Summit panorama
The lake, the Bauges and Mont Blanc on clear days.
Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0
Yes, and that is exactly what it is good at. It is a **small, plain family resort**, nothing like the big ones: short easy slopes, among the cheapest prices in the region, a ski school, a children's area and sledging. For a first-time skier or a family wanting a day in the snow without big-resort costs, it is an excellent choice. An experienced skier after long runs and serious vertical will exhaust it in two hours and is better served by the larger Haute-Savoie resorts further out.
Yes, but **only on clear days**, which are not the rule. The mountain shows on the eastern horizon, distinctly white above the nearer peaks, and the sight is worth planning for. The best chances are usually after a weather front has scrubbed the air, early in the morning before heat haze builds, and in winter and spring rather than midsummer, when the horizon tends to go milky. If the distance is hazy, the view over the lake and the Bauges is lovely regardless.
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The mountain you see south of Annecy and can drive up in half an hour. The **Semnoz** is a long ridge rising above the town and the lake, its highest point the **Crêt de Châtillon** at about 1,699 metres — one of the easiest places in Savoy to reach a full Alpine panorama with no climb and no cable car. From the top the view turns all the way round: Lake Annecy on one side, the Bauges range on another, and on the eastern horizon **Mont Blanc** on clear days. This is why the people of Annecy drive up here for sunset. It has two faces by season. In **summer** there are open pastures with grazing cattle and the region's cheeses made from them, easy walking paths along the ridge, a mountain-bike trail, and cool fresh air after the heat of the town. In **winter** it becomes a small, plain family resort: short ski slopes suited to beginners and children, long cross-country trails through the trees, and sledging. It is neither a dramatic summit nor a large resort — it is the town's near, cheap mountain, an hour's outing that gives what peaks much further away give.
The lake, the Bauges and Mont Blanc on clear days.
Cattle, local cheeses and easy ridge walking.
Short beginner slopes, cross-country trails and sledging.
Semnoz, 74000 Annecy