Grenoble Makes The Grade

Grenoble is an ideal blend of mountains and livability. The 16th largest French commune has Alpine views in every direction, but the city itself is almost entirely flat. This pairing gives Grenoble the feel of being in the mountains, but it doesn’t leave you out of breath when walking or biking. The downtown is almost entirely car free making it a peaceful place to stroll. The city is filled with parks and great multi-use paths too. The best of those paths follow the Isère River which winds through town. All of this combines to make Grenoble just about perfect.

This was the first stop in our planned year-long stay in France, and I’m not sure we could’ve made a better choice. Grenoble is large enough to have the big city amenities like museums and public transit. But it also has easy access to natural areas, which we would normally only find somewhere smaller. Even from our downtown apartment, we were able to reach that nature in mere minutes by walking along the river in either direction or climbing the nearby hills.

The city population is about 150,000, but the metro area boasts over 700,000 people. This fact absolutely shocked me when I learned it while creating this post. That means the Grenoble metro area is the largest metropolis in the Alps, beating out Innsbruck and Bolzano. After staying there for a month, I’m honestly struggling to reconcile that metro area size with my perception of it being a small city. Grenoble doesn’t feel nearly that big. It does an amazing job of maintaining its cozy character.

Fort de La Bastille

While the city itself is flat, it’d be a waste to be in the mountains and not climb a hill. The most accessible and popular place to gain some elevation is one of several paths up to the Fort de La Bastille. This fort is perched on an overlook above downtown Grenoble and offers views of the Alps in all directions. It’s remarkably scenic. 

The way up has a choice of options between a wide graded path, staircases, several hiking trails, or by cable car. We really enjoyed watching the cable car, which is called les bulles (the bubbles). It’s made up of 5 small orbs seating about 4-6 people each. We never actually got inside though, opting to hike each time we went up.

The fort itself is okay, and there’s a small museum dedicated to mountaineering and military that we skipped. The real draw are the views, and the top has plenty of open space that gets filled with picnickers and others lounging about on nice days. One of our visits came on a day clear enough that we could even see Mont Blanc.

Isère River Walk

Meandering through the heart of Grenoble is the Isère River. Leaving from downtown, multi-use paths follow the river, often on both sides. These popular routes are filled with walkers, bikers, and scooters at all times during the day. The paths even connect Grenoble to other nearby cities, like Chambèry which is almost an hour away by car. We saw many serious bike riders who looked like they would’ve been up for the trip. 

There are also several sections that feature an unpaved path parallel to the paved one right next to the water. This is the part we enjoyed the most. We took many walks along the river, even if it was just as an indirect route to the store and back. Like seemingly everywhere else in town, there are gobs of stunning mountain views. 

The river itself is cloudy and full of clay silt. I’ve decided that’s probably a good thing, as a crystal clear river would make this area too beautiful for its own good.

Musée de Grenoble 

The Museum of Grenoble is the best indoor activity in the city. This large free museum has art on display that spans from the Renaissance Era to the present day. We found paintings and sculptures from many well-known creators like Rodin, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, and Matisse. 

Despite seeing all those masters, I think the part that we liked the most was our introduction to the artwork of Georgette Agutte. She was a pioneer in the art field and the first woman to attend the exclusive art school Beaux-Arts de Paris. The Museum of Grenoble has an entire room dedicated to her paintings. It was the best part of this very nice collection in my opinion.

Ernest Hébert Museum And Gardens

The house where artist Ernest Hébert grew up has been turned into a museum dedicated to his artwork. His most regarded works are portraits, with the most common subject being upper class women. While it’s a large house, it’s still a relatively small museum. In addition to the artwork, there’s also a nice small park with some large, out-of-scale sculptures. We enjoyed both parts of our visit and both were free.

Musée de l’Ancien Évêché

This former bishop’s palace has been converted into a museum. The Old Bishop’s Museum is part Grenoble history and part palace ruins. The upper floors have lots of historical items from the city including maps, treaties, coats of arms, and other artifacts. In the basement are the actual remnants of the palace, along with scale models showing how it once looked. I did not get very good pictures here, but do feel like the museum was quite well done. Entrance is free, but they’ll hold an ID as a deposit for the English audioguide, which was quite helpful. 

Chateau De Vizille

On the outskirts of Grenoble is the village of Vizille with its massive castle. The Chateau de Vizille has been turned into a museum focusing mostly on the French Revolution. It has some pretty interesting rooms and is worth seeing, especially for the price of €0. But I think we enjoyed the acres of parkland that surround the chateau more. The large park includes manicured gardens, a lake with swans, hiking paths, and crystal clear streams. It’s just a really nice park with a lot of variety. It’s a little outside of town, but not too hard to get to. We took the public bus there in about an hour. 

Day Trip To Annecy

Annecy was on our short list of places to stay for this first month in France. Since we chose Grenoble instead, it only seemed right to at least visit. It’s a bit far for a day trip at almost 2 hours each way by bus (or train), but we gutted it out. The mountain scenery is non-stop, so it’s an easy ride in that regard. And of course once we got there, we were glad we made the trip.

The town of Annecy is very charming. The downtown is intertwined with canals that are crossed by antique bridges adorned with flower boxes. It has the feeling of a fairy tale. The lakeside area is also a highlight, as Lake Annecy is downright stunning. The water is crystal clear and the surrounding mountains make for an incredible backdrop. However, it’s no secret that it’s beautiful here. The town was swarming with tourists, even for our mid-October visit. I can barely imagine what high season would be like. After seeing (and participating in) the crowds of tourists around, we were both happy that we were only short term visitors and had chosen Grenoble for our base instead.

Where We Stayed

We rented a one bedroom apartment on the edge of the pedestrian-only downtown area. The central location was great. Our street was part of the antique district, and the apartment was furnished as such. It was actually much more comfortable than I was expecting, so that was nice. Overall we really liked the place, with the only real drawback being a lack of natural light.

What We Spent

We found prices in Grenoble to be pretty reasonable for what we received. We spent $2743 during our stay. Our apartment felt like a good deal, with a price tag of $1635 for our 29 days. Much of our time was spent walking along the river, climbing up some mountain, or visiting one of the free museums, so we didn’t spend much outside of food and rent. It did cost us approximately $350 to obtain our French visas, but I’m prorating those over the course of the next 12 months. With our regular bills like insurance and Spotify, the visa costs, and flights to get here, the grand total spent still came to a very reasonable $2967, or just over $102/day. 

We really enjoyed just about everything we found in Grenoble. It feels like a small city but with a lot to do. We loved the walkability and all the people riding bikes. The entire area is simply gorgeous with nature right on the doorstep. There are numerous parks and they all have great views of at least some mountain. And those river paths are an excellent break from the urban feel too. I’m not sure we could’ve picked a better place to start our French adventures.