THE CHARM OF ANNECY: 24 Hours in France’s Most Beautiful Lake Town

Annecy might be the prettiest town we have ever visited.

We spent two days in Annecy, France. This town is often called the Venice of the Alps. With canals running through it, cobblestone streets, and the French Alps in the background, it honestly feels unreal.

The first day was packed with festivals, music, and people everywhere. The next morning we got up early and had the whole place to ourselves. From wandering the markets to walking along the lake, Annecy ended up being one of our favorite spots in France.

If you are planning a trip to France or looking for beautiful European towns, French Alps destinations, or unique places to visit in Europe, you should add this one to your list.

0:00 Intro
0:40 Chaotic Night In Annecy
4:13 Peaceful Morning in Annecy
9:01 Trying Fancy Pastries

In the middle of the French Alps, there’s this little town built on canals and surrounded by mountains and a crystal clearar lake. People call it the Venice of the Alps. And once you see it, you’ll understand why. Come with us as we spend 2 days wandering its streets, exploring the canals, and soaking in the views of Anacey, France. The day started in Paris. We headed to the train station, somehow found our train, and rode 3 hours before we stopped in Geneva to pick up our rental car. We drove the 40 minutes to Anacey and got checked into our hotel. Wa! Got a little view. [Music] We got dinner in the newer part of town at a restaurant that had some really good reviews. Okay, so we’re finally making our way downtown into the old part of town, the charming part, the part we came here for. The next few minutes show the side of Anacey that you would never expect. This is not feeling like a charming Beauty and the Beast type town. Oh, okay. That’s more like it. For a second there, it wasn’t feeling like the charming town it was supposed to be. There’s just so much going on. There’s a band right there now. It’s so loud and there’s so much going on. But this is the most charming little area I’ve ever seen. Look at this. As soon as you leave one loud and chaotic area with music, you get into another one and it’s just, oh my gosh, it’s so loud and there’s so many people here. [Music] So that music’s right here and then you turn this way and there’s another separate band just as loud and crazy just 30 ft in the other direction. [Music] Wow. We are trying our best to kind of see this town a little bit, but it is so chaotic. This might be the most chaotic night we felt. And it’s so funny because what I was expecting in coming here was for it to be the the most charming little place. So, we’re going to try to find some ice cream and then go back go down by the lake. So, basically, we walked past like six gelato places where there wasn’t anybody there and then we saw one with a really long line. So, we’re like, that one must be the best. So, we got in line, waited like 20 minutes. Oh gosh, we’re already dripping. We got to go fast. But basically, we got our ice cream. We got our ice cream. I got to let you go. Okay, this is dangerous business. We’ll see you at the lake. Okay, sorry. That was an absolute emergency. We got it to a much more manageable level now. But that was genuinely like some of the best ice cream we’ve ever had, right? That was so good. Worth the wait. But now we’ve come down by the lake. It’s so nice and peaceful down here. Taylor keeps saying that this would be the best place ever to live and it’s just such a such an awesome place. Like it’s cool that a peaceful place like this can also be like super fun. Like those people are all having so much fun out there. Tonight we just enjoy it and walk around and then tomorrow we’ll come back and we’ll like take all the photos and do all that stuff and um we can really show you guys how charming and beautiful this town is. Oh, look at this. [Music] We’ve got to be missing something here. There’s got to be like a festival going on or a holiday or something because there is such an insane amount of people here. I can’t even believe it. It’s not just the downtown around the lake. There’s so many people [Music] Okay, so we made it back to the hotel. It’s only 9:00. That was our goal to get back by 9:00. We’re going to get to bed as soon as we can. And we’re doing that so that in the morning we can wake up super early and get out into that town and show you guys how charming and beautiful it is without all the people hopefully. Sunrise is super early, so we’ll probably be out at like 500 a.m. So, we got to get to bed. So, tomorrow’s going to be an awesome day, and we’ll see you in the morning. