Le Grand-Bornand > Alpe d'Huez

HAUTE-SAVOIE (74)

Population: 830,000

Prefecture: Annecy

Sub-Prefectures: Bonneville, Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, Thonon-les-Bains

Surface Area: 4,388 km²

Specialities: Tartiflette, raclette, fondue savoyarde, diots (sausages), atriaux (pork with liver), crozets, polenta, farcement (grated potato and dried fruit), potato fritters, cardoons (vegetables), tome des Bauges (cheese), bugnes, bescoins (biscuits with aniseed), milk jam, la grolle (gnole with coffee), gâteau de Savoie, rissoles (pastries with puff pastry), roseaux du Lac (dark chocolates filled with liqueur), génépi

Sports Clubs: Evian-Thonon Gaillard (football), Chevaliers du Lac Annecy (ice hockey), Hockey Club du Mont-Blanc Saint-Gervais-Megève, FCS Rumilly (rugby), alpine skiing

Competitions: Lake Annecy International Triathlon (June), Lake Annecy International Marathon, swimming across the lake

Festivals: Venetian Carnival, Annecy International Animation Film Festival (June), Les Pontons Flingueurs crime thriller festival (June), Lake Annecy Festival, Italian Film Festival (October), St André Fair (December), OH2 Festival in Saint-Gervais (6 July), Megève Jazz Contest, Pays du Mont-Blanc Baroque Festival

Main Tourist Attractions: Lake Annecy, Annecy Castle, Mont-Blanc and the Sea of Ice, Aravis, the winter sports resorts of Chamonix, Saint-Gervais, Megève, Les Gets, Morzine, and Avoriaz

Economy: Watchmaking (Cluses), screw-cutting, mechanical engineering (Dassault, Alcatel), agriculture and agri-food (Reblochon, Tome, Evian water), mountain tourism, sports industry (Dynastar, Salomon, Mavic)

Website:https://www.hautesavoie.fr/ / www.haute-savoie-tourisme.org

SERRAVAL (POP: 730)

Fruit growing, particularly apples, once flourished in Serraval but has been revived over the last twenty years by the Vergers de la Vallée de Thônes association. Every year at the end of June, the village organizes the Tous au Champ music festival, which celebrated its 12th edition in 2023.

FAVERGES (POP: 7,580FOR FAVERGES-SEYTHENEX )

In 2015, Faverges merged with Seythenex to form a new commune, a member of the Massif des Bauges Regional Nature Park.

The town's industrial vocation began in the early 19th century with the establishment of a silk factory, which turned Faverges into a textile stronghold. The silk mill, taken over by Swiss company Stunzï, prospered before going into decline and closing in 1980. By contrast, the Swiss firm Stäubli, which has been based in the town since 1909, has become the main employer in the area, specialising in textiles and robotics.

The presence of ancient thermal baths, listed in 1992, is evidence of ancient human settlement in the area. The town is also remarkable for its castle and its spectacular tower, where the silk industry that made Faverges' fortune was based.

Construction: 13th century

Style: Medieval

History: A castle is mentioned in the early 12th century. In 1316, Count Amadeus V of Savoie bought the seigneury from Rodolphe of Faverges and had the castle rebuilt. It played a strategic role in conflicts between the House of Savoy and the House of Geneva. In the 16th century, the fiefdom was sold to the Luxembourg-Martigues family, but they immediately transferred it to the Milliet family, who held it until the French Revolution. In 1600, during the Franco-Savoy war, King Henri IV of France stayed at the château. In 1810, the last heiress of the Milliet de Faverges family sold the château to Jean-Pierre Duport, an industrialist who set up a silk factory there. In 1980, the commune of Faverges bought it and converted it into a holiday home. Sold in 2017, it is now used for private and professional events.

Characteristics: Faverges Castle comprises the keep tower and various other buildings. The 32-metre-high keep tower is highly representative of 13th-century castle architecture in Savoie.

Listed as: Historical monument in 1991

COL DE TAMIÉ

Col de Tamié has been ridden a total of 15 times by the men's Tour de France. It was rated as a 3rd category, then a 2nd category from 1999. The last rider to lead at the top was Pierre Rolland in 2013.

FRONTENEX (POP: 1,930)

It was the birthplace of Joseph Fontanet, who served as a minister in Gaullist governments from 1959 to 1973, most notably as Minister for Education in 1972. President of the Savoie General Council, he retired from political life in 1974. He was assassinated on 1 February 1980, a murder that was widely reported but never solved. His family home now houses the Frontenex town hall.

In 2018, the town hosted the start of a stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné won in La Rosière by Pello Bilbao.

AIGUEBELLE (VAL D'ARC) (POP: 1,180)

In 2019, Aiguebelle merged with Randens to form the municipality of Val d'Arc.

