Experience the best of Chambéry

Chambéry was the seat of the Counts and later Dukes of Savoy until the capital moved to Turin in 1563, and the Château des Ducs, a stout fortress with a Gothic chapel, still dominates the old town. Narrow passages called traboules cut between the streets, and the Fontaine des Éléphants, a monument to a local general who made his fortune in India, has four elephants at its base.

Les Charmettes, the country house where the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived in the 1730s, stands on the edge of town. Lake Bourget, the largest natural lake lying wholly in France, is to the north, with the spa town of Aix-les-Bains on its shore and Hautecombe Abbey, resting place of Savoyard princes, on the far bank. The Bauges and Chartreuse mountain massifs frame the city.

Savoyard cooking means fondue, tartiflette (potato, reblochon cheese and bacon), cured sausages called diots and white Savoy wines such as Apremont. The city's own drink is a pale, dry vermouth. Snow dusts the surrounding peaks in winter, and the ski slopes are close by.