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] This is the old town of Anacey, a place that’s been here for over seven centuries. Built along the river, its canals once powered mills and workshops, but today they just add to the charm and give the town the nickname of the Venice of the Alps. Right in the middle of the water sits the Pale Deil. It’s a fortress built around 900 years ago and has since been everything from a courthouse to a prison. [Music] Look at that. Insane. Wow. Look at this. This is the same place we were at last night and there’s nobody out. And it’s the most peaceful, charming thing ever. A lot of people ask us how we get the shots that we get when we’re in big cities and busy places. And the answer is this. It is still not even 6:00 a.m. We got up at about 4:30 to get out here and take some photos and videos. So, I think it’s so worth it to do this when you’re traveling to get to experience this without the million people that were out last night. This has been perfect. We’ve been able to get some really, really cool shots. We’ve had like really perfect lighting. There’s hardly been anybody and we’re actually able to get the shots of the two of us. And yeah, I think we’re just going to keep walking around. The only thing I want to do this morning is there’s this pastry chef here. A couple years ago, he was like voted to be like the best pastry chef in the world. [Music] So, yeah. Basically, if you’re wondering how to get better photos on your next trip, wake up early. It’s always worth it. We just had to head back to the hotel because I somehow full on just forgot my phone. So went and grabbed it and now we’re going to head down to the lake. This place does an amazing job of keeping their town clean. Last night, right out there in that field, there were literally just thousands and thousands of people. And you can already see that there’s no garbage. It’s super clean. The only people that have been out this morning have been people cleaning the town. And they’re doing such a great job. [Laughter] [Music] some very majestic lighting. [Music] [Music] Lake Anacey is often called the cleanest lake in Europe because it’s fed by pure mountain springs and the water is so incredibly clear. [Music] What? There’s babies. There’s babies. This is the best day in my life. If we had another day here, we would 100% take a swim. It looks so enjoyable in that water. The crazy thing about getting out early is the fact that it’s 8:00 a.m. and a lot of people are starting to get up and get going for the day. And we’ve already been out exploring for about 3 hours. You get 3 hours to explore with nobody else around. Kind of have the city to yourself. You get to see all the pretty spots without a crowd. And then you wait until about 8:00 and then all the bakeries open up. So, we’re going to go try to find that bakery that we read. This guy was voted the best pastry chef in the world a couple years ago. So, we’re going to go get some breakfast at his shop. Okay, we’re going to start seeing a lot of the farmers market stuff set up. Weekly markets have been held on these streets for centuries, selling a lot of the same goods as they did generations ago. That is the most impressive market I’ve ever seen. It lines that entire street. And then you can see that it kept going when you turned. I feel like this little like cake thing with that. Thank you. I’m excited. Okay, let’s give these a try. So, here are the flavors we ended up with. We have no idea what these are and we have no idea how to eat them, but we’re just going to use our hands and do our best. You want me to show you the video a video really quick? Sure. So then we you can know how to shout out to this girl Jane Jane Mukbangs. That is so good. Okay, so we looked up those videos so we could figure out how to eat it and how to bite. It looks basically what I got from that is that you just go all in and just take a big old bite. So, let’s see it, Taylor. I got this one. So, I got this one. Okay, now you take a bite. It’s filled. Is it good? Super good. That’s actually very good. Wow. I actually really really enjoyed mine. And I didn’t exactly expect to cuz I’ve never loved like super fancy desserts. That was really, really good. Can I get this? [Music] Okay, that pretty much finishes up our time in Anacey. We had to make it a pretty quick stop. It was just kind of a stop along our route towards Switzerland where we’re going to go spend the rest of the week. So, make sure to go subscribe so you can see those videos. This afternoon, we’re headed to Zeront. We’ll spend a few days there and then we’re going to go spend a few days in the area around Interlacen. Interlacen and it’s seriously some of the most beautiful places in the entire world. So, we’re really excited to see that. Um, I think the videos are going to be awesome. So, go subscribe to see them. Anise was amazing. It’s absolutely one of our favorite little towns. We’d love to spend a little bit more time here in the future. Um, definitely recommend it to anybody who is ever going from France to Switzerland. It’s a very natural stop and it was so much fun. So, thanks for watching this video. We’ll see you next time.