Chartreuse Massif

The Chartreuse is a compact limestone range of forested slopes, cliff bands and narrow gorges between Grenoble and Chambery, and it gives its name to the order founded here in 1084. The Grande Chartreuse monastery is closed to visitors entirely, since the monks live in near-total silence and solitude; a museum in the former outbuildings at La Correrie explains the life instead. The order has made Chartreuse liqueur since the eighteenth century from a recipe of around a hundred and thirty plants known to only a few monks; production moved from Voiron to Aiguenoire in 2018 and the old cellars still run visits. The Grand Som is the classic walk.

What you actually see

• The monastery valley - the closed Grande Chartreuse seen from the path above.
• La Correrie museum - the Carthusian life explained in the outbuildings.
• The liqueur cellars - ageing and history at the Voiron site.
• The limestone walks - Grand Som and the cliff routes above the forests.

When to go

May to October for walking; the massif is a modest ski area in winter with roads that need equipment. Autumn colour in the beech forests is good. Museum hours reduce in winter.

Honest expectations

The monastery cannot be visited and the surrounding zone asks for silence, which is enforced. Mountain roads are narrow and steep. The liqueur cellars are a commercial visit.

Nearby

Grenoble lies south; Chambery is north.