A year-round playground offering everything under the sun

Rhône-Alpes is best known as a top skiing destination, but this belies the wealth of summer sports and activities in both the mountains and lowlands. And you don’t have to be exercise-mad: chilling out comes just as easily as working out!

Three-time hosts of the Winter Olympics (and fingers crossed a fourth for Annecy in 2018!), with 160 winter sports resorts, three of the world’s biggest ski areas (3 Valleys, Paradiski  and Espace Killy) and hugely diverse resort types (family-friendly, ski-in ski-out, village-resorts and hard-core Meccas), plus the nordic sports gems of the Vercors and Jura, Rhône-Alps is the winter destination par excellence. But spring, summer and autumn offer even greater variety: walking, sailing, glacier hiking, lake swimming (the water is 25°C!), golf, cycling (the most exciting stages of the Tour de France are here), climbing, caving, mountain biking, kayaking, via ferrata, hot-air ballooning, mountaineering, rafting, equestrianism, the list goes on… And don’t forget the stunning unspoilt countryside: the region is also home to 6 regional nature parks and 2 national parks.