Haute Savoie in the Alpine region of eastern France is a department which borders both Italy and Switzerland. Unsurprisingly it is hugely popular with winter sports enthusiasts but it is also home to wonderful villages and jaw-dropping scenery with heart-in-mouth cable car rides.
In 2006, Haute Savoie – the bit of France to the south of Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman as the French call it – and Savoie re-combined to form Savoie-Mont-Blanc. It’s a neat trick and makes much of the ancient and fiercely proud traditions of the larger region and blags some of the kudos of Western Europe’s highest mountain.
That few people ever aspire to reach the top of Mont Blanc – it’s a three-day climb of significant difficulty at best – is irrelevant, you only need to come and look at it.
Places to visit in Haute Savoie
Visit Chamonix
Chamonix is bright, breezy, just a little wacky, even a little tacky, and crammed with ski poseurs and wannabe alpinistes, among whom I once numbered myself. But you really can’t help loving the place.
This is part of the fabled ‘Savoy’ of Grand Tour fame when wealthy Georgians, Oxford undergraduates and assorted degenerates with nothing better to do would take months to tour Europe amusing themselves and planting their views and ideology on the natives.
But the people of Haute Savoie had minds and ideology of their own, as they do now, not least in matters of cuisine.
Today as you strut the streets of Chamonix – don’t stroll, that’s too plebeian – clumping around in inflexible ski boots and impaling anyone rash enough to get within striking distance of your ski poles, you are assaulted by menus ‘Savoyardes’ at every turn.
The culinary standards are excellent and the local inventiveness beyond reproach. The local chefs make the most of what they have most of, and that means cheese and potatoes. Try the truly scrumptious and very filling tartiflettes of which you’ll find several different varieties.
In the many cafes you can also enjoy fondue and raclette, which are stringily messy but hugely delightful ways of consuming cheese, and all the more agreeable if washed down with a bottle of Gamay.
Then there is that other spécialité Savoyarde, choucroute, which is basically what they do with cabbage when they can’t think of anything worse to do with it.
Read: No BS Guide to Eating and Drinking Like the French
The mountains of the Arvy Valley
Chamonix and the Arve Valley is stunningly beautiful. From the Col des Montets and the eminently likeable town of Argentière, south to Les Houches after which the valley wriggles through a geological constriction, is just one attractive sight after another.
It is remarkably easy to bump into people here, because everyone seems to be gazing upwards as they walk, taking in the surrounding mountains.
Cable-cars, of one form or another, whisk you up above the valley, where a whole new world of jagged pinnacles (aiguilles) awaits, below which traversing paths (balcons) at varying heights allow even the average walker to get a real taste of the mountains.
Throw in the ancient and arthritic train service that grunts upwards to Montenvers, from where, when you’ve finished admiring the stunning scenery, you can descend to enter the very heart of the Mer de Glace.
The Mer de Glace in Haute Savoie
The Mer de Glace is a living, moving, grinding glacier of huge but diminishing proportions, and the whole experience is simply exhilarating; just as it is meant to be.
And for the really intrepid, and warmly clothed, there is the prospect of a two cable-car ride up to the Aiguille du Midi (3,800m/12,467 feet), 2,800m (9,186 feet) above the valley.
From there you can take another, much smaller télécabine above the Vallée Blanche to the Italian frontier at Pointe Helbronner, with its superb view of Mont Blanc.
If that doesn’t quite appeal – and you can develop altitude sickness even at 3,800m – then take the Brévent cable car to the half way stage, Plan Praz, and enjoy lunch on the terrace of ‘Le Bergerie’. You won’t find a better view from a restaurant anywhere.
Thonon-les-Bains
But Mont Blanc and Chamonix does not Haute Savoie make. The ancient capital of the region known as Chablais, lying immediately south of Lac Léman, is Thonon-les-Bains.
The town is renowned like its rather better known sibling Evian-les-Bains, for thermal spas and mineral water that is said to have curative properties for those suffering with kidney ailments.
Thonon has had a decline in tourist fortune in recent years, for no particular reason, but remains a popular – and therefore expensive – place to set up home.
This is largely because of the propensity of French people who work in nearby Geneva to use Thonon as a dormitory town, an attraction all the more enhanced when in May 2007 a high-speed boat service was introduced between Thonon and Geneva.
Evian, poetically known as ‘The Pearl of Lake Geneva’ in contrast, operates a boat service across the lake to Lausanne, although Evian clings rather more to its glorious past as a major spa resort, with opulent buildings overlooking the lake. Thonon just gets on with life, and is all the better for it.
Lake Geneva in Haute Savoie
Lake Geneva is huge, and it is easy to see why people would want to live along its shores. It covers 580 sq km (224 sq miles), and reaches a depth of 310m (1,017 feet). Such a large inland expanse of water produces its own micro-climate which makes the lake shore surprisingly mild for much of the year.
Both Thonon and Evian are curious, attractive and enthralling places to visit, but the further west you go, towards Annemasse and Geneva, the worse things become; this part of France is heavily urbanised and, it has to be said, unattractive.
The exception is Yvoire, which occupies a superb position at the edge of the promontory that separates ‘Petit Lac’ (to the west) from ‘Grand Lac’.
The medieval qualities of Yvoire are very much still in evidence, as are the abundance of flowers that have given the town the distinction of being labelled one of the ‘Most Beautiful Towns in France’.
But for real beauty, head south, into the mountains that flank the Abondance valley, or around Morzine and Les Gets. This is a wondrous landscape, a place of rivers, perched villages, mountains, waterfalls and the wooden chalet homes more usually associated with Switzerland.
But, wood is available in large quantities and is a cheaper building material than rock or man-made brick. In any case, the sight of hillsides dotted with beautifully designed chalets, surrounded by the ubiquitous cattle, is quite unlike any other part of rural France.
Virtually all the villages between Thonon and Taninges to the south base their economy on winter skiing, but are no less inviting in summer when the télécabines still take you up onto the valley sides for a better view of the mountains.
St Jean d’Aulps is perhaps less evidently ski-linked. Here you’ll find the remains of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey.
More ski resorts in Haute Savoie
The township of Morzine and neighbouring Montriond lie in a vast mountain amphitheatre flanked by the Pointe de Ressachaux and the Pointe de Nyon – unsurprisingly popular with skiers.
The locals around Morzine don’t hang up their skis until the very last vestige of snow has gone, and the gentle slopes around the town make this a perfect place for anyone who prefers a more relaxed approach to their skiing.
For those skiers relaxed to the point of having left the skis at home, the shores of Lac Montriond are purpose-designed for chilling out with a chunk of Abondance cheese, a baguette and a bottle of something agreeably alcoholic.
Further south, Les Gets is another, more modest, ski resort, but home to a wonderful museum of mechanical music. The road continues southwards to Taninges, unpretentious in itself, but at a crossroads.
For Nordic skiing enthusiasts Aix-les-Bains and its 150 miles of trails isn’t too far away.
Haute Savoie’s pretty villages and towns
To the east, you drive along the Giffre valley into ever more dramatic terrain first to the town of Samoëns, and then on to the very agreeable cul-de-sac that is Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, which has to be one of the prettiest villages in France.
Samoëns lies in a wide glacial valley, each of its nine scattered hamlets the sort of place that makes you want to up sticks and move out today; each with a modest chapel surmounted by an onion-shaped spire.
Yet in spite of the increasing spread of Samoëns, and the abundance of timber as a building material, the valley has retained a good number of traditional stone houses. The stonemasons of Samoëns have something of a reputation to uphold, having been at work in the Giffre valley since 1659.
Beyond Samoëns, the road leads to Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval; it’s not as pretty as some other towns in France, but its setting beneath the fabulous Cirque de Fer-à-Cheval, simply can’t be bettered, as a walk along the Fond de la Combe will demonstrate.
Equally attractive, heading into Faucigny, are the Vallée Verte, which extends south from Thonon, over the Col de Cou and onwards with the Mesonge river through Boëge.
Or you can try the supremely beautiful string of villages that reach from Reyvroz, through Vailly and Bellevaux, over the Col de Jambaz and down to Mégevette, St Jeoire and Marignier. How some of those villages are not considered beautiful is a mystery.
As you go south, Faucigny combines with Genevois to flank the Arve river, fed by waters from some of Western Europe’s greatest glaciers. Here, too, are yet more adorable towns and villages of mainly wooden chalet-type houses; places like St Gervais-les-Bains, Megève and of course the amazing town of Annecy.
St Gervais occupies quite an open sight given the constricted nature of the countryside. The town has a long reputation for its hot springs, and is today regarded as the main health spa around the Mont Blanc massif.
