photo credit: Frankensteinnn
Chamonix and Annecy
The French Alps attract holidaymakers year-round with mountains that offer some of the best skiing in the world as well as exceptional hiking opportunities. The landscape of this region is spectacular in all seasons with its snow-capped mountaintops and its Alpine flowers.
Chamonix
Chamonix is renowned for its majestic mountains, notably the Mont Blanc, and year-round sports offerings. If you are holidaying in the summertime, you can hike, trek, climb, paraglide, mountain bike or just gaze at the sublime views of this area from the valley floor or from the mountain summits. Take the cogwheel railway or the cabled-gondola up to the Aiguille de Midi summit (12,000 feet) to see some stunning views of the French, Swiss and Italian Alps. If you take the gondola, you will fly over the impressive Les Pelerins glacier. The last part of the ascent is reached via a lift. For the more adventurous, you can ascend the entire mountain in a helicopter!
On the north face of Mont Blanc is La Mer de Glace, a 4.5 mile-wide alpine glacier made up of three smaller glaciers. A popular tourist attraction, La Mer de Glace is reached by taking the Montenvers cogwheel railway. This train will climb 1.5 miles to bring you to the impressive glacier. From the station, take a smaller cable car to visit la grotte de glace, an ice grotto recarved each year (due to the movement of the glacier) where visitors can walk through its many rooms, admire the ice sculptures and even sit on an ice-bench!
If you are holidaying in the wintertime, there is no better place than Chamonix, site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and again in 1992, which boasts five superb ski resorts., each offering something for every level of skier.
Annecy
Considered one of the most charming towns in the French Alps, Annecy sits like a jewel on the edge of its ten-mile pristine alpine lake. The pure and energizing air, the Italian-Swiss influence, the attention to the preservation of nature; it is no surprise that people have come to Annecy to “take the waters” for decades.
Take a boat ride around the scenic and clear lake, (boats leave from the Pont des Amours) or a coach tour around the town and its surrounding areas to get a sense of the landscape. Visitors enjoy going to the Musée Château d’Annecy (Place du Château) with its impressive 12th-century tower . Inside are displays of regional Alpine furnishings, paintings and religious icons as well as an exhibit covering the geology of the area’s alpine lakes. In the middle of the lake, but linked to the mainland by a bridge, sits the Palais de l’Ile (3 passage de I’lle). Visitors often mistake it for an island castle, but despite its name, it was actually a prison!
Down the road a bit, you will want to stop at the medieval town of Talloires, on the eastern side of the lake, where there is an interesting Abbey to tour.
Useful Sites
Ski Hire Chamonix
Ski Hire Chamonix – Discounted Ski Hire with snowbrainer.com in 450 Ski Resorts including Chamonix
For a change a scenery from the French Alps, why not travel to Canada to see/ski the majestic Canadian Rockies