Cantal is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour (the episcopal see) and Mauriac; its residents are known as Cantalians (French: Cantaliens or Cantalous). Cantal borders the departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Aveyron, Lot, Lozère and Corrèze, in the Massif Central natural region.

Along with Lozère and Creuse, Cantal is among the most sparsely populated and geographically isolated departments of France and Aurillac is the departmental capital farthest removed from a major motorway. It had a population of 145,969 in 2016, making it the country's 97th most populated department. Of the 96 metropolitan departments, it is the 5th least populated.

The department is named for the Plomb du Cantal, the central peak of the bare and rugged mounts of Cantal mountain chain which traverses the area.

The department counts several remarkable buildings. Among them, the Romanesque religious buildings like the churches of Cheylade (eleventh century), Dieno or Massiac. The area's Catholic cathedral-dependent on the archdiocese of Bourges-is the 15th-century St Pierre de St-Flour, erected in the Gothic style.

• Castle of Val in Lanobre (36,500 visitors/year)
• Castle of Anjony in Tournemire (20,000 visitors/year)
• Castle of Pesteils in Polminhac (11,700 visitors/year)
• Castle de la Vigne in Ally (6,000 visitors/year)
• Castle of Clavières in Ayrens
• Castle of Carbonat in Arpajon-sur-Cère
• Chateau de Conros, near Aurillac

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