Annecy and Its Beautiful Lake

I’m sure many of you have visited this stunning lake and town in the Haute-Savoie region of France that they call the Venice of the Alps.  However, I wanted to share my experience of this awesome place, where the mountains rise up from the lake and surround you in breath-taking scenery.  Of course, that is when it’s not having one of its many weather storms that hide the mountain views; the campsite owner told us to always take a raincoat as it can be very changeable, she was not wrong! These first images are taken from the jetty on the campsite when we arrived, it was just awesome.

The lake itself is fed by mountain springs and attracts tourists from around the world to bask on its manmade beaches and swim in its crystal-clear waters.  However, there is not only the medieval old town of Annecy to explore, there are also other attractions all around the lake and one of the best ways to see them in my opinion is by boat or bicycle.  We fitted in quite a lot in the 5 days we were there but have left something in the locker for a future visit.  We never left the lakeside, so we still have the magnificent Angon Waterfall, Fier Gorges, many chateaux and even the odd mountain hike to discover.

Day 1 - Annecy Old Town

We cycled from our campsite on the super-safe flat cycle path that runs alongside the lake for 4 miles, arriving in the town of Annecy which lies at the north end of the lake.  We parked up and went to explore the bridges, canals and cobbled streets of the old town, amazed by the colourful architecture mixed with the traditional stone buildings.

The first monument you see is the Palais de L’Ile which is apparently the most photographed building in Annecy.  I can see why because it sits on a rocky island with a boat-like bow front and constant flow of water from the Thiou river running either side, with beautiful flowers adorning the houses and restaurants that flank it.  This was built in the 12th century and was home to the Lord of Annecy.

The Chateau d’Annecy sits above the town, this used to be the residence of the Count of Geneva in the 13th and 14th centuries.  It is now the castle museum and Regional Observatory of the Alpine Lakes, but from the 17th century to 1947 it was used as a military barracks.  We had lunch in the shade underneath it, but decided it was too hot to trek up to look inside.

From here we walked over the Pont de Amours, built in 1907 it is said to be the bridge of romance, with a view of the lakes and mountains in one direction, and looking back up the Canal du Vasse in the other.  This took us into the Jardins de l’Europe which I’d describe as a quintessentially English park with lots of trees for shade and benches to sit on, but with a view of the lake that is sublime.  There were lots of street entertainers around this area which made for a lovely atmosphere to sit and enjoy quite probably the best ice-cream I’ve ever eaten!

Moving along around the lake you come to Le Paquier which is a huge open grassed area that the locals and tourists use as a central park to picnic and enjoy the lake.  There are lots of boat hire companies on the shore here, including pedalo and paddleboard hire, or you can just jump in and have a swim in the lake if you prefer.

Make sure you’ve got your good walking shoes on; we covered around 8 miles on foot as well as the 8-mile bike ride to and from the campsite and we didn’t venture into the newer quarters of Annecy.  It is a uniquely stunning town on the edge of the lake, and you can easily wile away a few days exploring, but be aware that it is super busy even out of season so don’t expect to have it to yourself, especially on market day.

Day 2 – Exploring on Our Bikes

We donned our helmets and headed in the opposite direction on the cycle path, riding 3.5 miles to Chateau de Duingt, built in the 13th century, it lies on a peninsula at the heart of the lake.  Now I’d not done my homework properly as I thought it was a public castle that I could have a nosy around in.  Much to my disappointment it turns out it is a residential privately owned property and has a gate that would put any modern-day fortress to shame! 

However, it was a lovely ride alongside the lake to Duingt and we stopped at the side of the chateau for half an hour – they have benches and grassed areas all along the cycle path for cyclists to picnic, and free tool stations to fix your bike which I thought was ingenious and amazing.  On the way back we stopped off at a cute cycle café along the route for well-earned refreshments.  This route goes all the way to Albertville (24 miles) if you’re feeling energetic, there were lots of keen cyclists doing it but I’m not one of them haha!

