Savines-Le-Lac: Hotels and Accommodation

Lake Serre-Ponçon, which is also accessible from Savines-le-Lac, is France’s largest artificial lake. After the Serre-Ponçon dam was built, the village was completely rebuilt on the left bank of Lake Serre-Ponçon.

Finding a hotel in Savines-le-Lac is an important part of planning your stay.

Lake and water sports

Supervised swimming is available at Plage des Combettes in July and August. The beach has a leisure pier with a slide and diving board and is a five-minute walk from the centre of Savines-le-Lac. Savin’Plage is also a five-minute walk from the town centre. The beach is considered the only sandy beach on Lake Serre-Ponçon; it consists of pink-coloured gravel.

At the Capitainerie in Savines-le-Lac, visitors can enjoy sailing, boat hire with or without a licence, stand-up paddleboarding, canoeing, pedal boating, towable tubes and even electric surfing. The excursion boats operated by Serre Ponçon Tour depart from Plage de la capitainerie on Rue du Stade in Savines-le-Lac. Club Nautique Alpin operates a base in Savines-le-Lac and offers skipper-led trips on a shared sailing boat for ten people or a sports sailing boat for four people.

Base nautique La Voilerie/Ecole de voile in Savines-le-Lac offers sailing and windsurfing courses for all levels from the age of six, as well as catamaran and windsurfing equipment hire. The Capitainerie du lac de Serre-Ponçon in Savines-le-Lac has a reception area with a permanent exhibition and digital tools for discovering the lake. In July and August, Savines-le-Lac hosts the «Mercredis de feu», during which fireworks are set off over the lake.

Culture and history

CIAP XXe is the first French CIAP dedicated to this cultural heritage theme. It presents a permanent exhibition on cheerful modernity in the mountains. CIAP XXe also includes an outdoor tour between the village and the Le XXe cultural centre.

Saint-Florent Church was rebuilt in 1961, together with the village, according to plans by the architect Achille de Panaskhet. Today, it is an important stop for pilgrims travelling to Rome and Compostela.

The Pont de Savines crosses the reservoir and is part of the Serre-Ponçon hydroelectric complex, which consists of three structures. This complex is located partly within the municipalities of Rousset and Savines-le-Lac and was awarded a label by the relevant regional commission on 28 November 2000. On 23 June 2011, the Regional Commission for Heritage and Sites supported awarding the «Patrimoine du XXème siècle» label to the village of Savines-le-Lac.

Nature and other activities

Hiking on foot, by mountain bike or on horseback is possible in the Forêt de Morgon, which also has a botanical educational trail. In the canton of Savines, anglers can benefit from special services provided by businesses and shops that have joined a quality charter for better support of anglers. Arteralya offers pottery workshops for children and adults by appointment.

Other destinations: Châteauroux-Les-Alpes, Puy-Saint-André, Crots, La Grave, La Bâtie-Neuve, Saint-Jean-Saint-Nicolas, Aiguilles, Montgenevre.

For the higher-level travel overview: Hautes-Alpes.