Le Balcon de Chartreuse

Hire a bike or lace up your sturdy boots right on site to take one of the hiking or mountain bike trails passing through the grounds, or arrange caving, paragliding or climbing from the meeting points a short walk away. A tennis court is around a kilometre from your mountain base. A horse riding centre and fishing are within 10 kilometres of Le Balcon de Chartreuse, or you can travel a little further to visit the spectacular glacial lakes of Aiguebelette and Paladru, both around 20 kilometres from the park, for activities such as mountain biking, hiking, swimming, canoeing/kayaking, rowing, a via ferrata and more caving and paragliding. Local town Miribel-les-Echelles is a few minutes' drive or about 10 minutes' cycle away. From here, it's 40 minutes by car to the lively and pretty city of Chambéry, home of the medieval Château de Chambéry where the first counts of Savoy settled in the Middle Ages. Chambéry's also the only Alps settlement where you'll see a few elephants in the Alps: go to the fab Fontaine des Éléphants near the old city centre to snap a pic. Walibi Rhône-Alpes theme park and the L'Île aux Pirates waterpark are 35 kilometres from the site, at Les Avenières.