Haute-Savoie: what to see and do

Chamonix Mont-Blanc

The ski area of the Chamonix valley is divided into four areas: Les Grands Montets, Brévent/Flégère, Domaine de Balme and Les Houches.

Annecy

Nicknamed the "Venice of the Alps" for its canals lined with colourful houses, this Savoyard prefecture overlooks the clear waters of its lake.

Cascade du Rouget

The Cascade du Rouget is in the Cirque du Fer à Cheval, in the commune of Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, in Haute-Savoie.

Lac Blanc (Aiguilles Rouges)

Perched at 2,352 metres in the Aiguilles Rouges massif, Lac Blanc offers one of the most emblematic panoramas of the Alps, facing the Mont Blanc massif.

Cascade du Dard

The Dard waterfall gushes above Chamonix, fed by meltwater from the glaciers of the Aiguilles Rouges.

Château d'Annecy

It was built in successive stages from the twelfth to the end of the sixteenth century, then left to decay in the seventeenth and served as barracks until 1947.

La cascade de Bérard

A pretty path through the undergrowth leads you to the Bérard waterfall, a short half-hour from the main road.

Le Lac vert (Passy)

Lac Vert, in the commune of Passy in Haute-Savoie, is a natural lake of exceptional colour.

Les Gorges du Fier

The Lovagny region, with its famous Gorges du Fier, offers tourists attractions that contrast strangely with the luminous splendours of the shores of Lake Annecy.

Sixt Fer à Cheval

The village surrounds an old abbey whose buildings visible today date from the seventeenth century, but which was founded in 1144 by the Augustinian monks of Abondance, one of the most important religious communities of the northern Alps in the Middle Ages.

Avoriaz 1800

Set on a "full south" plateau overlooking the Morzine valley, Avoriaz 1800 is at the heart of the largest ski area in Europe: Les Portes du Soleil.

Cascade et Canyon d'Angon

Centre de la Nature Montagnarde

Chartreuse du Reposoir

The former Charterhouse, now a Carmel, is classified as a Historic Monument. In the shadow of the Pointe Percée (2,752 m), it was founded in 1151 by Carthusian monks of the order of Saint Bruno.

Chatel

Château de Beauregard

The château de Beauregard has been the home since the thirteenth century of the lords, who became Counts de La Fléchère. You can admire this jewel, illuminated at night.

Château de Bonneville

Built on a rocky hill by Peter II of Savoy in the thirteenth century, it is one of the rare Savoyard castles not in ruins.

Château de Faverges

Its origins go back to the thirteenth century. It is built sheltered by the massifs of the Dent de Cons and the Sambuy, overlooking the little town of Faverges at 500 m altitude. A true castle entirely renovated.

Château de Larringes

The castle was built in the tenth century on Roman ruins. Its Roman-origin name, Ladrinum, bears witness to a rich historical past linked to its fortress built in the tenth century on Roman ruins.

Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard

The present castle is the result of a long history that runs from the twelfth century to the First World War.

Château de Montrottier

This fortress was built between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is a pentagonal fortress whose plan is ordered around a cylindrical machicolated keep.

Château de Ripaille

Ripaille, between Thonon and Évian on the edge of Lake Geneva, is one of the most remarkable places of history, nature and beauty in Haute-Savoie.

Château de Thorens

Inhabited by the de Sales family since 1602, the castle is built on the old fort of 1060.

Château-Vieux d'Allinges

The château stands on a hill overlooking Thonon, two leagues (10 km) away, and offers a very wide view over the whole Lake Geneva plain and the coast of the canton of Vaud.

Combloux

Ferme du Petit Mont

At the Ferme du Petit Mont, in Bellevaux, children will be introduced to the secrets of cheesemaking, can even try their hand at milking, and you will taste the farm's products: cheeses, sausages, jams.

Flaine

Grotte et Cascade de Seythenex

The tumultuous waters of the Saint-Ruph rise at the Col d'Orgeval in the Bauges massif.

L'Aiguille du Midi

At 3,842 m, in the heart of the massif, you rub shoulders with Mont Blanc. An exceptional viewing area, partly carved into the rock, the product of an insane technological feat.

La Clusaz

La Forêt des Epouvantails

Lac d'Annecy

Lake Annecy, sometimes nicknamed the "blue lake", is a lake in France located in the Alps, in Haute-Savoie.

Lapiaz du désert de Platé

The Désert de Platé is a unique place where you find the largest area of limestone pavement (lapiaz) in the Alps.

Le Chemin de Fer du Montenvers

No need to introduce the little Montenvers rack railway that takes us to the edge of the equally famous Mer de Glace glacier.

Le Glacier des Bossons

Le Grand Bornand

Le Hameau du Père Noël

Le téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi

The Aiguille du Midi cable car takes us to the summit of the same name at over 3,800 m altitude. In a few minutes we are projected into the particular world of high mountains amid glaciers and steep walls.

Les Aigles du Léman

Les Carroz d'Arraches

Les Contamines Montjoie

Les Gets

Les Gorges de Tines

Les Houches

Les Jardins Secrets

Les Jardins Secrets, an unusual and poetic site in Haute-Savoie.

Les cascades de Saubaudy et du Déchargeux

The Déchargeux and Saubaudy waterfalls, a few metres from each other, can be found on the waterfall trail from Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, in Haute-Savoie, not far from the famous Rouget waterfall.

Les gorges de la diosaz

Born on the south slope of the Buet, the torrent reaches Servoz in a succession of seven waterfalls at the bottom of a narrow defile.

Les gorges du pont du diable

Visited since 1893, developed to be accessible to as many people as possible, the Gorges du Pont du Diable offer a striking image of the power of erosion.