Roc de Chère Nature Reserve from Écharvines

From the car park at Écharvines, on the Route du Golf above Talloires, a path leaves south into the Roc de Chère, a wooded hill of about 200 hectares that juts into Lake Annecy between Menthon-Saint-Bernard and Talloires. It climbs gently through the forest to the Belvédère de la Crête and the Belvédère du Roc de Chère, the viewpoints over the lake and the mountains around it, goes on to the junction called Sous le Belvédère, then swings west to the Mur des Moines and comes back by La Patte d'Oie and the path to the car park. The hill is limestone and sandstone, and the paths roll up and down through the forest.

It is 4.7 km round with 160 m of ascent; allow about 1½ hours. The grade is Easy: forest paths with short ups and downs, and a high point only about 100 m above the car park. The tourist office's Tour du Roc de Chère is 5.4 km with 178 m of ascent and takes 2 hours; our line follows most of its paths but not all of them, so it is shorter, and you will want longer if you stop at the viewpoints.

Part of the hill, 68 hectares of it, is a national nature reserve, created in 1977 and run by Asters, the Haute-Savoie conservation trust. Picking flowers, lighting fires, camping and driving motor vehicles are forbidden. The manager's page says dogs must be kept on a lead from 15 April to 30 June, when most species are nesting or giving birth, and the tourist office advises choosing another walk between April and June, during the nesting period. Outside those dates the manager's page gives no dog rule. The tourist office's pages for this walk and for the reserve (both updated in 2026) say dogs are accepted on a lead only; an older listing for the shorter Belvédères circuit (updated December 2024) says animals are not accepted. Ask the tourist office before bringing a dog. The tourist office's listing, as shown on haute-savoie-tourisme.org, gives the ground as stones, earth and gravel and says it is not suitable for pushchairs. The tourist office lists the walk as open every day of the year, subject to snow and weather.

The start is the car park at Écharvines, 200 m before the entrance to the Talloires golf course: from Annecy take the D909a towards Talloires, pass Menthon-Saint-Bernard and turn right at Écharvines. The tourist office's page for this walk says paid parking from 2 May to 30 September 2026; it does not name the car park, so look at the signs. A bus stop at Écharvines serves the start; the tourist office's pages give different bus lines, so check the timetable.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.