Chambery or Annecy?

[SJL]

Hi, I'm new here so apologies if this is in the wrong forum!

I'm thinking of coming out to either Chambery or Annecy next spring to undertake an intensive french course (3 or 4 months) with the hope of staying in France permanently (once I've got the lingo mastered!)

2 courses, in both towns, similar price but I can't decide which town to go to!

Any idea what the areas are like? Are they expensive, lots of things to do etc? Is 1 better than the other in terms of places to go and things to see?

Any help gratefully appreciated!

Thanks,

Sam

[Evianers]

Both are lovely. Both are relatively expensive. The lake is a major attraction of course. Annecy is, I think I am right in saying, rated the 5th most attractive town in France for amenities. It has a superb old town full of interest. But if your intention is to master the language, I personally would go for the best course. Good luck. BTW we are going to live further up the lake eventually at......... guess where!

[SJL]

Hi,

Thanks for the info, I must admit from the info and pics I've seen Annecy does look gorgeous! Lucky you moving there!

When you say expensive, is it more than say the riviera? (I'm possibly considering a course down there) Or do you just mean more expensive compared to other towns in the area?

Both courses look pretty good, and they are similar prices too, just to make it more confusing!

Do you know how good things like public transport are? I'm not planning on buying a car unless I can help it, but if it's the sort of place where you can't survive without one then that could be a problem..!:

Thank you again!

Sam

[Evianers]

Sam

Firstly, we are going to live at Evian on Lac Leman, but have toured the area extensively. I would assume you could survive in Annecy without a car - in fact parking is always difficult and expensive. Public transport all right. Not as expensive as the Riviera but then very little is! Chambery is smaller - perhaps not such good PT facilities. As said, both are gorgeous in lovely settings.

[SJL]

I guess I should have read your login name- that obviously gave it away! Sorry, not quite with it this morning!

Thanks for this info, I'd pretty much made up my mind on Annecy, so your input has confirmed it for me!

Good luck with your move, I'm very jealous!

Sam

[JohnM]

Annecy is indeed a beautiful place and the pavement / canal-side cafes are great. Being right on the lake, it has some great Beach Lawns etc. When I take people over to my place I usually include Annecy into the guide tour. If it's running while you are there, do take a steamer trip down to Talloires, once described as being one of the most beautiful places on earth by Winston Churchill.

However, Old Chambery is very nice too, but hasn't quite got the same cafe culture.

 

[Deby]

Annecy is truly a beautiful town and has a good cafe culture, however Annecy is very expensive and accommodation will be undboutedly more expensive especially from Spring through to Summer.  There are tons of tourists too, who either come for the day or weekend.  You might be better off staying in Chambery as it won't be as expensive and accommodation will be easier to find.

Other factor to consider Chambery has a very good train station with excellent rail connections to other regions of France, Switzerland and Italy, so if you want to look around France etc Chambery is always a good starting point.  They do have an airport which gets busy due to the ski season.

Deby

[Teamedup]

Chambery and Annecy are both expensive bourgois towns. The old centres of both towns are beautiful. Annecy ofcourse has it's wonderful lake. Chambery is only a stone's throw from Lac du Bourget. So which?

I like them both. My son's socialise in both towns too. Probably more tourists in Annecy and probably more overseas students in Chambery.

Personally I would visit both and if then you still can't decide, just toss a coin.

 

[jrhartley]

 

Hey

Studied at IFALPES at Annecy last year (3 months 20 hours a week).  Its a reasonably good school, and good value for the lessons.  My take on the two towns would be that Annecy is more upmarket, richer, slightly "older" and more refined - Chambery is marginally edgier and a bit more boho.  Both are great places.  Annecy would probably have the edge for me because of the lake and also because you're only 45 mins from La Clusaz in winter, closer to Geneva if you need to nip back for anything.  If you can get a flat on the canals (IFALPES have a few as part of their accomodation book) then that's great - one of my friends was there and it was wonderful taking drinks on his balcony after classes on Friday afternoons.

PM me if you want to know anything else about the course  - I'm assuming its IFALPES as you're mentioning both Annecy and Chambery.  Oh - and re: accomodation costs - bank of about EUR500 a month through IFALPES in town.  You can walk everywhere in Annecy - you don't need a car, same is true for Chambery.