La Tournette is one of those hikes that defines Annecy. It’s on every postcard, visible from every terrace along the lake, and yet plenty of visitors leave without ever getting close. At 2,351 metres, La Tournette is the highest peak surrounding the lake, recognisable by that distinctive rocky outcrop sitting on the ridge like a natural throne. Think of it as Annecy’s own little Mont Blanc — far more accessible, but no less impressive.
I’ve lived in Annecy for six years, and I’ve climbed La Tournette more times than I can count — in the heat of summer when the car park overflows before 8am, in October when the forests below turn copper, with Cyril, with Rhéa, and alone. It’s probably my favourite hike in the area. It’s also the one where I see the most people get it wrong.
Because La Tournette is not a walk. It demands physical fitness, a steady foot, and above all, the ability to turn back. In this guide I’ll give you all four itineraries that reach the summit, with accurate figures, honest advice, and what I’d tell a friend who asked whether they should go.
La Tournette Annecy: everything you need to know before you go
A summit at 2,351 metres — the highest point in the Bornes massif
La Tournette dominates the entire Annecy basin. It’s the highest summit encircling the lake and the culminating point of the Bornes massif.
The rock is limestone, as throughout the northern Prealps. That explains the summit’s shape: large tilted slabs, rocky ridges to navigate around, and in places lapiaz — those limestone plates carved by water that look like an open-air labyrinth. The rock holds well, but the passage has polished it smooth, and when it’s wet it becomes genuinely treacherous.
Everyone’s landmark is the Fauteuil — the “Armchair”. That big rock you can see from the lake, perched at the end of the summit ridge. The cross sits on top. To reach it, you climb a chimney fitted with ladders and chains. It’s not long, but it’s vertical, and in summer there’s often a queue. From the top, you can see Lac d’Annecy roughly 1,900 metres below across its entire length, the Aravis range opposite, the Bauges massif on the other side, and Mont Blanc when the sky is clear. It’s the kind of panorama that makes a 5am alarm worth it.
A genuinely difficult hike — and I mean it
I don’t want to put anyone off at the start. Hundreds of people reach the summit every day during peak season; it’s not Everest, and many people do it perfectly well. But I’ve also met a lot of hikers in trouble up there — managing certain sections rather than handling them, sometimes in real danger without realising it.
The elevation gain isn’t the real problem. Around 1,200 metres is a lot, but with a full day ahead it’s manageable. What catches people out is the technicality of the final hour. On the last few kilometres you’ll encounter handrails, cables, sections where you need to use your hands. Going up, it’s fine because you can see where you’re placing your feet. Coming down is a different story. Your legs are tired, your eyes are looking into the void, the rock is smooth. That’s where I see people freeze.
So, bluntly: if you don’t do much hiking, if you’re prone to vertigo, or if you’ve never scrambled on rock, this isn’t the place to start.
When to hike La Tournette
La Tournette isn’t accessible all year, and this is where I’m most categorical.
Snow lingers well into spring, often until June. The Lac d’Annecy tourist office recommends visiting between 1 July and 15 October, subject to conditions. On the ground it shifts every year — some seasons it’s hikeable from mid-June, others you need to wait until July. There’s no official opening date; it’s not a theme park.
As long as there are snowfields, I’d really advise against it. Following several accidents in spring 2025, the mayor of Talloires-Montmin issued an order banning hiking above 1,700 metres until the snow melts, with signs at the Chalet de l’Aulp, at the Montmin start, and at the 1,700m mark. This kind of order can be renewed each spring, so check the mairie’s website before heading out.
My favourite season is autumn, without question. Far fewer people, the forests below are ablaze with colour, the light is low and soft all day, and the weather often stays stable. September and October are genuinely the best time for this hike. One constraint: the days shorten quickly, so leave early and work backwards from your descent time.
Which route to choose according to your level
Four starting points lead to the summit. None of them is easy, but they have very different characters.
From the Chalet de l’Aulp (Prés Ronds car park): the shortest and most popular. Around 1,200m of ascent. This is the route everyone takes, with the refuge and lake views almost from the start. It also concentrates the cabled sections.
From Montmin: the same route but starting from the village 200 metres lower down. A little more walking, less car park stress, and my personal favourite.
From Thônes via Belchamp: the eastern face, much wilder, far fewer people. The trade-off: no lake views until you reach the ridge, and lapiaz to navigate.
From Talloires: the full version, from the lakeside to the summit. Around 2,000m of ascent. For the seriously fit only.
Hiking La Tournette with a dog: possible but very tricky
I get asked this a lot, so let me be straight. Dogs are technically allowed. In practice, the summit section is very challenging for a dog. The handrails, the tilted slabs and especially the Fauteuil chimney are not passable by a dog on its own.
