Why you should visit Annecy, France!

Hi everyone!

Hope everyone back home is doing great, heard the weather in Canada is still pretty cold, so I can say I've been enjoying the warmer, springtime weather here in France for you guys, haha! To everyone, thanks for coming back and reading about the things I've been up to! Today I thought I'd update you on why Annecy is a fantastic city you should definitely visit!

Okay first to give you a small idea of how gorgeous Annecy is, check out the video above!! (Important note: At the 2:52 mark they start showing video clips of Lyon, which is not Annecy)

Gorgeous Scenery:

For the chance to go and see the gorgeous landscape and scenery of Annecy, would be worth it alone! Annecy lies beside a incredibly turquoise lake called Lake Annecy, which is a huge focal point of the city. In the summer the city is flooded with travelers hoping to relax by the lake and enjoy the various water activities. As we were there during the winter, it was too cold to go swimming or canoeing, but it was still amazing to just be by the lakeside and enjoy the blue waters!

Then as you can see in the pictures above Annecy has gorgeous mountains outlining the lake, giving it a very picture-istic look! There was definitely a few times that my friends got a little annoyed at me as I stopped for the hundredth time just to take another picture of the lake, as it was just that beautiful! Although going to Annecy in the summer might be better to take advantage of the lake, it was definitely great going during the winter when everything wasn't too busy and we still got to enjoy the scenery!

Everything is bike-able

By far my favourite part of this whole trip (and what I highly recommend doing) was renting bikes and spending most of Saturday biking around the lake! Near the Annecy bus/train station there was a bike rental shop called Vélonecy, which for only 4 euros we got to rent bikes for the whole day! Biking around the city was a fantastic way to see everything, get away from the busy centre and discover the beautiful hidden gems that not everyone usually sees. If you enjoy physical activity and want to see a lot of a place in a short amount of time, than I'd highly recommend renting a bike! Biking around Lac Annecy is possible, however it's 47km and uphill for a good portion of it. My guy friends were able to do the whole thing in a couple hours, whereas my girl friends and I decided to take it easy and only do a third of the way around.

(Above left: Scott, Gordon and Charlie on their sweet vélos) (Above right: Meagan modelling her bike!)

Le Palais de Menthon:

While on our adventure around the lake, my friends and I discovered a beautiful lake side hotel that sat on top of a hill overlooking the beautiful scenery surrounding it. If anyone has ever seen the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel, this hotel reminded me of that movie and the grand hotel overlooking everything! As we were biking by it, I said to my two girl friends that we should go inside and check it out and maybe even have some coffee and dessert there. Walking into the main lobby, I quickly realized we were not dressed fancy or rich enough to fit in there! Right in the middle of the lobby was a beautiful grand piano, hand painted murals on several walls, the floor covered in a rich red carpet, fancy chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and plush couches placed around the room. I felt like I was stepping into something from a 1920's movie and was then starting to feel a little intimidated. Pushing through it we went into the dining room, where the waiter took our coats and hung it up for us and showed us to a table right next to the large windows which looked out right onto the lake and mountains! I was relieved to find that the staff were very kind with us just wanting a small bite, as well as understanding that we couldn't afford a 50 euros meal as we are just students.

The cappuccinos were really nice, and all together we ordered a Compote au Pomme which was exactly what you'd expect as a french dessert. The downside was it really wasn't much dessert to share, but on the other hand it was a very beautifully decorated dish and with each bite bringing a burst of flavour! Then later in our little "coffee date", the waiter brought us a delicious and beautiful Crème Brulée Carambar which was completely on the house! Maybe it was my great french skills or the waiter thought we were cute North American girls or that dessert is usually on the house, but it was such a great surprise! After our meal was done, all three of us were blushing so hard when our waiter helped us into our coats making us feel like royalty, instead of students just paying for the cheapest meal we could possibly get, haha!

So if you want to have a cute tea party by the lakeside and feel like the rich, I would definitely recommend checking out this gorgeous hotel! Or if you want to stay overnight, a lakeside room is only 299 euros ($464 CAD) per night, which is more than my monthly rent, haha!

(Above: my lovely coffee dates; Shannon and Meagan)

CASTLES, DUH!

One thing that we didn't make it around to, that I wish we had, was visiting one of the many castles in Annecy. While visiting this beautiful city, there are many incredible castles that you can visit and explore if you enjoy history. Now the problem we had is we didn't plan our time around visiting the castles, so when we eventually got to one they were at capacity. As with another one which was on top of a hill, it was closed until Sunday. Therefore, if you do want to go to a castle in Europe make sure you check the time it opens and get there early! Otherwise, in Annecy we enjoyed just seeing the outside and admiring it from afar.

The old town of Annecy

Another worth while part of visiting Annecy is the older area of the city, that is called Vieux Annecy (aka Old Annecy). Annecy is nicknamed the "Venice of France" and walking around the beautiful cobblestone streets it becomes apparent why it deserves this title. With 3 main canals flowing through this part of town, it's almost like you've stepped into Italy! I especially loved all the colourful buildings, cute little boutiques and incredible architecture!

(Above: Charlie, Scott, Gordon and Bennett walking the streets)

The market places

In Annecy, the city holds weekly markets were you can explore numerous vendor stands with a wide-variety of products for lower prices! This was a cool time finding the unique items and picking up a few small souvenirs. If you love to shop or just to explore, than the markets in Annecy are definitely something to check out while here!

This was pretty much my weekend in Annecy, so if you're planning on travelling to France in the next little bit or thinking of places to go for your dream European trip, I really enjoyed Annecy and would recommend going there! For a less touristy, authentically french place to travel to, Annecy is definitely a great stop for a day or weekend trip!

If you liked this blog entry, please like or comment on Facebook and give me some feedback (I love hearing back from you guys)! Also below, at the very bottom of the page, there is a subscribe bar, which I believe will send you notifications when I post a new blog, so that's pretty cool! Lastly, under this entry there is a little heart you can click to let me know you liked the blog entry, so click that! Stay tuned for next week which will be on the destination everyone wants to hear about PARIS!!!

-Tori