Annecy parking and hotels

I have just spoken with the tourist office in Lac Annecy. We were there last autumn and it was a really nice place. There is some zone bleu parking but that means the car needs to move and the clock reset every 2 hours. The suggestion is to use inside car parking structures where you can expect to pay €12 per day.

I'd suggest staying right in the center. Then you can walk everywhere and have no need for a car unless you plan to go outside Annecy. Here's a parking map from the tourist office. You can always park in one of the free areas away from the center and just leave your car.
http://www.lac-annecy.com/galerie/userfiles/file/parking_annecy.pdf Annecy's great. I wrote a few blogs after my visits. Here are links to a couple of postings in 2010. There are also several posts at the same site in April 2009. http://www.mainelywinenews.blogspot.com/2010/04/ice-cream-in-annecy-fondue-in-geneva.html http://www.mainelywinenews.blogspot.com/2010/04/back-in-annecy-france.html

We stayed at the Hotel du Palais de l'Isle (http://www.palaisannecy.com/en-hotel.htm) in Annecy last June. We used the underground parking lot #P3 shown on the pdf map link of the previous poster. The hotel gives you a coupon that provides a substantial discount. We parked our car there for 3 nights and it was worth every Euro. If you decide to stay there, park first and take your luggage the easy 2 blocks over to it. I highly recommend staying right in the heart of the town. It's lovely. Here's a link to my blog entry about it -- http://travelswithtrout.blogspot.com/2011/10/europe-june-2011-annecy.html. Whatever you decide, be sure to have ice cream at the Glacier des Alpes -- http://www.glacesdesalpes.com/accueil.php?lng=EN. There were many ice cream places downtown, but this one right behind our hotel always had a line. We found out why and you should, too. The restaurants I linked in that blog entry were also excellent.

Connie, I second Glacier des Alpes. I also wrote it about it in my blog. I'd also highly recommend Lilas Rose as place for dinner or lunch. And if you like cheese, check out Fromagerie Pierre Gay at 47 rue Carnot, a pedestrian street.
And what hotel did you choose?

Thank you for the responses. Nigel-I lucked out, You knew exactly how much it would cost to park. Thank you for the great information Lo- Thanks for the great info and I will be reading your blog! I love ice cream, so count on me to have a cone at Glacier des Alpes in your honor while I am there. Robert- I will be reading your blog. Good tip on parking out in the free are and walking in. This morning I reserved the room right in downtown Annecy. It is a "humbler" hotel than the one outside of town, but I will take location over frills any day of the week. We can make the car work, so ...decision made!

I booked Hotel Central. Anybody have any thoughts on that hotel. The one outside the downtown area was Hotel Bellevue. It gets good reviews on Trip Advisor. We are budget travelers. Our trip this year is 5 weeks, so I am watching the budget when it comes to places to stay. My husband LOVES cheese, so we will check your recommendation out!

Wow Nigel, how nice of you to call Annecy to find out... What a nice guy you are!

The location of the hotel is great, and it looks very nice. And the cheese shop is right around the corner!