We do bring Rhéa up. But certain sections are genuinely tricky, and Cyril has to hold her and help her through. That’s two of us, with a dog we know inside out, on a route we’ve done countless times. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone doing this hike for the first time.
My honest advice if you’re not experienced hiking with a dog: go up to the Chalet de l’Aulp or the refuge, enjoy the view, and head back down. You’ll get 80% of the pleasure with none of the stress. If you’re after a dog-friendly summit in the area, the Pointe de Talamarche hike is far better suited — Rhéa loves it. And in any case: keep your dog on a lead in the alpine pastures, there are livestock on virtually every route.
Hiking La Tournette safely and responsibly
This is the section I’d want everyone to read, because La Tournette is a fragile site that absorbs enormous footfall.
Bivouacking is prohibited. Cyril and I camped up there in 2019, and honestly it was a beautiful memory. But the rules have changed since, and I wouldn’t do it again. Municipal order 80-2021 from the commune of Talloires bans bivouacking and wild camping from 1 May to 15 October anywhere within one hour’s walk of a car park. The massif is also classified Natura 2000, much of the land is privately owned, and owners have put up their own prohibition signs. The reason is simple: too much litter, too much damage. If you want to sleep in the mountains nearby, the Refuge de Pré Vérel, just below, is staffed and welcoming.
Stay on the path. The soft barriers between the Chalet de l’Aulp and the Casset are not decorative. Cutting across the alpine pastures destroys vegetation and accelerates erosion — which is precisely what made the major trail restoration works necessary, closing access for several months between 2023 and 2024.
Respect the livestock. There are cows and sheep on almost every route. Dog on a lead, give a wide berth, don’t approach calves, close any gates behind you.
Pack out your rubbish. Including banana skins and tissues. There are no bins up there, and at this altitude nothing decomposes.
Don’t dislodge rocks in the cabled sections. There are often people below you. If a stone goes, shout.
On safety: check the forecast the evening before and again in the morning, bring at least 2 litres of water (2.5 in peak summer), a waterproof jacket even if it looks blue down at the lake, food, a small first-aid kit, and a head torch if you’re setting off early or late. Mountain rescue in France: call 112. And tell someone where you’re going.
On wildlife: you have a very good chance of spotting ibex on the upper section, sometimes chamois and marmots. Take binoculars rather than trying to get close.
La Tournette hiking routes in detail
La Tournette from the Chalet de l’Aulp: the classic route via the Prés Ronds
🚶 Distance: 11 to 12.5 km return
📈 Elevation gain: approximately 1,200m
⚠️ Difficulty: difficult, cabled sections and ladders, real exposure
💧 Water point at the Col de l’Aulp, nothing above
🐶 Dogs: not recommended beyond the refuge
This is the route that comes up first when you search how to hike La Tournette from Annecy, and the one everyone will recommend. It’s also the one I choose most often, even though it’s the busiest line on the massif. Why? Because it passes the Tournette refuge, and because the lake views arrive early. From the moment you leave the treeline, the lake is below you and barely leaves your sight until the summit. On the other faces, you have to wait until the ridge.
Start and car park. Park at the Prés Ronds car park at 1,216m, at the end of the tarmac road. You can reach it from Annecy via Talloires and the Col de la Forclaz, or via Vesonne. Allow around 35 minutes from Annecy. The car park is small and fills very quickly. In July and August at weekends it’s full well before 8am. And no, you can no longer drive up to the Chalet de l’Aulp: since 2021 that car park is reserved for the chalet’s customers and the alpagistes. Leave early — that’s genuinely the only advice that works.
The ascent. From the car park, you climb through meadows for about twenty minutes to the Chalet de l’Aulp (1,424m). It’s a family-run mountain chalet where you can eat and buy locally made tomme and reblochon. Stop for two minutes to take in the lake view — it’s already stunning.
Above the chalet, the path heads up in zigzags at a serious gradient. The passage is now well channelled by soft barriers up to the first rocky step, an improvement installed after the trail restoration works in 2023 and 2024. Stay within them — they’re there to prevent the alpine pastures being trampled.
You skirt the Pierre Chatelard cliff on the right, with a vertiginous drop to the lake, then emerge into a hollow where the Tournette refuge sits.
The upper section. Above the refuge, vegetation disappears. You traverse the Casset cliff face, cross a zone of rocks and lapiaz where the path is no longer really marked — everyone picks their own line. This is where the cables and handrails begin. Take your time, place your hands carefully, and don’t overtake anyone in the narrow sections.
A variant exists via the Col du Varo (2,151m), more direct. I’d advise against it: it has ageing handrails and red warning signs now flag the danger of descending by this route.
The summit comes after 3 to 4 hours of effort depending on your pace. The Fauteuil is climbed via a chimney fitted with chains and ladders, and the cross is just above.
