French Alps: a Virtual Itinerary

May 2020

“Someday… ” I lamented earlier.

Then, it hit me: We visit friends through Zoom, learn through online classes, make music together virtually. Why not visit the French Alps virtually? So here it goes.

Day 1(M): an easy day to acclimate

We will browse a couple of street markets. Two weekly markets open on Mondays. One in Viuz-en-Sallaz (population: 4,200), just 10 miles northwest of our home base, Thyez (population: 6,000), and another one in Cluses (17,500) a neighboring city.

After lunch, we will drive up the road for 20 minutes to go to  Saint-Gervais-les-Bains (population: 5,500; burgundy dot #6 on the map). Tour the town, then go to the spa for a relaxing afternoon.

A nice welcome dinner in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains.

Day 2(T): visit Chamonix & Mont Blanc (burgundy dot #8 on the map)

Drive 30 minutes up the road to Chamonix (8,900). We will get on the Panoramic Cable Car to Aiguilles du Midi. We can have lunch there, or we can just have drinks and have lunch down in Chamonix village.

 

Day 3(W): Annecy (burgundy #13-15)

We will first stop at the weekly market in Le Grand-Bornand (population: 2,150) on our way to Annecy (population: 125,600; burgundy #13). Walk around the photogenic town of Annecy, pick up some picnic stuff, and sit around at a lakeside park and enjoy a long lunch.

We will do a boat tour of the lake after lunch. There are cute villages and castles and cafes that we can stop at while driving the whole 50 km around the lake before heading home.

Day 4(TH): Geneva – Gruyeres – Lausanne (orange #1-3)

I personally prefer visiting small mountain villages over big cities in Switzerland, however, we are close to two of the major cities. So we will pay them a visit. First we will stop in Geneva (population: 500,000) for an hour or two and walk around.

Then we will drive to a well known cheese producing little town in the mountains, Gruyeres (population:1,800). Can’t think of this town without cow bells. Or the cheese named after the town. Our lunch will be at a totally touristy place because that’s who we will be: tourists!. Save room for drinks and desserts at the next stop: HR Giger Bar & Museum. What’s that? HR Giger was a Swiss artist and designer who has a cult following, and he founded a museum and bar in town. If you liked the movie “Alien,” you will be in heaven because he designed the set for the movie. We can have drinks and something sweet there.

On the way back, we will stop in the hillside city of Lausanne (population: 137,800) by Lake Geneva. One art museum I really like to visit is Art Brut, a collection of exceptional artworks done by non professional artists.

Day 5(F): Astoa Valley (yellow #2-7)

We are going to Italy today. First, we will have to go through the tunnel underneath Mont Blanc, considered an engineering marvel. It costs a lot (56.90 Euro r/t) to use that tunnel, but it cost a lot (roughly about 500 million euros) to build it & it’s not short (12 km). Then we will go to the first national park of Italy, Gran Paradiso National Park (yellow #2 on the map). Spend a couple of hours enjoying the scenery and meeting some wild animals.

We will go to Aosta (population: 34,000; #3) for a pasta lunch. Walk around town. Then there are many little towns within a 30 minute drive that we could visit. We will first go about 10 miles north to Etrobles (nickname: Jewel of Italy; population: 490; #5) and saint-Rhemy-en-Bosses (population: 370; #4).

Back to Aosta and turn east to visit Fenis (population: 1,820; #6) to check out a castle. Drive another 20 miles further and stop in Arnad (population: 1,260; #7), a wine producing little town. We can try their wine tonight. Stop in Aosta on the way back & pick up some pizza and Italian food for dinner back home. I will get a bottle of lemoncello to drink with appetizers.

Or we can spend the night in Aosta and visit the Matterhorn the next day.

Day 6(SA): Geneva Lake (Lake Leman) towns

Can you imagine a village in super rich Switzerland where people still live without electricity? We’ll go to Taveyanne (orange #4) this morning & see for ourselves.

Coming back to the civilization, we will stop in Montreux (population: 24,500; orange #5) and walk along the lake.

Next we drive to Yvoire (population: 950, burgundy #12) and have lunch. Walk around the village. Take the 20 minute ferry over to Nyon (population: 28,300; orange #6) and have some dessert and drinks. Ferry back to Yvoire & drive home.

Day 7(SU): CERN & Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval

There’s an international research organization whose main question is: what is the universe made of? CERN is right outside of Geneva & you can be treated to a guided tour led by a volunteering scientist. For now, you can get virtual tours.

After lunch, we will drive to a village right above our home in Thyez: Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval (burgundy #5).

We can have a nice leisurely dinner near our home tonight.

I devised a one week program because many of our friends planned to visit for a week. But there are so many other villages, mountains, lakes, wineries and museums to visit in the area. A week may have not been enough!