France
Annecy
Canals threading through pastel arcades beside a lake so clean you can drink from it.
The lake is absurdly, impossibly clean — mountain springs feed it through reedbeds that filter the water to a clarity that lets you count pebbles three metres down. Annecy in France wraps its old town around canals that empty into this water, pastel arcades and flower-box bridges framing a medieval quarter that smells of Reblochon cheese and fresh bread. The mountains behind are close enough to shadow the town by late afternoon.
Lac d'Annecy is the cleanest lake in Europe, a distinction maintained since the 1960s when the city redirected all wastewater away from the basin. The lake stretches 14.6 kilometres through a glacial valley ringed by the Bornes and Bauges mountain ranges. The old town centres on the Palais de l'Île, a 12th-century fortified house sitting mid-stream on the Thiou canal — one of the most photographed buildings in the French Alps. Annecy hosted stages of the Tour de France and the surrounding cols draw road cyclists to some of the most rewarding climbs in the northern Alps. The Tuesday and Friday markets on the old town streets have run continuously since the Middle Ages.
Couple
Paddle a wooden boat on the lake in the evening, with the mountains darkening and the old town lights reflecting on the water. The setting is romantic without trying to be — the lake does the work.
Family
The lakeside cycle path is flat, car-free, and connects beaches where children can swim in water cleaner than most pools. The old town adds ice cream and canal boats to the mix.
Friends
Paragliding from the Col de la Forclaz lands you on the lake shore. Combine it with cycling the lake, swimming off the rocks, and cheese fondues in the old town — the setting upgrades every activity.
- The lake is fed by mountain springs and filtered through reedbeds — it's officially the cleanest lake in Europe.
- Pastel arcades line the canals of the old town, with the Palais de l'Île sitting mid-stream like a stone ship.
- The lakeside cycling path runs 40 kilometres around the water, flat and car-free, with swimming stops at every beach.
- Reblochon cheese comes from the farms above the lake — buy it at the Tuesday market, eat it that evening.
Reblochon fermier — raw-milk cheese with a washed rind, eaten young and runny with crusty bread.
Féra du lac — a freshwater lake fish served pan-fried with butter and almonds at lakeside restaurants.
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