Isère

Isère is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. Isère is the third-largest ski and winter destination in France, after Savoie and Haute-Savoie. It also hosts Coupe Icare, an annual festival of free flight, such as paragliding and hang-gliding, held at the world-renowned paragliding site at Lumbin. Grenoble has a dozen museums, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), an international research facility in Grenoble, that is open to visitors.

Cities

• 1 Grenoble — calls itself "the capital of the Alps"; its Bastille is an ancient series of fortifications on the mountainside that provide a good vantage point over the town and the surrounding mountains
• 2 Voiron — renowned for the Chartreuse cellars, and the Bonnat, Radiall and Antésite chocolate factories

Other destinations

The ruined Château de Certeau in Frontonas

• 1 Chartreuse — home of the Grande Chartreuse monastery
• 2 Les Deux Alpes — a ski area with a variety of pistes suitable for all levels of skier
• 3 Alpe d'Huez — a popular resort for skiing and cycling fans

Understand

History

Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné.

People

Inhabitants of the department are called Isérois.

Geography

Isère is part of the current region of Rhône-Alpes and is surrounded by the department of Rhône, Ain, Savoie, Hautes-Alpes, Drôme, Ardèche, and Loire.

Isère includes a part of the French Alps. The highest point in the department is the summit of La Meije at 3,987 meters. The Vercors Plateau dominates the west of the department.

Get in

• 1 Grenoble Isère International Airport (GNB ^IATA).  

See

The Grande Chartreuse is the mother abbey of the Carthusian order. It is located near Voiron 14 miles north of Grenoble and can be visited. Monks at the abbey distil a beverage rich in alcohol called "the chartreuse" and made of several hundred of plants picked in the mountain.

Do

• Many ski resorts, including the Alpe d'Huez and Les Deux Alpes
• The Coupe Icare. An annual festival of free flight, such as paragliding and hang-gliding, held at the world-renowned paragliding site at Lumbin in early autumn.  

Eat

Isère produces the following cheeses: Bleu du Vercours-Sassenage and Saint-Marcellin.

Go next

• GR 65 leads from Geneva via La Côte-Saint-André, Isère, to Le Puy-en-Velay and further on to Spain, as part of the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostella.

Neighboring departments:

• Ain to the north
• Ardèche and Drôme to the southwest
• Loire to the west
• Rhône to the northwest
• Savoie to the northeast
• Hautes-Alpes to the south