The descent. Allow 2 to 2.5 hours. Never underestimate this timing, especially in autumn. And keep some energy in reserve for the cables — they’re at their most impressive in descent.
The Tournette refuge: closed since 2009
Perched at 1,774 metres, the Tournette refuge — also known as the Refuge Blonay-Dufour — is a striking building that catches every hiker’s eye. Unfortunately it has been closed since 2009 and is unlikely to reopen any time soon.
Located on the western flank of La Tournette, above the Chalet de l’Aulp, the refuge is reached via a path that branches slightly off the main summit route. While the interior is no longer accessible, the exterior structure remains intact, offering a landmark and basic shelter in an emergency. Note that bivouacking is prohibited in this area, the land is private and classified Natura 2000, and there is no water point immediately nearby. The closest spring is about 700 metres higher, but its flow is weak, especially in summer.
La Tournette from Montmin: a slightly longer approach
🚶 Distance: 13 to 15 km depending on the variant
📈 Elevation gain: 1,340 to 1,480m
⚠️ Difficulty: difficult, same summit section as the classic route
💧 Water point at the Col de l’Aulp
🐶 Dogs: same caveats as the classic route
A slightly longer option that joins the classic route partway up. Montmin has three parking areas: at the mairie, at the church, and lower down in the village along the D42. The most convenient is the small car park between the primary school and the cemetery, at around 1,035 metres.
The route. From the car park, head up towards the church, then at the lavoir (wash house) take the Tournette path straight ahead, heading for the Chalet de l’Aulp via the Lieuses. You cross the hamlet of Les Lieuses (1,151m) then Les Sétets (1,203m) on an almost flat path before coming in sight of the Prés Ronds. From there you join the classic route: Chalet de l’Aulp at 1,428m, steep zigzags, Chalet du Casset at around 1,808m, then the rocky section and the Fauteuil.
It adds around 3 kilometres and 200 metres of elevation versus setting off from the Prés Ronds. Over a full day it barely changes anything, and that’s three fewer kilometres of driving.
The loop variant. If you’re a strong walker, you can descend via the southern face, passing the Pointe des Frêtes and the combe that leads directly back to Montmin. This makes a loop of around 13 km with 1,355 metres of elevation gain. It’s wilder, but the path is less obvious, with slippery sections on bare earth and sparse waymarking. A GPX track is recommended.
There’s also an approach via the Combe Charvet and the Lars cliffs, considerably more committing, with a short rock-climbing move at the Pas des Lars. I mention it for completeness, but this is mountain terrain, not hiking.
La Tournette from Thônes: the eastern face via Belchamp
🚶 Distance: 10 to 10.5 km return
📈 Elevation gain: 1,270 to 1,380m
⚠️ Difficulty: difficult, lapiaz and sparse waymarking near the ridge
💧 No reliable water source
🐶 Dogs: not recommended, unstable terrain
This is the least-visited of the four itineraries, which is exactly why I like it when I want some solitude.
The start is at the hamlet of Belchamp, above Thônes, at around 1,090 metres. From Thônes, take the D12 towards the Col du Marais, and roughly 3 kilometres past the town turn onto the small road climbing to Belchamp. It ends in a small car park.
The ascent begins on a wide stony track, then a steep forested path in zigzags — very typical of this north-eastern face. Watch out in summer: the sun hits hard here from early morning.
After about 1.5 hours you emerge onto the Rosairy meadow and its centenary refuge. It’s not a sleeping refuge, but it’s a pleasant halt and a solid landmark in a climb that otherwise looks much the same throughout.
Then it gets more technical. You cross a vast zone of rocks and lapiaz, with steep sections and waymarking that becomes sparse as you approach the ridge. Stay alert to the traces — this is where people most easily go off-route on this itinerary.
You arrive at a small col, and suddenly everything opens: the lake appears, and the Fauteuil is right in front of you. You climb it via the chain-equipped chimney.
What I love: the ascent in layers — dense forest, then alpine pastures, then pure rock. And the panoramas that reveal themselves through the trees across the Aravis and the Sulens. There are often goats on the lower sections and ibex higher up.
What you need to accept: no lake views until the ridge, and no Chalet de l’Aulp or Tournette refuge on the way. If this is your first Tournette, I wouldn’t start here.
La Tournette from Talloires: the full version from the lake
🚶 Distance: approximately 11 km (ascent only)
📈 Elevation gain: approximately 2,000m
⚠️ Difficulty: very difficult, significant physical commitment
💧 Bring plenty — water sources are rare
🐶 No
This is a different category entirely. You start from Talloires harbour at 450 metres and climb to 2,351. Almost 1,900 metres of elevation gain in one shot, without a break. It’s the route for very fit hikers, trail runners training for the Maxi Race, or anyone looking for a serious challenge. The logic is obvious: start from the lake you then look down on for the entire ascent, arriving at the summit having done every metre of vertical. Nothing is more satisfying.
