Grenoble, Annecy and Vizille a packed yet refreshing escape to the mountains

If you like mountains, snow, flowers, and cold breeze; you would like this too...

Last year in April, we decided to go to Grenoble; a city in a city Annecy is an alpine town in southeastern France, where Lake Annecy feeds into the Thiou River. It’s known for its Vieille Ville (old town), with cobbled streets, winding canals and pastel-colored houses. the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France, sits at the foot of mountains between the Drac and Isère rivers. We live in Marseille. So, the trip was a fine 6 h Bus ride by Flixbus. We trip was sudden. But yet we tried our best to cut cost and make cost-effective bookings through AirBnB.

The bus stops in the mid of the journey at a gas station with a cafeteria for everyone to freshen up. We were not tired as the comfortable AC Bus and smooth road were just perfect for the journey. Yet we decided to warm ourselves up with a cup of coffee.

After we reached Grenoble, we took a local bus to reach our AirBnB destination. And to our much surprise, the accommodation was beyond expectation. We paid 130 euros for 3 nights. And we got everything one needs for a comfortable stay. It was better than our home. Unfortunately we did not click a photo.

We then went out for an evening stroll near the Isere river. Grenoble is known for it's student population. It is a base for winter sports, and for museums, universities and research centers. And when there are students, there are definitely also Indian students. Thus the Indian population in Grenoble is huge. Spherical cable cars called “Les Bulles” (Bubbles) connect the town to the summit of La Bastille hill, named for the 18th-century fortress on its slopes.

There is a restaurant called Goa which is an Indian restaurant. Food there is awesome and price-friendly. We did not spend much time outside on the first day as we were planning to go to Vizille; a nearby village with a palace the next day. So, we had our Indian dinner at restaurant GOA and left for our AirBnB.

Vizille

Next morning we headed to Vizille. It is a quiet, small and extremely green village near Grenoble. It just takes 30 mins by bus from the city. And you can use your day pass here. The road from Grenoble to Vizille will take your breath away with it's serene beauty. The small canals by the roadside, the sound of water flowing is like music to the ears. And when we reached there at Chateau de Vizille, it was like a Bollywood song shooting location. The pictures below by my amateur hands will prove my point.

After a while drizzling started. So, we left the place after spending a couple of hours. We used the rest of the day to explore markets in Grenoble and as I mentioned earlier, there are many Indians in Grenoble. So, do many Indian/Asian shops. We went to a shop called Indian Bazar and to another called Euro Asia to buy snacks and sweets.

Annecy

The 3rd day was a full day plan for Annecy. Annecy is an alpine town in southeastern France, where Lake Annecy feeds into the Thiou River. It’s known for its Vieille Ville (old town), with cobbled streets, winding canals and pastel-colored houses. It takes 1 h 30 min by bus to Annecy from Grenoble. Lake Annecy is heart of the town. Everything revolves around it. I could only click photos of flowers in Annecy because my god how full and besutiful they were. Not even one leaf was there; all flowers!

In the park, thousands of people were gathering to enjoy the lake view and also water activities. However, for us, it was only for a few hours and we were heading back by the evening.