Lac du Bourget

Lac du Bourget near Aix-les-Bains is the largest natural lake lying entirely in France. The glacial lake inspired the poet Lamartine to his famous poem Le Lac. On the western shore stands the Hautecombe Abbey, the burial place of the House of Savoy, reachable from the water.

Highlights

• Largest natural lake entirely in France
• Hautecombe Abbey on the west shore
• Spa town Aix-les-Bains with thermal baths
• Boat trips and bathing

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Practical info

Background & History

Lake Bourget is the largest natural lake lying entirely on French soil, an elongated, glacier-formed basin stretching between steep mountain flanks in Savoy. It gained fame above all through Romantic poetry: the writer Alphonse de Lamartine dedicated to it in the early 19th century his poem “Le Lac”, in which he sang of the transience of time and of love, and since then the body of water has been regarded as one of the most literary lakes in France.

On its eastern shore lies the venerable Hautecombe Abbey, the burial place of the House of Savoy, in which the princes of this lineage were laid to rest over centuries, a quiet place of history that unfolds its full effect only from the water. The nearby spa town of Aix-les-Bains flourished as early as Roman times thanks to its hot springs and became in the 19th century a fashionable meeting place of European society, where nobility and artists met for their summer retreat. Across the lake also passes regularly a diverse bird world, which uses the protected shore as a resting place. Thus Lake Bourget combines the cool beauty of an Alpine lake with a dense layer of poetry, piety and bathing culture, which makes it significant far beyond its scenic splendour.