Yvoire

Yvoire was fortified around 1306 by Amadeus V of Savoy at the point where Lake Geneva narrows between the large and small basins, a position that controlled the water. Its walls, two gates and square keep survive, and the lanes inside are stone with flowers on every wall, which has won it national flowering awards repeatedly. Inside the castle enclosure, the Jardin des Cinq Sens was laid out from 1986 in the old kitchen garden as a maze of hedged rooms planted for touch, smell, taste, sight and sound. Boats across the lake connect to Nyon and Lausanne on the Swiss shore.

History

In the Middle Ages Yvoire lay in the County of Savoy, a fief of the Holy Roman Empire raised to a duchy in the 15th century. In the 14th century Count Amadeus V fortified the town with the Château d'Yvoire and its ramparts, and as it gained military importance its people were granted tax privileges (Wikipedia, Yvoire).

What's there

• The medieval walls - gates, keep and lakeside fortifications of 1306.
• The Jardin des Cinq Sens - a hedged maze garden planted by sense.
• The flowered lanes - stone streets with dense summer planting.
• The lake crossings - boats to the Swiss shore from the harbour.

When to go

May to September for flowers and boats; the garden opens roughly April to October only. The village is extremely crowded in July and August, and calmer early morning.

Things to know

It is small and can be walked in twenty minutes, with almost every building a shop or restaurant. Summer crowds are heavy. Parking is outside the walls and charged.

Nearby

Thonon-les-Bains lies east; Geneva is west along the shore.

Key facts