Le Trekking in France - Haute-Savoie in the French Alpes

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France certainly wins out with the choice of mountainous areas compared to many other European countries, there are nine in total including Corsica. So where to start? Well, having done my research, and always liking variety in life, I plumped for the Haute-Savoie region, the capital being the delightful lakeside town of Annecy. In this area you get three for the price of one as it also borders Italy and Switzerland so as well as the fabulous dramatic scenery you get a wonderful variety of different cuisines and wines - a very important consideration after an energetic day scaling the numerous mountain paths.

This region is also extremely well organised for the visitor and has an excellent tourist infrastructure. There are connections between the main towns by train and bus. Searching for information on the montain trails the I came across this excellent interactive website http://www.hautesavoie-rando.fr.

By clicking on the map you can see the vast number of paths and can choose your route by height, duration, and interesting features along the way. It will also give you a map reference. To say you are spoilt for choice is an understatement. Every major town has a tourist office, the main one in Annecy is in the Rue Jean Jaures, where you can get maps and advice about the whole area.

If all your party are not such enthusiastic walkers you can leave them to stroll along the shores of Lake Annecy, or for those who prefer to keep the brain cells active you can enroll them in the local language school while you take to the hills, breathe in the pure air and marvel at the mountain scenery.

By the way, I learned why the term le trekking, like, le parking and le weekend, despite the best effort of the Académie Française, that fierce guardian of the French language, has crept into general use. When you consider their equivalent is une randonnée pédestre dans une région montagneuse, you can see why English got more votes 😉




Photos: www.flickr.com/photos/pvk/611521097, www.ifalpes.com

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