Annecy had been on my travel wishlist for a while. I was attracted by those beautiful scenes of turquoise lake water with mountains in the background, the picturesque, Venice-like Old Town, and all the water and mountain activities you can do in the surrounding area. It seemed like a great place for an active family holiday, and a part of France that we hadn’t visited before.
We spent a week at Lake Annecy in August with our four children, aged 6 to 15, staying at Camping La Ravoire near Doussard at the southern end of the lake.
Before we went, I’d read plenty about how busy Lake Annecy gets in summer, how difficult it can be to drive and park, and how you really need bikes to get around. Having now done it during the school summer holidays, our experience was quite different.
This guide covers where we stayed, our favourite things to do at Lake Annecy with kids, the best beaches we visited, what we’d do differently next time, and some of the things I wish I’d known before we went.
Is Lake Annecy good for a family holiday?
Lake Annecy was a huge hit with our kids. They loved swimming in the lake, and as parents we found lake days surprisingly relaxing compared with going to the beach. The water was generally calm, there were plenty of grassy and shaded areas, and there was considerably less sand finding its way into every single possession we owned.
There’s also much more to a Lake Annecy family holiday than swimming. Within a relatively small area you have mountains, watersports, pretty towns and villages, walking, paragliding, cycling, summer toboggans and plenty of other activities.
We stayed for a week and, if anything, that didn’t feel long enough. There were still things we wanted to do by the end of the holiday.
For us, a week would be the minimum amount of time I’d recommend if you want a mixture of lake days, mountain activities and sightseeing without trying to cram something into every day.
Where we stayed: Camping La Ravoire
We stayed at Camping La Ravoire, a Yelloh! Village campsite near Doussard at the southern end of Lake Annecy.
We’ve been happy with Yelloh! Village sites before, having twice stayed at Yelloh Village Serignan Plage, and La Ravoire came highly recommended by everyone we spoke to who had stayed there.
It’s a very small campsite, and that turned out to be one of its biggest advantages. You can sit in the bar and restaurant area and still have an eye on children in the pool, at the playground or on the football pitch. Everything is concentrated into one small area, so children can have some independence without ever really being out of earshot.
For primary school-aged children in particular, I think it’s a great site. There’s a full programme of activities for this age group and, because the campsite is so intimate, it’s the sort of place where children are bound to make friends if they want to. For teenagers, it’s a small site which becomes very quiet after around 10pm.
Our nearest beach was Doussard Plage, a short distance away at the southern end of the lake. Doussard is a lively hub for watersports, with several places to eat and drink around the beach, and made a convenient base for exploring the rest of Lake Annecy.
Our favourite things to do at Lake Annecy with kids
We wanted a mixture of lake days, sightseeing and mountain activities. These were some of the highlights of our week.
Spend a day at Talloires Plage
Our favourite lakeside day of the whole holiday was spent at Talloires.
Talloires and nearby Angon were, without a doubt, our favourite part of Lake Annecy. The water is deeper here, which makes it beautifully clear, and the combination of turquoise water and green hills in the background is ridiculously picturesque. It actually reminded me of Saint Lucia in places.
Talloires Plage was particularly good with our older children, who are confident swimmers. There’s a diving platform out in the lake as well as a slide into the water, so they had plenty to keep them entertained.
There is also a shallow paddling pool for younger children, making this one of the best Lake Annecy beaches we found for families with children of different ages.
If we returned, I’d definitely plan more lake days around this part of the lake.
Swim at Angon Plage
Just along the lake from Talloires is Angon Plage, another of our favourites.
Angon is a really pretty beach, with a stream running through it and lots of grassy, shaded areas. The water here was beautifully clear and the views across the lake were some of the best we found.
If your idea of a good lake day involves finding some shade, swimming in clear water and looking at a mountain every time you lift your head up, this is a very good place to spend an afternoon.
Explore Annecy Old Town
Obviously, you can’t come to Lake Annecy without visiting Annecy itself.
The Old Town is incredibly photogenic, with colourful buildings, canals, bridges and cobbled streets. There are also markets on certain days of the week.
We’d been forewarned about how busy Annecy can get during peak summer, so we visited before 10am on a Tuesday morning in August. At that time, parking spaces were plentiful and the town felt surprisingly calm, almost as though it was just waking up for the day.
