5 days in Annecy

We just spent 2 weeks 1/2 hour from Annecy. We had a car but used the regional trains a lot with their July/August inexpensive group fares for the large region, 5-11,50€ per person one way depending on distance. We were a party of 3. We enjoyed visiting Chamonix for our higher elevation experience. We enjoyed lake towns on both Lac Leman and Lac Annecy. There are so many other good choices within a 1-2 hour drive from your location.

Annecy was one of the most busy lake towns we encountered, especially with the warm days we had. They have a nice market 3x per week spilling down many city center streets and bridges. Our vegetarian granddaughter made reservations at Cabana which we all enjoyed. About 1/2 of the menu seemed to be vegetarian and we ordered tapas style. There are hundreds of other restaurants.

Have fun on the lake!

With 5 days, you could head into the Aravis mountains, which provide good, accessible mountain scenery.

Destinations include Plateau de Beauregard, with some broad views including Mont Blanc, accessed by gondola from La Clusaz or walking from col de la Croix-Fry, and you can do an easy hike to Croix de Colomban for some nice views then eat at one of the many restaurants on the plateau.

Plateau des Glieres is also worthwhile, with beautiful meadows and woods along the Sentier de Découverte, a humbling Resistance memorial, and delicious potato fritters chez Constance or chez Regina.

Col des Aravis is a bit more barren, but walking towards the Croix de Fer or, easier, the point called "La Tête", you get great views of the Mont Blanc massif.

Thank you!❤️

Annecy can be quite hot in the summer (the next four days are predicted to go over 90F), so be sure you have plans for coping if you're faced with that. I assume altitude would be the best solution.

You might want to visit Chateau de Menthon-Saint-Bernard, a short and interesting drive 12 km south of Annecy. It is a beautiful fairy-tale-looking castle, with turrets, curtain walls and so on. It is supposed to have been an inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle, but it seems that lots of castles/chateaux that look like this get that tag.
We got there too late to go inside, but there are guided tours on weekends, with costumed guides.

We liked Le Sapaudia for pizza https://www.lesapaudia.fr/ and had a lovely lunch at L'Estaminet https://www.lestaminet-annecy.fr/.