Example of a driving tour around Annecy

In July, I took a lovely American family on a driving day tour of Annecy surroundings.

They told me what they were interested in and I organized the tour accordingly.

We left Annecy at 9h and drove via Veyrier du Lac then in front of Menthon St Bernard caslte then we stopped for a little hike of Angon waterfall (more details in previous post in Hikes folder).

Above the view on Duingt Castle, below Angon waterfall.

Then we drove Col de la Forclaz to enjoy the amazing view and so they could shop local souvenirs.

Above the view from Col de la Forclaz, below the cow bells and Coucou clocks.

After we drove down to Talloires, we quickly visited the Abbey Hotel (thanks for letting us use their toilets too!) and my customers enjoyed some cakes and ice cream at the famous Bise gourmet boutique.

We then enjoyed the drive along the lake until St Jorioz where we went up the mountains and stop in Chappelle St Maurice at Laperrière restaurant. This lovely family restaurant is amazing and totally authentic, the chef uses fresh local product and the service was really good. We enjoyed some frog legs, a French experience for my customers, and yes they did survived!!! A lot of cyclists also stop there for lunch.

It was difficult with a full stomache to continue the adventure but we drove Col de Leschaux and started to go up the Semnoz mountain. We had a booked a visit of a farm making Abondance cheese.

The guided tour of the GAEC des noisetiers was really interesting and we felt very welcome!

At the end of the visit we enjoyed a cheese tasting, it would have been impolite to say no!

Above the cheese tatsing, Reblochon, tomme, Abondance and Goat cheese.

We took the car again to the top of Semnoz, we were a bit sad as we could not see the Mont Blanc that day but the view was still beautiful.

On the way down, we stopped at the Chevrerie d'Alex (lovely goat farm where you can buy cheese and yogurts), then at Park Grande Jeanne where the deers were having a nap.

The last stop at Basilica Visitation and then I had to say good bye to my happy customers at the end of the afternoon.