This French town is so pretty it doesn’t seem real

Imagine you were asked to design the ultimate picturesque European town. You might think of church spires and pastel-coloured houses, medieval arcades and cafe terraces, which you’d arrange around cobbled squares and along winding alleys. You’d add a market for good measure, then top everything off with a castle so castle-like it would win a kindergarten drawing competition.

Annecy: The most beautiful town in France.Credit: Getty Images

But then if you draped it in flowers, placed it along a pellucid river and lake, and popped snowy mountains in the background, you’d be accused of overkill. And if you sent out seven swans a-swimming through it all, your design would have strayed into improbable Hallmark schmaltz.

And yet, Annecy is real. A featureless and grubby modern town off to one side tones down the saccharine. The high-summer tourist crush can be appalling, just to remind you that perfection comes at a price. But even so, Annecy is the prettiest place, set amid one of the prettiest landscapes you can imagine.

Canal du Vasse in Annecy, which gets the top vote for quality of life in France.Credit: iStock

Nor is it merely attractive. The Association of Towns and Villages Where Life is Good – which sounds better in French – crunched data from the National Statistics Office on services, health, sports and leisure, transport and other criteria, and in 2020 declared Annecy the nation’s top town for quality of life.

The town snuggles into the foothills of the French Alps. It was founded by the Romans and flourished as a medieval seat of the Counts of Geneva. Then history passed it by, and scarcely anything was altered by meddlesome baroque busybodies, or bulldozed by French avenue-builders.

Annecy is tidy and buffed up.Credit: iStock

Something, perhaps, about nearby Switzerland rubbed off. Old Annecy doesn’t have the scruffiness of many French towns. It’s tidy and buffed up. Fountains splash and flowerboxes cascade geraniums and petunias.

Everything is in its place: brass doorknockers and apothecaries’ dangling signs, crooked chimneys and wooden bridges, and buildings that lean against each other like drunken friends.

The only out-of-place thing is the town hall, one of those grand French affairs, fortunately relegated to the waterfront just beyond the old town proper.

Of course, the postcard racks and flowerboxes and cafe parasols are anachronisms amid the medieval merriment, but who cares? They add more colour, and Annecy gets you in the mood for a fridge magnet or snowdome.

Annecy-style crepes are smothered in bitter dark chocolate.Credit: iStock

If you want to see the sights, check the 12th-century Palais de l’Isle, pronged in a fork of the town’s fast-flowing river. It has a small museum of Annecy history and old prison cells, although frankly your €5 entrance fee would be better spent on gelato.

Then there’s the modest castle, plain and stark: more Game of Thrones than Sleeping Beauty. Its interior is going to win no prizes for its ho-hum alpine art and timeworn Savoyard furnishings.

Give it a miss, too, and instead buy a pastry or a hunk of cheese in the morning market, on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. The joy of Annecy is that you won’t feel compelled to sightsee. Just enjoy the ambience.

Have a crepe Annecy-style, smothered in bitter dark chocolate. Enjoy a good meal: the town has six Michelin-starred restaurants, including the three-star Clos des Sens that sources almost everything from around Lake Annecy.

Annecy has a sparkling setting, featuring a translucent blue lake.Credit: iStock

France has lots of other old glorious towns. What makes this one sparkle is the setting. The lake is translucent blue and spiked with darting fish. Walk along the waterside parkland – a great spot for a picnic after you’ve visited the market – to Pont des Amours for the views.

Locals swim, but most Australians will have a heart attack in this glacial water. Get out on a pedalo, or on one of the trim white tour boats that pootle around the whole lake.

You can drive around its 40-kilometre circumference if you have a car, and visit lovely Talloires village and 12th-century Chateau de Menthon. It feels as if you’ve fallen into a jigsaw puzzle: landscapes and a thousand years of history, arranged to perfection.

The details

More
savoie-mont-blanc.com

Fly
Etihad flies from Melbourne and Sydney to Abu Dhabi and on to Geneva, 42 kilometres north of Annecy. See etihad.com

Stay
There are abundant hotel and other accommodation options in Annecy and around Lake Annecy. Les Loges has five luxury apartments in a characterful old building in the middle of the old town. See les-loges-annecy.com

The writer travelled at his own expense.