Annecy itself isn’t huge and you don’t need an entire day just to walk around the Old Town. I’d allow an hour or two for wandering and taking photos, although you can easily stretch your visit out by stopping for lunch, drinks, shopping or visiting the market.
Going early worked brilliantly for us and I’d do exactly the same again.
Visit Gorges du Fier
Gorges du Fier was one of those places that looked interesting when we were planning the holiday.
The walkway takes you through a narrow gorge above the river, with huge rock faces rising up around you. It’s a really cool place to experience with children and doesn’t require a full day.
One thing we hadn’t realised was how long the queues could get.
We initially tried to visit one afternoon and arrived to find a 90-minute queue just to get in. We abandoned that plan and returned another morning for opening time. It happened to be raining, which probably helped, but it was incredibly quiet.
I’d definitely recommend going early rather than taking your chances later in the day during peak season.
Allow roughly an hour for the visit itself.
Watch the paragliders at Col de la Forclaz
This was one of my favourite afternoons of the entire holiday.
We did this quite early in our week, so it was also our first proper taste of Alpine surroundings. Think rolling green hills, mountains, and the sound of cowbells. It felt completely different from being down beside the lake.
Col de la Forclaz is only a short drive up into the mountains from Lake Annecy and there is a fantastic viewpoint overlooking the lake. It’s worth stopping here for the view and photos alone.
From there, we walked uphill for around 20 minutes to reach the area where the paragliders take off.
There’s a viewing area where you can sit and watch them launch themselves from the mountainside one after another. We found it strangely mesmerising and stayed for ages.
It was such a simple afternoon but probably one of the most memorable things we did because it was so different from anywhere we’d been before.
The only problem was that watching everyone else paraglide made me really want to try it myself. We ran out of time during this trip, so that’s firmly on the list for next time.
Take a day trip to La Clusaz
If you’re staying at Lake Annecy for a week or longer, I’d definitely recommend spending at least one day higher up in the mountains.
We chose La Clusaz because it had a good mixture of summer mountain activities and, importantly for our children, two different summer toboggan runs.
We tried both Luge du Bois and Luge des Prés.
If you only have time for one, we’d choose Luge du Bois. We found it faster, more fun and more panoramic than Luge des Prés.
Our other tip would be to head there as early as you can. The queue for Luge du Bois moved noticeably more slowly than the one for Luge des Prés, so it’s worth doing Luge du Bois first.
A mountain resort day also gives you a completely different experience from being beside the lake and is one of the reasons Lake Annecy worked so well for us. You can have a swimming day one day and be riding a chairlift up a mountain the next.
The best beaches on Lake Annecy for families
We tried several different parts of the lake during our stay and quickly realised that the beaches all have quite different personalities.
If I went back to Lake Annecy tomorrow, I’d concentrate most of our lake visits around the stretch between Angon and Talloires.
Talloires Plage: our favourite for older kids
Talloires was our overall favourite.
The diving platform and water slide made it particularly good for older children and confident swimmers, while the shallow paddling pool means there’s something for younger children too.
Most importantly, it was simply a lovely place to spend the day. Clear water, mountain views and enough to keep everyone occupied.
Angon Plage: our favourite for scenery and shade
Angon was probably the prettiest beach we visited.
There are plenty of grassy areas and shade, as well as the little stream running through the beach. The water was beautifully clear and the whole area felt particularly scenic.
If I wanted a relaxed lake afternoon where the main plan was swimming and sitting in the shade, I’d choose Angon.
Doussard Plage: best for watersports and facilities
Doussard was our closest beach and has a very different feel from Talloires and Angon.
It’s a lively hub for lake activities and watersports, with several bars and places to eat nearby. If you want to hire equipment or combine swimming with other activities, it’s a very convenient place to be.
We enjoyed having it nearby, but purely for swimming and scenery, we’d choose the Talloires and Angon side of the lake.
Parking at Lake Annecy beaches
Parking was another thing I’d expected to be difficult before our trip, particularly as we were visiting during August, but we didn’t have any problems finding somewhere to park for our lake days.
