Vanoise National Park

Founded in 1963, the Vanoise National Park was France's first and borders directly on the Italian Gran Paradiso; together they form one of the largest protected areas in the Alps. It was established to save the Alpine ibex and today is home to large populations of ibex and chamois. A dense network of trails and huts opens up the high-mountain landscape.

Highlights

• France's first national park (1963)
• Borders the Gran Paradiso (Italy)
• Ibex and chamois in large numbers
• Dense network of trails and huts

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Background & History

The Vanoise National Park in the French Alps of Savoy was, at its founding in 1963, the first national park in France. Its occasion was an act of rescue: the Alpine ibex, in Italian and French the bouquetin, had almost vanished from the Western Alps through centuries of hunting, and the new protected area was meant to offer the last populations a refuge. Today around two thousand of these impressive wild goats with their mightily curved horns roam again over the high-alpine slopes, accompanied by chamois, marmots and about twenty breeding pairs of the golden eagle.

The park lies between the deeply incised valleys of the Isère and the Arc and borders directly on the Italian Gran Paradiso National Park, so that across the border one of the largest contiguous protected areas in the Alps has arisen. Glaciers, high-mountain lakes and an extraordinarily rich mountain flora characterise its high-lying areas. The history of the park tells of the change in humanity's relationship to the mountain world, from ruthless hunting to the conscious preservation of an alpine wilderness that otherwise might have been lost forever.