Day 3 – Boat Trip on the Lake

It was a beautiful sunny day, so we rode into Annecy and took a boat trip on one of the pleasure cruises up the lake.  I can highly recommend Compagnie des Bateaux d’Annecy, the staff were so friendly and helpful, the commentary on the tour was spoken in French and English, and the 1.5-hour cruise was fabulous.

One of the highlights was seeing the Chateau de Menthon-Saint-Bernard from the boat. This was the castle that inspired Disney’s Sleeping Beauty film and it is stunning.  It has been inhabited by the same family since the 11th century and extended/renovated up to the 20th century.  You can go inside this one but only if you drive to it on the opposite side of the lake to us; I was not meant to see inside a castle on this trip!

Day 4 – Final Bike Day

For our last full day, we decided to ride into Annecy to get another of those magnificently creamy ice-creams we’d found previously, then called off at Sevrier to look at its marina on the way back. You can get boat cruises from here in the high season, it is just a mile from our campsite.  We had planned to lunch here but unfortunately the restaurant overlooking the lake was closed so we treated ourselves to a sticky bun from the local bakery instead and chilled out at the campsite.

One thing we had been noticing were the many contraptions that people used to move people and goods around Annecy on. Image my delight when one parked up opposite us on camp, this particular one carried a huge St Bernard dog around, fortunately it had electric assistance!

Where We Stayed

We stayed at Camping Les Rives du Lac on the outskirts of Sevrier.  This is the closest lakeside campsite you can get to Annecy town; we thought it was amazing based on location alone.  The staff are super-friendly, the facilities are modern and clean with mixed showers as many are in France.  The pitches are flat with a hardstanding area to park on and a bit of grass at the side, privacy hedge to 3 sides and most have side view of the lake looking down the site.

The bonus of this site is that you have private direct lake access.  The hubby did a bit of fishing from the private jetty, and you can launch boats, paddleboards, and canoes from the small manmade beach.  They have fresh bread delivered daily and sell ice-creams and beer on tap in a small bar during the afternoon.  There is a weekly boat trip into Annecy on market day from the jetty, the bus stop is a 5-minute walk, and you are directly on the cycle path at the camp gate.  There’s also a good supermarket and bakery 5 minutes’ walk on the cycle path. 

There are loads of campsites dotted around the lake if this doesn’t float your boat.  There is an Aire just outside the town, but it was very small and I’m not sure you’d get in with anything more than a VW campervan.  There were some motorhomes parked in the huge car park at Sevrier during the day, but it did say no overnight camping.  As the area gets very busy even out of season I would recommend booking ahead if you want a good campsite, we saw lots of people turned away on our site and it was only May.

My Recommendations from Where We Ate

Annecy Town:

• Aux Creperies Bretonnes la Bolee – plenty of choice of galettes and crepes, nice place for lunch and reasonably priced in what is a very tourist-priced town.

• Le Palais des Glaces – if you eat nothing else you must have at least one ice-cream from here, by far the best I’ve tasted in my life!

On the cycle path:

• L’abri Cyclette – a fabulous quirky café directly on the cycle path that sells drinks (alcoholic as well as great smoothies), snacks and ice-creams.

Summary

I think you can probably tell from my gushing that we loved Annecy as a whole – the lake, the old town, and the area around where we stayed.  There is plenty to do and if you like leisure cycling then it is one of the most scenic cycle paths I’ve ridden, and it is so safe being off-road on the flat side of the lake.  The scenery is unbelievable and changes rapidly with the weather, if you’re lucky you can get all four seasons in one day!  It remains on our list to visit again, and if you’ve not been then I recommend you put it on your list too.

Enough waffle for this week, if you have been to the area, please drop me a comment on the blog letting me know what you thought of it.  If you enjoy reading my blogs, please like and subscribe to my website so you get notified when the next blog is published.  It’s completely free, I don’t fill your inbox with unwanted spam, and it really means the world to me to know my experience has helped someone else.

Happy Travels