Many of the Lake Annecy beaches have additional or overflow parking nearby. No matter what time of day we arrived, we always managed to find a space within a short walk of the beach.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be able to pull straight into the closest car park on a busy summer afternoon, but we never found ourselves driving around endlessly looking for somewhere to leave the car.
This was one of the reasons we found having a car at Lake Annecy much easier than I’d expected. Even during the school summer holidays, driving to different beaches around the lake was straightforward for us.
Things I’d heard about Lake Annecy that turned out not to be true for us
I did a lot of research before our holiday and, while reading reviews and travel forums, kept seeing the same warnings come up.
By the time we left for France, I’d built up a picture of horrendous traffic, impossible parking, packed beaches and a family holiday that would be considerably more difficult because we hadn’t brought bikes.
That wasn’t our experience at all.
Obviously, this is just our experience of one week in August and things will vary depending on exactly when and where you visit. But if you’ve been reading the same warnings I was, hopefully this provides a bit of balance.
“The traffic around Lake Annecy is terrible”
Traffic was one of my biggest concerns before we went.
I’d read so much about how difficult it could be to drive around Lake Annecy that I assumed we’d be at a disadvantage without bikes.
In reality, we drove everywhere and didn’t have any major problems.
That’s not to say traffic jams never happen around Lake Annecy, particularly at the busiest times of year, but it certainly wasn’t the constant problem I’d been expecting. Perhaps this is the Londoner in me talking.
“You need bikes to get around Lake Annecy”
You absolutely don’t.
Cycling around Lake Annecy looks fantastic and there are extensive cycle routes around the lake, but we were travelling as a family of six and didn’t bring bikes with us.
We used the car throughout our holiday and it was fine.
In fact, we’d specifically chosen our campsite partly because it was close enough to the lake that we could potentially walk there if driving in Annecy proved horrendous. In reality, we drove to the lake every time anyway because it was easier with everything we wanted to take with us, and the roads and parking were fine.
So if the prospect of transporting or hiring bikes is putting you off Lake Annecy, don’t let it.
“Water shoes are essential”
I’d read this one so many times that we dutifully bought water shoes for the entire family before we left.
And then we repeatedly forgot to take them to the lake.
On the occasions when we did remember them, they certainly made walking over some of the stonier beaches more comfortable. But we managed perfectly well without them on the other days.
I’d put water shoes firmly in the useful rather than essential category.
Ours cost around £8 a pair from Decathlon, so they weren’t a huge investment and I’d probably buy them again. I just wouldn’t panic if you arrive at the lake and realise yours are still sitting back at the campsite.
“You can’t park in Annecy in August”
Again, this wasn’t our experience.
We visited Annecy Old Town early on a Tuesday morning in August, arriving before 10am. There were plenty of spaces available in the car parks and walking around the town felt surprisingly calm.
I can absolutely imagine that the situation is very different later in the day, so my advice would be simple: go early.
I’d also avoid visiting during the famous Lake Annecy fireworks weekend if crowds aren’t your thing. Thousands of additional visitors come to the area for the event, so the town and surrounding area are naturally going to be much busier.
“Lake Annecy is unbearably crowded in August”
While researching beaches during our stay, I came across plenty of Google reviews complaining about how busy Lake Annecy gets in summer. There were descriptions of being shoulder to shoulder with other people on the beaches and warnings that the whole area was simply too crowded.
We visited during the latter half of August and, genuinely, I didn’t think it felt any busier than other popular European holiday destinations we’ve visited during the school holidays.
Was it deserted? Absolutely not.
If your idea of a perfect holiday is complete tranquillity and feeling like you have a beach to yourself, Lake Annecy in August probably isn’t going to be for you.
But for us it just felt like normal European summer holiday levels of busy. We didn’t spend the week battling through crowds or struggling to find anywhere to sit.
Things we’d do differently next time
There’s always a point towards the end of a holiday when you start mentally planning the version you’d do next time.
The biggest change I’d make would be spending more of our lake time around Talloires and Angon. That stretch was easily our favourite part of Lake Annecy and I’d happily have spent several more days there.
I’d also reconsider how important it is to stay within walking distance of the lake.
