Things to do in Annecy

Annecy fits into a day if you stay on the quays, and into a lifetime if you look up. Between the water and the ridges above it there are 1,500 metres of vertical, a nature reserve, four free public beaches, a listed cinema devoted to animation, and an old town you can walk across in twelve minutes. Finding something to do is never the problem. The problem is the order you do it in, and above all the hour.

This section is written with that in mind. You won’t find an exhaustive list of attractions here — tourist offices do that job well enough — but routes we have walked and ridden ourselves, with the time slots that change everything: the Pont des Amours, the lovers’ bridge over the canal, before eight in the morning; the Semnoz in late afternoon, when the paragliders launch; La Tournette on a weekday outside August. We give real journey times from the old town on foot, by bike and by bus, because here the car is often the slowest of the three.

Every article flags what has to be booked, what costs money, and what is only worth the detour in good weather. When a place is overrun we say so, and we point to the alternative ten minutes away that the regulars have always taken.