Megève, by contrast, is a more chic place, more openly given to those who love to ski and walk. The less demanding slopes around the town are for those who want more relaxed skiing, served by a plethora of fine chalet-restaurants and ski lifts. In summer, walkers will find the mountains offer superb walking, with the most excellent panoramas.
Evian Les Bains
Nestled between the mountains and the great Lac Léman, Evian benefits enjoys an invigorating natural environment that has made it an internationally famous resort.
All year round, the town offers a wide variety of activities and lodgings for tourists, while nearby ski resorts make Evian the perfect base from which to enjoy the mountain slopes during the winter and the fecund pastures in the summer.
This spa town is renowned for its thermal baths, and, of course, its water. Located on Avenue des Sources, the Cachat Spring (formerly the Fountain of Saint Catherine) is the most famous of several springs that once emerged in Evian. Built in 1903, along with the opposite pump room, this spring flows every day of the year and is open to the public.
This is a splendid place to come too if you enjoy gardens and flowers: each year the town presents its ‘Scènes Florales, a themed walk through the town’s parks and gardens.
The village’s expansion began in the Middle Ages, with the construction of a castle in the 12th century, and the granting of tax exemptions.
As a result, Evian would grow into an important market town, a commercial port on the lake and a popular holiday destination for the counts and dukes of Savoy.
The discovery of mineral water dates from the late 18th century, with the first Evian Baths appearing in 1824, and the right to bottle the water being granted 2 years later.
This was the moment that also marked the town’s expansion with the construction of thermal baths, the casino, hotels and a theatre to entertain Georgian and Victorian visitors.
Must do
Take a stroll along the shores of the lake; it’s refreshing and bracing.
Visit the source of Evian’s famous water.
Excursion
Visit the picturesque medieval village of Yvoire (one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France), which is one of the most noteworthy sites in the Chablais region.
Aix-les-Bains
Rising from the shores of the largest natural glacial lake, the Lac du Bourget, Aix-les-Bains is one of the most important French spa towns, and has the largest fresh water marina in France. It is the second largest Savoy town in terms of population.
Where is Aix-les-Bains?
The town is just over 60 miles from the metropolitan city of Lyon. Administratively it sits in the department of Savoie in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alps region of France.
The town sits on Lake Bourget’s eastern shore and is popular with skiers who flock to Mount Revard which is only around 20 minutes away from Aix-les-Bains.
Of international renown, Aix-les-Bains was for many years a place of vacation for princely families and wealthy people; today it draws in tourists for its setting between lake and mountain, its thermal baths and its Rock Musilac festival.
Essentially a spa town until the mid-20th century, Aix-les-Bains has gradually transformed its local economy and is no longer dependant on the thermal baths which are less frequently used than before.
Things to do in Aix-les-Bains
The Casino Grand-Cercle is located in Aix-les-Bains, and constitutes a major architectural complex in Savoy, in the same way as the casino of Évian. The casino was opened in 1850 by the King Victor-Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy.
The Château of the Rock of the King is a 20th-century chateau. It is located on the heights of Aix-les-Bains, built on a hillside, the chateau dominates much of the town.
The Faure Museum is based on works originally from a private collection, that of Dr. Jean Faure (1862-1942). They were bequeathed to the city and kept, in a villa built in 1902, since 1949.
The town is dotted with numerous historic buildings as well as other buildings of character. Of the Gallo-Roman era, there is the Arc funéraire romain de Campanus [Roman funerary Arch of Campanus], erected by the patrician of Gallia Narbonensis, Lucius Pompeius Campanus, honouring the dead of his family.
If you’re a winter sports enthusiast the town is a perfect base from which to enjoy the the Aix-les-Bains valley – the largest nordic skiing area in France.
There are over 150 miles of trails for Nordic skiers and at other times of year countless miles of trails suitable for hikers and walkers.
The food of Aix-les-Bains
The cuisine of Aix-les-Bains is typically that of Savoie, based on products of the mountain meadows, essentially the Bauges.
In addition to its famous fondue, there is the pleasing main course of potato doughnuts, and also crozets, péla, tartiflette, diots, polenta and rioutes.
For dessert, there are bugnes, confiture de lait and blueberry pie (tartes aux myrtilles). Aix features Savoy cheeses such as Abondance, Beaufort, the Bleu du Mont-Cenis, Savoy Emmental, Savoy Gruyère, Persillé des Aravis, Reblochon, Abbaye de Tamié, Tomme de Savoie and many others.