We’d chosen La Ravoire partly because of its proximity to Doussard Plage. In reality, we drove whenever we went to the lake anyway, so next time I’d be open to staying slightly further away if the accommodation or campsite suited us better.
I’d stay for longer if possible, too. A week gave us enough time to experience a lot of the area, but not enough to reach the end of our list or revisit favourite beaches.
How long do you need at Lake Annecy?
For a family holiday, I think one week is the minimum I’d want at Lake Annecy.
You could absolutely visit Annecy itself as part of a much shorter trip, but that’s very different from having a Lake Annecy holiday.
With a week, you can alternate lake days with mountain activities and sightseeing without every day becoming a race to tick something off a list.
If we returned, I’d happily stay for 10 days or two weeks. That would give us more time for lazy lake days while still fitting in mountain resorts, walks, watersports and some of the things we missed.
Would we go back to Lake Annecy?
Absolutely.
Although rather than immediately making me want to book exactly the same holiday again, Lake Annecy has made me interested in researching other lake destinations.
It turns out that lakeside holidays might be exactly our thing.
We loved having the water without some of the faff of traditional beach days, while being surrounded by mountains and having so many different activities within easy reach.
Lake Annecy has basically ignited a new love for a lakeside holiday.
I would happily return, though. Next time I’d concentrate more of our lake days around Talloires and Angon, stay for longer than a week if we could.
Lake Annecy with kids: FAQs
Is Lake Annecy good for children?
We thought Lake Annecy was a fantastic family destination. Our children were aged between 6 and 15 when we visited and there was something for everyone, from swimming and paddling to watersports, mountain activities and summer toboggans.
The lake itself was a particular hit. The generally calm water, grassy beaches and shaded areas made lake days very easy with children.
How many days do you need at Lake Annecy?
You can see Annecy Old Town in a few hours, but that’s very different from having a Lake Annecy holiday.
For a family holiday, I’d recommend at least a week. We stayed for seven days and still ran out of time to do everything we wanted.
If you want plenty of relaxed lake days as well as sightseeing and mountain activities, 10 days to two weeks would be even better.
Do you need bikes at Lake Annecy?
No. We visited as a family of six without bikes and drove throughout our holiday without any major problems.
Cycling is extremely popular around Lake Annecy and I’d certainly consider hiring bikes as an activity, but I wouldn’t consider them essential for getting around.
Do you need a car at Lake Annecy?
It depends on where you’re staying and what you want to do.
For our holiday, having a car was extremely useful because we wanted to explore different beaches, visit the mountains and take day trips. If you’re planning a similar family holiday, I’d personally want access to a car.
Is it easy to park at Lake Annecy beaches?
We didn’t have any major problems parking at the Lake Annecy beaches we visited, even during August.
Many beaches have additional or overflow parking nearby. We didn’t necessarily park directly beside the beach every time, but we always found somewhere within a short walk.
Do you need water shoes at Lake Annecy?
Water shoes are useful but, in our experience, not essential.
Some beaches are stony underfoot and water shoes make getting in and out more comfortable. However, we repeatedly forgot ours and everyone still managed perfectly well.
How busy is Lake Annecy in August?
We visited in the second half of August and found it busy without being overwhelmingly crowded.
It felt comparable to other popular European holiday destinations during the summer holidays.
If you want to avoid the busiest periods, visit popular attractions and Annecy Old Town early in the morning and check whether any major events are taking place during your stay.
Is it difficult to park in Annecy?
We had no difficulty parking when we visited Annecy before 10am on a Tuesday morning in August.
Parking is likely to become much harder as the day progresses, particularly during peak summer, so I’d recommend arriving early rather than assuming you’ll easily find a space later.
How long do you need in Annecy Old Town?
I’d allow around one to two hours simply to wander around Annecy Old Town, see the canals and take some photos.
You can easily spend longer if you want to browse the markets, shop or stop for food and drinks, but you don’t need to allocate an entire day just to see the Old Town.
Which is the best beach on Lake Annecy for families?
Talloires was our favourite Lake Annecy beach as a family.
Our older children loved the diving platform and water slide, while there’s also a shallow paddling pool for younger children.
For scenery and shade, we particularly loved nearby Angon Plage. If we returned to Lake Annecy, we’d spend most of our lake days around the Talloires and Angon area.
