This public garden laid out in an arboretum has a large number of species from Europe, America and Asia, noteworthy are the giant sequoias and a gingko biloba ,

Built on an island in the 12C, the residence of the counts of Geneva has been the state mint, a prison (last in use during the Occupation), law courts and these days it houses Annecy’s Heritage Centre. It makes for an attractive scene, with its forbidding walls reflected on the smooth waters of the Thiou.

These well-known gorges are lined with galleries that seem to cling to the sheer walls of the gorges, carved out by the Fier below. After passing under two bridges, visitors leave the gorges and reach a cluster of beech trees. Carry on towards the belvedere located on the furthest overhanging rocky promontory and admire the "sea of rocks", where the presence of a layer of tender earth under the chalky table has resulted in the formation of wild tormented shapes and immense boulders.

The castle stands on an isolated mound between the Fier and its former bed, known as the "Grande Fosse". Built between the 13C and 16C, it is a fine specimen of Savoyard military architecture; a 36m/118ft-tall round keep towers over it. The castle houses important collections, bequeathed, along with the castle itself, to the Académie Florimontane by Léon Marès: weapons, armoury, earthenware, porcelain, Far Eastern ceramics, antique furniture and four 16C bronze reliefs by Nuremberg artists, Peter and Hans Vischer.

At the upper end of the town, not far from Lake Annecy, this château seems to soar into the sky as if wishing to emulate the surrounding peaks. Robust yet refined, this 11C-15C building was extensively reworked in the 19C. St Bernard de Menthon, founder of the Hospice du Grand-St-Bernard was born here in the 11C. Visitors can enjoy a fantastic view of the lake form the terrace.

From the belvedere of a small café (alt 1 150m), there is superb view of Lake Annecy. Its outline seems strangely winding at the foot of the Taillefer, "disfigured" by an enormous quarry. Note the shallow bank just off Duingt, occupied by lake-dwellings in prehistoric times, which casts a yellowish shadow on the deep blue waters of the lake. On the horizon it is possible to make out the ridges of the Vuache Mountain and the southern Jura.