A waitress taking a cigarette break outside a busy café in Annecy’s picturesque old town, with the Palais d’Isle in the River Thiou. Annecy is the capital of the French department of Haute-Savoie, a cultural hub and a climatic health resort located on the northern shore of the lake of the same name, Lac d’Annecy, in the French Prealps. The city surprised me with its unfussy, relaxed elegance and youthful vibrancy.
From the small village of Duingt, with its distinctive castle on Lake Annecy, a scenic and varied hike leads over the ridges of Taillefer (left) and the Montagnes d’Entrevernes (right).
The ‘Centre Bonlieu’ cultural centre is located in the heart of Annecy, next to the ‘Paquier’ park on the shores of Lake Annecy and close to the historic old town. It was built in 1981 on the site of the Bonlieu Cistercian monastery and today houses the tourist office, a library, a theatre, a cultural centre and shops. Read more
The rocky summit structure of the freestanding Tournette (2,351 m) towers visibly over Lake Annecy. For experienced hikers with a head for heights, the ascent to the summit is considered one of the most beautiful tours in the region, rewarding you at the top with a panoramic view down to the lake and such evocative mountain regions as Bauges, Aravis, Belledonne, Beaufort, and across to Mont Blanc.
Deep blue water reflects the clear morning sky, densely forested, lush green mountain slopes and blooming hay meadows glow in the early sunlight while life awakens in the small villages – this is how peacefully rural the southern part of Lake Annecy presents itself in June from a viewpoint in the Roc de Chere nature reserve near Talloires, in contrast to the urban ambience of Annecy with its picturesque old town and cultural centres at the northern end of the lake. Read more
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