Five-star hotels on Lake Annecy: Menthon-Saint-Bernard

Lake Annecy hotels: the town or the eastern shore?

Lake Annecy is a glacial lake about 14.6 km long and just over 3 km wide, lying at about 447 m with a maximum depth of 82 m. Annecy occupies its northern tip. Veyrier-du-Lac, Menthon-Saint-Bernard and Talloires line the eastern shore; Sévrier, Saint-Jorioz and Duingt face them from the west.

For anyone comparing Lake Annecy hotels, the first decision is between the town and the shore. A room in Annecy puts the old town, the canals and the railway station within walking distance; our page on Annecy-le-Vieux covers that end of the lake. A room at Menthon-Saint-Bernard trades those streets for water frontage and a village setting, with Annecy about 10 km back along the shore road, reached by bus or, in summer, by boat.

The commune is small. It covers 4.51 km², climbing from the shore at 443 m to 1,229 m below the Dents de Lanfon, south of Mont Veyrier, and it had 1,891 inhabitants in 2023. Its neighbours are Veyrier-du-Lac, Bluffy, Alex and Talloires-Montmin.

From Roman baths to a lakeside resort

People came to bathe here long before the lake became a holiday destination. A Gallo-Roman bath complex of about thirty rooms, covering some 900 m² and in use from the 1st to the 4th century, was listed as a historic monument in 1990. Its water was drawn at a place called Le Var, in a polygonal chamber faced with marble. The remains are on private property.

The village grew up in hamlets below the castle, and the commune took its present name, adding Saint Bernard to Menthon, by decree on 2 March 1943. By the late 19th century Menthon had become a resort. The parish church of Saint-Bernard, in the neoclassical Savoyard style, dates from 1847.

Village life still turns towards the water. Boats and pedalos can be hired at the port, and the Cercle Nautique du Lanfonnet sailing club gives lessons and hires out kayaks and stand-up paddleboards from May to October.

The Château de Menthon and Saint Bernard

The château stands on a rise above the village, on the road that climbs towards the Col de Bluffy. The lords of Menthon are documented from the late 12th century, and the family, which speaks of almost a thousand years in the house, still owns it and lives there. The tourist office describes the original castle as three tall square towers linked by sentry walks around a large courtyard. It became a residence during the Renaissance, gained rooms facing the lake in the 18th century and was reworked between 1860 and 1890, when walls were raised and turrets added. It was listed as a historic monument in 1989, and the protection was extended to the estate and orangery in 2020.

The building has 105 rooms on four levels, and its library holds more than 12,000 works from before 1800, including incunabula and manuscripts. The château opens to visitors from spring to autumn, with guided, themed and costumed tours. Since 2018 the family has developed a permaculture vegetable garden and replanted biodynamic vines on the hillside.

Tradition holds that Bernard of Menthon was born in the castle. He founded a hospice at the top of the Great St Bernard pass and another on the Little St Bernard for travellers crossing the Alps; he was canonised in 1681, and in 1923 Pope Pius XI confirmed him as patron saint of the Alps. Skiers, hikers and mountaineers also count him as their patron. His life is poorly documented and some historians place his birth in Italy, but the tradition gave the village the second half of its name.

The Roc de Chère and Talloires

South of the village, the Roc de Chère juts into the lake as a wooded promontory ending in cliffs; its nature reserve lies in neighbouring Talloires-Montmin. The tourist office puts the whole massif at about 200 hectares; 68 of them have formed a national nature reserve since 2 November 1977, managed by ASTERS, the Conservatoire d'espaces naturels de Haute-Savoie. Glaciers shaped its limestone slopes, sandstone ridges, marshy hollows and a small peat bog, and the result is an unusual mix of plants: species of arctic origin such as rusty-leaved alpenrose grow near heat-loving southern ones such as Montpellier maple. Surveys list about 570 species, 56 of them birds.

The Sentier du Roc de Chère, a 5.4 km walk from the Talloires side with 178 m of ascent, is graded very easy by the tourist office and takes about two hours; a separate belvedere route leads to viewpoints over the lake. Picking plants, camping and fires are prohibited in the reserve. The 18-hole Golf du Lac d'Annecy, created in 1953, is laid out partly within it.

Talloires lies on the far side of the Roc, around its own bay, and since 2016 has formed the commune of Talloires-Montmin. Its history is monastic: in 1018 King Rudolph III of Burgundy gave the estate to the monks of Savigny, and the hermitage of Saint Germain above the village has drawn pilgrims since the 11th century. Cézanne spent July and August 1896 in Talloires with his wife and son; the canvas he painted there, Le Lac d'Annecy, now hangs in the Courtauld Gallery in London. Further south are the 60 m Angon waterfall and, above the valley, the paragliding site at Montmin, which has hosted World Cup rounds.

The beach, the boats and the cycle route

Menthon's municipal beach, on the Route de la Plage, is a grass beach shaded by trees, with a paddling pool, children's games, showers and a snack bar. Lifeguards are on duty in high summer (from 27 June to 31 August in 2026); outside that supervised season, access is free.

Boats link the lakeside villages. The Navibus boats of the Compagnie des Bateaux du Lac d'Annecy call at Annecy, Sévrier, Saint-Jorioz, Duingt, Veyrier-du-Lac, Menthon-Saint-Bernard, Talloires, Angon and Doussard; in summer they serve every port daily, and bicycles can be taken on board. The same company runs sightseeing cruises and a restaurant boat, the Libellule.

A 40 km cycle route circles the lake. The western shore is a fully developed green way suited to families with children; the eastern side, through Menthon, is hillier and better left to experienced cyclists. The Grand Annecy transport service suggests taking the Navibus between Menthon-Saint-Bernard and Duingt to cross the lake instead. Palace guests can hire bikes at reception, and wakeboarding, water-skiing, pedalos and boat hire are available just outside the hotel.

The Palace de Menthon

The Palace de Menthon was founded in 1906 by two brothers, one a chef and the other a maître d'hôtel. The Martin family bought it in 1924; new owners at the turn of the 1990s extended its grounds down to the beach; and in 2018 it joined Lavorel Hotels, after which it gained its fifth star. Its early-20th-century façade stands at the water's edge, with the Roc de Chère directly behind, in a 6-hectare park with 200 m of shoreline, a private harbour and a fine-sand beach with sun loungers and a waterside terrace. The gardens include a Mediterranean-style section.

The Atout France register lists 67 rooms, classified five stars on 17 June 2022; as of September 2026 it is the only hotel in the commune with that classification. The hotel itself counts 66 rooms and suites plus a private villa, Lili's House, in the gardens by the lake. Rooms mix neoclassical references with contemporary mural walls. They range from the 19.8 m² Lakeside Nest to Family Suites of 40 to 50 m² for up to five people, and Lili's Suite, an 80 m² split-level room with wood panelling and a free-standing bath in the former library.

The restaurant is built around a wrap-around Art Deco bay window facing the lake. Executive chef Frédéric Delormes, who trained alongside Stéphane Buron at Le Chabichou, cooks traditional French dishes with Mediterranean touches from local produce, and a smart dress code applies. Bar 1906, run by mixologist Axel Rochebois, draws its cocktails from destinations such as Fortaleza, Krabi and Yokohama, and gives guests a world map to stamp with each one. The Sothys Spa has a pool, hammam and fitness room open to residents; non-residents can book treatments. For drivers, there is a free private car park, underground parking, valet service and electric charging.

Getting to Menthon-Saint-Bernard

The D909, signposted for Thônes, leaves Annecy along the eastern shore and runs through Veyrier-du-Lac to Menthon-Saint-Bernard before heading inland towards Thônes and the Aravis. Without a car, Sibra bus line 20 follows the same shore road from Annecy station to Angon in Talloires-Montmin, stopping in the centre of Menthon, and two taxi firms are based in the village. Times and distances below are the hotel's own.

Beyond Thônes, La Clusaz combines a ski area with reblochon cheese and summer walking. For other five-star bases across the Alps, see our French Alps selection.