Fabrice Fiorese, a former professional footballer with PSG, Lyon, and Olympique de Marseille, started his career in Aiguebelle. It was also here that Italy's Nino Farina, the first Formula 1 world champion, was killed in 1966 when he lost control of his Ford Lotus Cortina and crashed into a tree.

The village is dominated by the ruins of the ancient Château de Charbonnières, of strategic importance in the region.

SAINT-COLOMBAN-DES-VILLARDS (POP: 190)

Halfway up the slope towards the Col du Glandon, the two villages of the Villards valley - Saint-Colomban and Saint-Alban-des-Villards - are cheerful, wooded, and animated by streams and springs, embellished by the snow-capped peaks of Sambuis, Puy-Gris, and Argentières.

Ideally situated in winter, the Villards valley is the first gateway to Les Sybelles, one of France's great ski areas with 310 km of pistes.

ISÈRE (38)

Region: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Population: 1.2 million (16% of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

Prefecture: Grenoble

Sub-prefectures: Vienne, La Tour du Pin

Number of communes: 521

Surface area: 7,431 km² (11% of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

Specialities: Grenoble walnuts (AOC), St Marcellin (IGP cheese), Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage (AOP cheese), ravioles, Chartreuse liqueur, Bonnat chocolates, antésite. Wines: Coteaux du Grésivaudan, Balmes Dauphinoises, Collines Rhodaniennes (IGP wines), Vitis Vienna (Vienne wines). Vercors trout, mountain meats (beef, lamb), gratin dauphinois, brioche de Bourgoin, murçon (charcuterie).

Major sports clubs: FC Grenoble (rugby), Brûleurs de loups (ice hockey), GF38 (football), CSBJ (rugby), Ours de Villard (hockey), Rugby Sassenage Isère (women's rugby).

Major competitions: La Foulée blanche in Autrans, Ut4M (Ultra tour des 4 massifs), Trail of passerelles du Monteynard, Echappée belle (Ultra traversée de Belledonne), EuroNordicWalk Vercors, Grand Duc-trail de Chartreuse, La Marmotte in l'Alpe d'Huez (gran fondo).

Festivals: La Coupe Icare in St Hilaire du Touvet, Alpe d'Huez Festival (comedy film festival in Isère), Berlioz Festival in la Côte Saint-André, Jazz in Vienne Festival, Autrans Mountain Film Festival, Vélo Vert (Green Bike) Festival in Villard de Lans, Tomorrowland in l'Alpe d'Huez.

Economy: Industry, electronics, digital, micro and nanoelectronics, IT, research, health, hydroelectricity, chemicals and the environment, energy, thermal spas, tourism.

Main sights: Domaine de Vizille, Grande Chartreuse monastery, Saint-Antoine l'Abbaye, Choroanche caves, Grenoble cable car, Grenoble museum, Chartreuse cellars, Musée Dauphinois, St Hilaire du Touvet funicular railway, Crémieu, Vienne, Walibi Rhône-Alpes park, Europe's largest skiable glacier at Les Deux-Alpes.

Websites and social networks:www.alpesishere.com / www.cyclo-alpes.com / www.isere.fr

GRAND-MAISON DAM AND LAKE

Location: French rockfill dam (with earth core), located between the Belledonne and Grandes Rousses mountain ranges (Isère).

Altitude: 1,698 m (theoretical maximum elevation of the reservoir).

Construction: Built in the 20th century.

History: Construction work began in 1978 and was completed in 1985, with commissioning taking place in 1988.

Characteristics: The dam, with a volume of 12,900,000 m³, closes off the Eau d'Olle valley over a length of 560 m. It is 160 m high above the foundations and 650 m thick at the base, of which 100 m is the watertight core. Reservoir capacity: 140 million m³ of water.

LE BOURG-D'OISANS (POP: 3,500)

Once situated on the shores of a vanished lake, the town is known to Tour fans as the starting point for the climb to Alpe d'Huez. Renowned for its slate, minerals, and pedlars, it is an Alpine resort from which former slalom champion Fabienne Serrat and former Olympic snowboarding champion Isabelle Blanc hail.

Le Bourg-d'Oisans has hosted the Tour de France on twenty occasions, with nineteen starts and only one finish (1966). In 2018, the peloton set off from the town towards Valence, where Peter Sagan won.

Because of its location, Bourg-d'Oisans is also the starting point for many gran fondos, some of which are among the most popular in the world.

The Écrins National Park (91,800 ha), created in 1973, stretches between the towns of Gap (12 kilometres as the crow flies), Briançon (13 kilometres), and Grenoble (23 kilometres). It is bounded by the valleys of the Romanche, Guisane, Durance, and Drac rivers. The park project began in 1913 with the State's purchase of 4,000 hectares of mountain above Saint-Christophe-d'Oisans. The Écrins National Park is one of France's ten national parks and has been recognised by the Council of Europe as a European High Mountain Park.