Lake Bourget

Lac du Bourget is about eighteen kilometres long and up to a hundred and forty-five metres deep, the largest natural lake lying entirely within France, hemmed on its western side by the Dent du Chat ridge which drops almost straight into the water. Lamartine wrote his poem Le Lac about it after a stay at Aix-les-Bains, which grew as a thermal spa town in the nineteenth century with baths, a casino and hotels for a European clientele. On the western shore the abbey of Hautecombe, burial place of the House of Savoy, is reached most easily by boat, and Gregorian-influenced services are sung there.

History

The lake was formed during the last glaciation of the Alps, and it stretches 18 km from north to south over 44.5 km². In the 13th century it was called the lake of Châtillon, after the castle of that name, and it appears so in the donation of 1125 by which Count Amadeus III of Savoy founded the abbey of Hautecombe "on the shore of the lake of Châtillon"; its present name, recorded as Lacus de Burgeto in 1313, comes from the castle of Le Bourget, the main residence of the Counts of Savoy from the mid-13th century into the next. It is the deepest lake entirely in France, a Ramsar site, and the only home of the now extinct fish called the bezoule (Wikipedia, Lac du Bourget).

What you'll find

• The mountain wall - the Dent du Chat ridge falling into deep water.
• Hautecombe Abbey - the Savoy burial abbey on the western shore.
• Aix-les-Bains - a nineteenth-century thermal town with baths and casino.
• The boat crossings - lake services linking the shores and the abbey.

When to go

May to September for swimming and boats; the lake is cold and deep. Spring and autumn suit walking on the ridge. The Savoyard resorts nearby are winter destinations.

Practical notes

The lake is very deep and cold even in August. Hautecombe is a working monastery with restricted hours and dress expectations. Aix-les-Bains is a spa town with an older clientele and can feel sedate.

Nearby

Chambery lies south; Annecy is northeast.

Key facts