Annecy, Chamonix, and Yvoire: A Weekend Road Trip from Geneva [2026]
Geneva is a perfect basis to explore not only some of the southern parts of Switzerland, but also France. When friends visited from Zürich, we decided to visit some cute cities we have previously heard of – Annecy & Yvoire -, but also went to the mountains to hide from the heat and observe the magnificent Mont Blanc massif.
Day 1 – Drive to Annecy
In the morning, we headed towards Annecy. Annecy is a beautiful medieval city located 35 km away from Geneva. It’s close to the Annecy lake, a highlight of the city. As common in summer 2026, we were in another heatwave during the trip, which definetly makes visiting new places a bit harder. Nonetheless, Annecy is an enjoyable destination with plenty of shade.
What to do in Annecy?
Visit the Old Town
Annecy is a rather small city, with around 50,000 inhabitants. It is located in an idyllic location, nearing a beautiful lake with a spectacular mountain backdrop. Like often happens in such historical places, the best one can do to explore them is just to get lost in the narrow streets, looking up from time to time to see the architectural details that the city has to offer. Some highlights of the city were the Hôtel de Ville, a neoclassic building that is being completely rebuilt in 2026 from inside, and the Palais de l’Ile, a nice monument in the middle of the river.
Enjoy the views of the Thiou river
The river is an unmissable landmark of the city, whose old town is built around it. One can walk around the little streets that surround it, enjoying the picturesque views of the canal. The water levels were quite low when I was there, likely due to the terrible heat we’ve been suffering this whole summer.
Climb to the Château d’Annecy
You can see the castle from almost everywhere in the old town – it’s located a bit uphill from the rest of the city, as castles usually are. One can easily climb to this 12-16th century castle and visit it inside for 7€.
Take a lake cruise
The Annecy Lake offers really spectacular views of mountains raising on the horizon. Thus, an amazing activity to do is to take a boat trip to the lake. You’ll quickly see the pier next to the end of the Thiou river and you can buy the tickets at the counter with the Campagnie des Bateaux. There’s several tour options, ranging from a 1 h drive (19€) to a 1,5 h visit (22€). There are also lunch and dinner cruises. We took the 1 h tour, as it was the next one departing, and were lucky that the boat had a covered ceiling, as it was really hot.
The boat goes around the lake clockwise, starting on the more scenic side in my opinion (better to sit on the left hand side of the boat!). One of the highlights of what you see is the Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard, a beautiful castle on the hill. The 1 h tour turns around before reaching the Château de Duingt, located in a small peninsula, and then it continued its way back to Annecy.
Check out the local markets
Every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday between 7:00 and 13:00 there is a market in the Old Town, selling fruits, vegetables, prepared dishes, traditional cheese and sausages, as well as local specialties such as lavender products. It’s kind of distributed across the city, and if you’re in Annecy at the correct time, it’s impossible to miss!
Drive to Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard
While not technically Annecy, if you come by car the Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard is a nice stop to do, only 20 min away from the city. The outside views of the castle are already really scenic, especially if one finds a good spot. For those who like visiting castles, one can visit it for 15€. Neither my friends or I are such big fans of castles, so we were happy of seeing it from the outside only.
Drive towards Charmonix
The drive towards Charmonix was very scenic. We decided not to do it all in one go but to stop at Megève, a town clearly focused on winter tourism but that was quite lively nonetheless. On our way, we stopped a few times to contemplate the beautiful landscape we were observing, with increasingly high mountains.
The most memorable part of the drive was a sudden storm. We briefly stopped at a small town to go to the bathroom and refill our water bottles, and in the meantime the light rain that was falling developed into a full fledged storm including hail. Even the run to the car only few meters away left us completely soaked!
Day 2 – Hiking near Mont-Blanc and a quick stop at Yvoire
Charmonix Mont Blanc
Our first stop of the day was Charmonix, a small city famous for its proximity to Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe, with 4807 m. Charmonix has plenty of activities, including visiting the Aiguille du Midi, a mountain peak with impressive views, taking the train to see the Mer de Glace, or hiking the Glacier d’Argentière. We decided to go to this location pretty spontaneously, so few of the options were sold out and others were under construction, so we opted out to take the gondola to Brévent and hike the Grand Balcon Sud.
Panoramic views from Brévent
For 43€ the return trip, we took the gondolas that brough us to the peak Brévent, at 2,525 m. The views of the Mont Blanc massif from there are stunning. We also saw many paragliders who were flighing around. We walked a bit around the peak, and considered hiking down to the Lac du Brévent, about 400 m below the peak, but finally opted for a different hike and took the cable car down to Planpratz, the intermediate station, to start our hike. On the top there was a restaurant and a place to take some drinks, so it’s quite developed.
Hike in Grand Balcon Sud
We started a panoramic circular hike of 5.3 km from the station of Planpraz, which was of moderate difficulty physically, and easy technically, with approximately 230 m of height difference. We started the hike clockwise, climbing up a bit before going down a relatively long tretch. Most of the hike was uncovered from the sun, but when we reached the middle part approximately, we could see several trees that gave some shade. After that we started going back to the gondola station, and obviously we now had to climb up.
The highlight of this hike were the spectacular views of the Mont Blanc massif. The combination between the green of the mountain which we hiked (the hike started at 2,000 m and went down to around 1,800 m) and the backdrop of glaciers made it really special.
Quick visit of Yvoire
Yvoire is a really cute town located around 45 min away from Geneva, for which we used it as our last stop before reaching our destination. We arrived at around 18:00, when many people had already left, so there were plenty of parking spots. Moreover, many of the little stores inside the town were still open, so it was a great opportunity to visit without too many people.
There’s a large bathroom right at the entrance of the old town, nearby the city hall. In front of the city hall one can enter into the confined area that is the town itself. Some of the highlights of Yvoire were the port area, covered with flowers; the cute castle; and the church with a blue tower, where many birds seem to have found their favourite meeting spot.
Highlights of the trip
Difficult to choose for such a short trip, but I’ll go with the Mont Blanc massif, mostly because I want to go back there to explore the area more deeply.
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