What is the Annecy self-guided walking tour?
The Annecy self-guided walking tour is an audio walk through the centre of Annecy: you follow the route on your phone and the narration tells you what you are looking at. Allow roughly 3 hours for the whole thing; the walking itself takes just 20 minutes, spread over 1.5 km and 10 stops. With so little walking, the time belongs to the lake views, the canals of the Thiou and the stories at each stop.
On the Pont des Amours the narration tells the local belief that couples who kiss on the bridge stay together. Beside the statue of Claude Louis Berthollet you hear how a chemist born in Talloires in 1748 found that chlorine bleaches cloth. At the Palais de l'Île, on its island in the Thiou, the story is eight centuries of a building used mostly as a prison, and at the cathedral why the bishops of Geneva moved to Annecy in the 1530s.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 20 min · 1.5 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
How the walk works
Listen
The narration starts as you reach each stop: the history of the place, the legends told about it and the details most people walk past. Prefer reading? The same text is on screen.
Walk
Between stops you simply follow Google Maps. The whole route is 1.5 km, roughly 20 minutes on foot, and the speed is yours.
Pause
Stop for lunch, a coffee or a museum and carry on later, the same day or another one.
Eat and shop
The app suggests places to eat and local shops near the route, and that is also where you change the first stop and the order.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who will enjoy it
Curious walkers
If you like knowing the story behind a façade or a square, every stop gives you one.
Couples and families
Children hear the legends, adults get the history, and nobody has to keep up with a group.
Return visitors
Even if you know the streets, the stories add history and legends you may not have heard before.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The walk stop by stop: Pont des Amours, the lake, the Palais de l'Île, Pont Morens
10 stops · about 20 min walking · start: Pont des Amours · finish: Pont Morens
The walk begins at the Pont des Amours between the Jardins de l'Europe and the Pâquier, passes the Berthollet statue and stops at the Panorama du lac. The Hôtel de Ville comes next, then the old town opens up with the Église Saint-François-de-Sales facing the Palais de l'Île. Through the lanes you reach Notre-Dame-de-Liesse and its square, then Saint-Pierre Cathedral, and the walk ends on the Pont Morens above the canal. Change the start or the order in the app whenever you like, and none of the stops needs a ticket.
Open the route map ↗
1Pont des AmoursStart
The Lovers' Bridge is a slender footbridge over the Vassé canal, linking the Jardins de l'Europe with the lakeside lawns of the Pâquier. From the middle you look straight out onto Lake Annecy and the mountains. Local tradition says that couples who kiss on the bridge will stay together forever.
Read the full story →
2Claude Louis Berthollet
This statue honours the chemist Claude Louis Berthollet, who was born in 1748 in Talloires on the shore of Lake Annecy and died in 1822. He discovered that chlorine could bleach fabrics, which led to the bleach still called eau de Javel in French, and he accompanied Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798.
3Panorama du lac
From this viewpoint you look along Lake Annecy towards the mountains that frame it, among them Mont Veyrier, the Semnoz and La Tournette. Annecy lies at the northern tip of the lake, about 35 kilometres south of Geneva.
4Hôtel de Ville d'Annecy
Annecy's town hall stands on the lakeshore beside the Jardins de l'Europe. It was completed in 1851, when Annecy still belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia, before Savoy became part of France in 1860.
5Église Saint-François-de-Sales
This church on the bank of the Thiou, facing the Palais de l'Île, is dedicated to Francis de Sales. Born in 1567, he led the diocese of Geneva from Annecy as bishop from 1602 to 1622, after the bishops had left Calvinist Geneva, and was later made a saint.
6Palais de l'Île
This 12th-century stronghold stands on an island in the Thiou river in the old town. Until the French Revolution it served mainly as a prison and courthouse, it was a prison again during the Second World War, and today it houses a museum of local history.
7Église Notre-Dame-de-Liesse
This church stands on Place Notre-Dame in the old town and has drawn pilgrims for centuries. Its name comes from liesse, an old French word for joy.
8Place Notre-Dame
This square in the old town opens in front of the church of Notre-Dame-de-Liesse, which gives it its name. Surrounded by old houses, it lies a short walk from the arcaded streets and the canals of the Thiou that shape the old town.
9Saint-Pierre Cathedral
Annecy's cathedral is dedicated to Saint Peter and stands in the old town. Annecy became a Catholic stronghold after the bishop of Geneva took refuge here during the Calvinist Reformation of the 1530s, and the town is still the seat of a bishop.
10Pont MorensFinish
This small bridge crosses the Thiou in the middle of the old town. From it you see old houses rising straight from the water, flower boxes and the reflections of the facades in the canal.
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Australia –
Collected on GetYourGuide
The tour is really just an App which offers you an itinerary and plan of what to do. This is very useful and the temporal aspect very sensible. This type of system allows for exploration of the town in an orderly manner without out the stress of staying on a time schedule. The town is superb. My partner is a gen Y so he overcame the only criticism of the App, which is the map. In the end he used google maps in conjunction with the itinerary on the App. This worked a treat and we had an amazing day.
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Sympa
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
ne pas proposer l’activité pendant de gros événements
France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Erzsebet– Switzerland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Gut
Julie– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide