France’s busy summer holiday hotspot that’s perfect for September hikes

“Do you eat to hike or hike to eat?” David smiles taking out an old French camping knife and cutting up chunks of bread and local cheeses: Tomme de Savoie, smooth and buttery with its hard brown rind, Beaufort, firm and nutty like Gruyere, and Bournette Fleurie, softer, creamier in its coating of crushed wildflowers. He fishes out a bag of “mini-marshmallows” which, we discover, are freeze-dried nuggets of goats’ cheese – the French equivalent of Kendal Mint Cake. “In France, you can’t go on a hike without saucisson.” He slices a rough, dry-cured sausage that we’ve seen in épiceries in the villages we’ve wandered at the end of each day’s hiking, the pork flavoured with the region’s most famous cheese, Reblochon. Shorts “I say we hike to eat!” he laughs adding paper bags of ripe cherries and velvety apricots to the picnic spread. We feast on the ground gazing down over Lake Annecy from our vantage point on top of the ridge. The sun is beating down. Today has been more of a steady climb than a hike, zigzagging to the top of Mont Veyrier through shaded woodland, stopping to gulp down water, scouring the forest floor for wild orchids and delicate lys martagon (Turks Cap lilies). The landscape is very different from the previous days’ hiking in the Aravis mountains in the Haute Savoie. We’re on Inntravel’s latest self-guided walking holiday, a classic inn-to-inn trip bedding down in small, family run hotels to which our luggage has been transferred after each day’s walk. David devised the route with Inntravel and is walking with us on the final day. The trip shines a spotlight on a lesser-known corner of the Haute Savoie region. The area’s star attractions are Chamonix and Mont Blanc, but the Aravis massif, the foothills of the Alps, is tucked away from the crowds. Hiking in the mountains around Lake Annecy (Photo; Provided) Our journey began in the Alpine town of La Clusaz, originally a farming village which became a tourist destination in the early 20th century after a road was built connecting it to Annecy. It held its first skiing competition in 1907. In summer, it’s a low-key walking hub. From here, we travel on foot to the villages of Le Chinaillon and La Grand-Bornand, finishing in the medieval town of Annecy, dubbed the “Venice of the Alps” for its canals and hugging the shore of Lake Annecy. In summer, the lake is one of the most popular tourist destinations in France, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. July is busiest, followed by August and June. September visits are becoming more popular, but things quiet down considerably in October. Lacing up our hiking boots on the first day we check out of Hotel les Sapins, a storybook chalet all pine-cladding and gingham frills, and hop on the free bus up to the chapel at Les Confins to hike the 16km route along the upper Borne valley to Le Chinaillon. The area is better known for summer tourism (Photo: Provided) The scenery is spectacular, the path meandering through mountain meadows full of buttercups, clover, ox-eye daisies and delicate harebells, passing old wooden barns and skirting beneath the jagged limestone peaks of the Aravis range. The highest, Pointe Percée, soars to 2,750m. The soundtrack along the way is the gentle clanging of cowbells, completing the bucolic idyll. We stop for lunch at La Cheminee (named for the distinctive local chimney style), a restaurant in the high hamlet of Col des Annes scattered with farms advertising Reblochon. This raw cow’s cheese is traditionally made from the second milking. In the 14th century farmers were taxed on the amount of milk they produced so would not fully milk their cows. The secret second milking produced a richer, creamier cheese. In the restaurant’s dark wooden interior, we see hams smoking inside the large chimney, before tucking into platters of local charcuterie and one of the region’s specialities, tartiflette – layers of sliced potatoes, Reblochon, garlic and herbs. After our refuelling pitstop, we wind our way down through grassy pastures and along hedgerow-trimmed lanes, to the picturesque village of Le Chinaillon and the traditional Savoyard chalet-style Hotel l’Alpage. Chalets in Vieux village(Photo: Tilby Vattard) Le Chinaillon’s vieux village is peppered with old wooden farmhouses, some dating back to the 1600s, and a tiny chapel. From here to Le Grand Bornand is a gentler 9km walk – starting with a steep ascent out of the village and a heart-stopping sight: a bearded vulture soaring high above the sheer limestone formation of the Pic de Jallouvre. Hunted to extinction in the 19th century, they have been successfully reintroduced. We arrive in the middle of the weekly market, people milling around stalls piled high with fruit and veg, jams and cheeses. Le Grand Bornand is a bustling village, renowned for graffiti – and cow – art. Our hotel, La Croix St Maurice, is on the square looking over the church of Notre Dame de l’Assomption. From here there’s a short transfer to the start of the 15km final leg to Annecy, the ascent and descent of Mont Veyrier. From the top there are views over the lake; in the other direction you can make out the snow-capped summit of Mont Blanc. Lucy Gillmore hikes to eat (Photo: Provided) The route down is a knee-jarring schlep. Emerging from the woods onto the lake shore, hot and dusty, people are swimming and sunbathing on the beach, cycling around the lake and boating on its clear waters. The town is a dreamy jumble of postcard-perfect medieval buildings, thronged with tourists eating ice-creams overlooking the canals and sipping aperitifs in pavement cafes. It’s a world away from the mountain villages and Alpine scenery on the other side of the ridge. Yet it’s the perfect place to end the walk – and prove David’s point. Le Freti is a rustic restaurant in the heart of the old town established more than 50 years ago to showcase the region’s mountain cheeses. We scour the menu: tartiflette, raclette – and a traditional Savoyard fondue: a pan of melted Reblochon and white wine with chunks of crusty bread to dip in. We, too, hike to eat. How to do it Inntravel’s self-guided The French Alps & Lake Annecy walking trip costs from £1,568pp, including a week’s B&B, three dinners, route notes and luggage transfers inntravel.co.uk More information: annecymountains.com