St Gervais les Bains

Saint-Gervais-les-Bains is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department. The village is best known for tourism, and has been a popular holiday destination because of its beauty and location since the early 1900s. It has 450 km of ski pistes, reputed to be the third largest domain exclusively in France, and is one of the least busy ski areas of its size.
 

St Gervais les Bains (also referred to as St Gervais or St Gervais Mont Blanc) is not a recently purpose built resort, and so has a significant year round population, rather than just seasonal and is full of historical buildings giving it the traditional charm.

In winter, the main draw is of course snow sports, and the resort has a multi-national client base. It is increasing in popularity among British holiday-makers. The summer sees tourists arrive from around the world to explore the numerous fair weather alpine activities available such as Mountain Biking, Climbing, Hiking, Paragliding, Rafting, etc. as well as making use of the all year thermal spa ‘Les Thermes’ which sits within the beautiful ‘Parc Thermal’ in the lower village of Le Fayet.

Recent holiday companies have expanded in the area following increased demand, although the majority of chalet holiday companies offering accommodation to guests are independent “owner-run” chalets and therefore the town and the ski domain manage to avoid the heavy congestion of some of this resorts more famous neighbours.

 

The main railway station for Saint-Gervais is the Gare de Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet. The fabulous and historic Mont Blanc Tramway departs from Le Fayet station and reaches the Nid d’Aigle station at the Bionnassay glacier at an altitude of 2372 m (7800 ft). The Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine railway departs from Le Fayet station and takes you to Chamonix and across the Swiss border to Martigny. Numerous other destinations throughout France (including direct trains to Paris) can be accessed from the main SNCF station at Le Fayet, and the main resort is just a 10-minute descent to the nearby A40 Peage motorway to Geneva, Lyon, Paris and connecting to the rest of the French motorway network.

https://tourism.saintgervais.com/

 

above the view on Mont Blanc

If you need a taxi to drive from Annecy to St Gervais les bains please do not hesitate to contact me for a quote, St Gervais can also be a nice stop during a scenic route to Chamonix https://www.taxi-massingy.com/en/scenic-route-from-annecy-to-chamonix/