulin : 64-66 Chem. de Halage, 03000 Moulins 
9. Air de Vallon : A71 : Sens Clermont Ferrand – Bourges, 03190 Vallon-en-Sully
10.  Air de Millepertuis : A71 – Sens Clermont Ferrand – Bourges, 03190 Vallon-en-Sully

To find other areas nearby : www.park4night.com

Make the most of the surrounding area while being environmentally friendly!


National Centre for Stage Costume – Moulins-sur-Allier

  • Adress : 26 rue Voltaire, 03000 Moulins-sur-Allier
  • GPS position : 46.566962, 3.333702
  • Phone : 04 70 20 76 20
  • Charge : 7€ / person (reduced rate to 3/4€)

The Centre national du costume de scène is the first and only conservation facility in France and abroad to be devoted entirely to the material heritage of theatres.

Its mission is to conserve, study and promote a heritage collection of 10,000 stage costumes (for theatre, opera and ballet) and painted set paintings.

 


Exhibition of puppets from around the world- Monétay-sur-Allier

  • Adress : 2 rue les Brouillards, 03500 Monétay-sur-Allier
  • GPS position : 46.382623, 3.300286
  • Phone : 04 70 42 09 25
  • Charge : 5 €/person

The only one of its kind in Auvergne! An exhibition of 750 professional puppets from 102 countries around the world. 4000 years of the history of this often little-known art form.

 

Tronçais Forest – Vitray

  • Address : Forêt de Tronçais, 03360 Vitray
  • GPS position : 46.608473, 2.681621

Magnificent trees several hundred years old, ponds and fountains full of secrets, a forest heritage of excellence, varied activities depending on the season…

Covering almost 11,000 hectares in the north-west of the Allier department, the Tronçais forest is one of the most beautiful forests in France. Created by Colbert, one of Louis XIV’s most important ministers, the forest is renowned for its high-quality oak trees. Cut down on several occasions, the forest has since reclaimed its rights and now boasts specimens several hundred years old. Since 2018, it has been awarded the ‘Forêt d’exception’ label for its remarkable forest heritage and its natural heritage, which is rightly showcased.


The Balaine arboretum – Villeneuve-sur-Allier

  • Adress : 61 Route de Paris, 03460 Villeneuve-sur-Allier
  • GPS position : 46.696451,3.2452889
  • Phone : 04 70 43 30 07
  • Charge : 12€/person
This English-style park, listed as a remarkable garden, was created in 1804 by Aglaé Adanson and is the oldest private botanical and floral park in France. The Balaine arboretum combines 19th-century English garden architecture with collections of exotic species. It surrounds a typically Bourbonnais château that has been a listed historic monument since 1993.

A guided or self-guided tour of this 25-hectare park reveals 3,500 varieties planted over the last 200 years. The intermingling of coniferous and deciduous trees in this park is like being transported to the primeval forest of the mountains of southern China.


Museum of children’s illustration – Moulins-sur-Allier

  • Adress : 26 rue Voltaire, 03000 Moulins-sur-Allier
  • GPS position : 46.566962, 3.333702
  • Phone : 04 70 35 72 58

Dedicated to book illustration, the museum’s mission is to build up a collection of original works representative of the history of children’s illustration from the 19th century to the present day.

Through exhibitions, workshops and readings, it promotes illustration to help as many people as possible discover it. A fun, interactive permanent tour invites visitors to discover the history of illustration, the techniques used to create it, the artists and the images that have left their mark on generations of children and parents, and that are now part of our collective memory.

 


Souvigny Museum and Gardens – Souvigny

  • Adress : Place Aristide Briand, 03210 Souvigny
  • GPS position : 46.53492,3.192732
  • Phone : 04 70 43 99 75

The museum is housed in the former barns of the adjoining priory. The collection is devoted to the archaeological, monumental and ethnological heritage of the surrounding bocage. The gardens of the priory, which extend the visit, are a reconstruction of formal gardens combining ornamental plants, ancient vegetables and medicinal plants.


Pagoda and Buddha – Noyant-d’Allier

  • Adress : Noyant-d’Allier 03210
  • GPS position : 46.501947,3.056235

Self-guided or guided tour.
Since 1955, an Asian community has replaced the miners of Noyant and built a pagoda and statues to celebrate the cult of Buddha. The interior of the richly decorated building can be visited as long as you leave your shoes at the entrance.


Val d’Allier nature reserve

  • GPS position : 46.441110, 3.331175

Considered to be one of the last great wild rivers in Western Europe, the Allier has given rise to a range of landscapes characterised by their diversity and high degree of naturalness.

To the south of Moulins, the Val d’Allier National Nature Reserve has been protecting 1,450 hectares along around 28 km of the Allier since 1994. It is one of the largest river reserves in France.


Street Art City – Lurcy-Lévis

  • Adress : Béguin, 03320 Lurcy-Lévis
  • GPS position : 46.719778, 2.920049
  • Phone : 06 37 08 79 13
  • Charge : 12€/entry

The premises of the former ‘PTT’ training centre, abandoned for some twenty years, have begun their transformation. Covering 10 hectares and 13 buildings with a surface area of 7,000 m², Street Art City offers 22,000 m² of frescoes and a unique show.


Sioule Valley and Gorges – Menat

  • Adress : 63440 Menat
  • GPS position : 46.099667, 2.931607

Before joining the calm waters of the Allier, the Sioule winds its way down the foothills of the Massif-Central in a wild environment well worth the diversions. The river, which once marked the dividing line between the Bourbonnais and Auvergne regions, between oc and oil, still marks the boundary between the Allier on its left bank and the Puy-de-Dôme on its right.


Medieval village of Hérisson – Hérisson

  • Adress : 03190 Hérisson
  • GPS position : 46.509826, 2.712231

Hérisson was founded around the 5th century. Between old stones and unspoilt nature, a visit to the village of Hérisson is both a journey back in time and a quest for serenity.


Thermal baths of Bourbon l’Archambault

  • Adress : Place des Thermes, 03160 Bourbon-l’Archambault
  • GPS position : 46.585293, 3.056672
  • Phone : 04 70 67 07 88

Listed as a Historic Monument, the Bourbon-l’Archambault thermal baths welcome you to a setting that combines exceptional décor with modern, functional, state-of-the-art treatment facilities.