The story of Lake Annecy

The lake before you was born about 18,000 years ago, when the great Alpine glaciers melted. Back then it was far longer, some 35 kilometres, compared with about 15 today, because rivers have steadily filled its ends with sediment; in a few tens of thousands of years it is expected to fill up completely. It stretches into the mountains in the shape of an S, with a Grand Lac to the north and a Petit Lac to the south.

In medieval times the southern part even had its own name, the lake of Duingt. Besides several streams, the lake is fed by a powerful underwater spring, the Boubioz, which gushes out at a depth of 82 metres. The water leaves through the Thiou, and its level has been regulated since 1876. The Île des Cygnes, the lake's only island, is artificial.

Among the surrounding peaks, La Tournette, at 2,350 metres, is the highest visible from the whole lake.