The Talloires sports club organises a race every September following exactly this line: 1,870 metres of ascent over 10.9 kilometres. The best runners complete it in under ninety minutes, which gives you a sense of the undertaking.
For a hike, allow a full day, an extremely early start, and plenty of water. The summit section is the same as on the other routes — cables and the Fauteuil — except you arrive there having already climbed 1,800 metres. That’s precisely what makes this version demanding: the technical section comes when you’re most exhausted.
A smart option if you want to experience this face without destroying your knees: ascend from Talloires and descend to Montmin or the Prés Ronds, with a car dropped at the bottom.
Is La Tournette dangerous?
Depending on the season and your level, it can be. It’s not an extreme hike by default, but it is exposed — and that’s not the same thing. Over six hours of ascent, there’s really only one section that demands full attention: the last few metres. The final push features chains, handrails, and two metal ladders leading to the Fauteuil — that square rock on the ridge you can see from the lake. About twenty metres, very airy, with a final ladder that makes an impression. It’s not technical — there’s nothing to know how to do — but if you’re prone to vertigo or unused to mountains, you’ll feel it.
Years of foot traffic have polished the limestone below the summit. In places it’s like walking on tiles. Dry, it holds well. Wet, it doesn’t forgive. That’s why I keep saying: if it rained the day before, it’s worth postponing.
No special equipment needed — but proper footwear is non-negotiable
It’s not rock climbing. No harness, no helmet, no via ferrata lanyard: the cables are handrails, you hold them and that’s it. They’ve been replaced and are solid. That said, footwear is not optional — you need proper hiking boots. I’ve seen people head up in smooth running shoes. It’s the best way to end up on your backside on the descent.
What’s actually dangerous — and causes accidents every year
It’s the snow. In May 2025, two trail runners aged 23 and 28 died after slipping on a snowfield near the Pointe de la Bajulaz. They fell more than 200 metres. The day before, two hikers had slipped at the same spot and ended up in Annecy hospital. The mayor of Talloires-Montmin banned access above 1,800 metres until the snow melted.
These were fit people, and it didn’t happen on the exposed section. It was spring snow, on a face where the lower slopes were already green. That is exactly the trap of La Tournette: being impatient to do it without factoring in the snowfield risk, or not turning back in time.
So, should you go?
If you have hikes of 1,000m+ elevation gain under your belt, the weather has been dry for two days and it’s between late June and mid-October: yes, go for it. Outside that window, there are honestly better options. And if you get to the foot of the Fauteuil and it’s not happening — stop. You’re at 2,340 metres, you already have all the views, and there’s no medal for the last twenty metres.
Don’t want to reach the summit? Three solid alternatives
It’s worth saying, because a lot of people push themselves beyond their comfort or ability and have a miserable day.
The Chalet de l’Aulp. Forty minutes from the Prés Ronds, a terrace, a beautiful lake view, locally made reblochon. A proper outing in its own right, doable with children.
The Tournette refuge. Around 1.5 hours from the car park. You reach 1,774 metres, with a plunging lake view, a stunning building, and you stop before all the technical sections. This is my top recommendation for anyone who wants the Tournette atmosphere without the stress.
The Pointe de Talamarche. Just across the valley, far less crowded, with a superb view back onto La Tournette itself. It’s a great option if you want a summit without the technicality, and the views across to the Tournette from the top are spectacular. You’ll also find more ideas in my Annecy hiking guide.
Frequently asked questions about hiking La Tournette
How long does it take to hike La Tournette?
From the Prés Ronds, allow 3 to 4 hours up and 2 to 2.5 hours down — 6 to 6.5 hours total with breaks. From Montmin, add a good hour. If you want to start from Talloires, allow a full day.
Is La Tournette dangerous?
It’s not inherently dangerous, but it is exposed. There are sections where a fall would have serious consequences, and the polished rock becomes slippery in wet conditions. Accidents on this massif do happen, mostly in spring on snowfields, or on the descent over the slabs.
Can you do La Tournette with children?
Not to the summit, unless the children are very experienced in the mountains. Up to the Chalet de l’Aulp or the refuge, yes, without any problem.
Can you climb La Tournette in winter?
Not as a standard hike. The massif can be done on ski touring or snowshoes by properly trained and equipped individuals, with real avalanche risk. It is not a winter objective for a typical hiker.
Is the Prés Ronds car park free?
Yes, but it’s small and fills up before 8am in season. There’s quite a bit of room along the approach road.
What is the best starting point for La Tournette?
For a first visit, the Chalet de l’Aulp (Prés Ronds car park) is the most straightforward and scenic. If you want to avoid the car park rush and don’t mind a bit more walking, Montmin is my preference. The Thônes approach is for those who want solitude and a wilder experience.