Thoughts on Grenoble?

*Annecy not Annency

Grenoble is a nice college town. It has an old part in the central city that's very nice, with nice parks as well. Not sure about "café scene," but you'll find a variety of restaurants. Keep in mind it's in a valley and has more frequent air quality alerts (and accompanying driving restrictions) than a lot of other towns.

However, unless you have zero interest in mountain scenery and alpine glaciers, I would reconsider Chamonix. Taking the téléphérique up to Aguille du Midi is impressive, and even more impressive is continuing on to Helbronner in Italy and back. It's a chance to see spectacular alpine scenery and glacial landforms with very little effort -- something that's extremely rare indeed. When you reflect on it, there are a lot of towns like Grenoble. There are very few places on earth with the kind of scenery you can easily see by embarking from Chamonix.

Question for Bob: will both lifts be open in May when the OP is traveling? The Aiguille du Midi opens May 1st; what about on the Italian side? No other French lifts will be open.

Bob is right about the air quality in Grenoble. The mountain configuration traps the pollution over the city. That said, we have friends there who enjoy living in the city. We haven't been.

The line to Helbronner opened starting 25 May this year. The one to Aiguille du Midi opened 1 May. I can't predict next year.

Thank you for the information on Grenoble and its air quality. I love the mountains, but I have been all through the Alps already as well as through many western national parks. For this visit, I’m really looking to avoid tourists (particularly Americans) so I fear Chamonix might be a bit too well-known on the tourist trail. Since you’ve mentioned that there are a number of towns and cities just like Grenoble, Could you perhaps recommend some smaller towns or cities near Lyon that have European charm and not very many tourists?

Bob is the expert here, and I hope he answers. Nonetheless here are three towns: Vienne, Valence, Maçon. Vienne, my preference, is an old Roman port town with a lot of Roman sites. Valence, a cote de Rhone town, is also home to an Armenian community who came as refugees in the early 20th C. Maçon is north of Lyon, a Burgundian town, different from those south of Lyon, though it’s in southern Burgundy. Note, I think I’ve read on here questions from people about river cruises starting in Maçon. If so, that attracts visitors. So you’d want to research if any of these are port stops. I don’t remember seeing a lot of non-French tourists in the area.

Thanks Bets! I will definitely look into Vienne. I was also wondering about Aix-les-Bains. It's better location for my route to Annecy but does not appear to have rail service. I'd like to avoid renting a car if possible to lessen some of my carbon footprint from this trip. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on Aix-les-Bains and whether it's a non-American touristy place where one can enjoy French culture and commune with nature. Thanks!!

Aix les Bains does have good rail service, it is on the Lyon-Annecy line. It is a pleasant town with a 19th century spa town flair, definitely less touristy than it's neighbor Annecy, but I have to say that Lake du Bourget is not quite as scenic as Lake Annecy.