Annecy: the Venice of the French Alps

Overlooking one of Europe's cleanest lakes, Annecy crosses its own historic center with canals earning it the nickname 'Venice of the Alps'.

The center, nicknamed Venice of the Alps for its canals, can be comfortably visited on foot.

The Palais de l'Île, a former prison now a museum, rises on an artificial island in the middle of Thiou canal, among the city's most photographed buildings in the old town.

Just steps away, Lake Annecy, among Europe's cleanest thanks to a purification system begun in the sixties, offers beaches and walks along its shores.

Continuing along the canals you walk through the old town with half-timbered houses colored, facing directly onto the water.

Toward evening, Annecy Castle, on the hill overlooking the historic center, offers a panoramic view over the lake and surrounding Alps.

Lake Annecy, often called Europe's cleanest lake, owes its clarity to an ambitious water purification project launched in the 1960s to halt industrial and agricultural pollution.

The Palais de l'Île, built in the twelfth century, served over the centuries as a noble residence, mint, courthouse, and finally prison, before becoming the city's tourism symbol.