Grenoble

For more information, visit the Grenoble Tourism Office at www.grenoble-tourisme.com.

For flights to Grenoble please check out our booking engine above

City region: The Alps / Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Population & what they are called: 163,625 inhabitants (2014 census), called Grenoblois

Access from Paris:

• by road: about 5 h 15 min (357 miles) via A6 autoroute du Soleil
• by train: about 3 hours by TGV from the Gare de Lyon

Famous native daughters & sons:

• Stendhal, writer
• Calogero, singer
• Jean-Claude Gallotta, dancer and choreographer

Most distinctive and/or unique fact or trait (or little known fact):

• Some historians date the start of the French Revolution to the Day of Tiles (Journée des Tuiles), a revolt that took place in Grenoble on June 7, 1788.
• Grenoble has the second largest English-speaking community in France, after Paris.

Notable sites:

• Fort de la Bastille – old fortifications built on the mountainside, reached by cable car, with superb views of the city
• Vieille Ville – historic center filled with cobblestone streets and picturesque squares
• Palais du Parlement du Dauphiné – Renaissance palace used as the Dauphiné Parliament until the French Revolution

Top annual events:

• Rencontres Ciné Montagne – a unique mountain-centric festival of films, workshops and conferences, the biggest of its kind in Europe (grenoble-montagne.com)
• Grenoble Street Art Fest – Europe’s first festival of street art as a multidisciplinary art, featuring frescoes, collages, stencil work, sculptures, photography, digital art, videos and more (streetartfest.org)
• Cabaret Frappé – a free, summer, open-air music festival (cabaret-frappe.com)

Most notable museums:

• Musée de Grenoble – renowned for its extensive paintings collection, but also sculptures and antiquities (museedegrenoble.fr)
• Musée Archéologique Grenoble-Saint Laurent – presents the archeological excavations done on location (musee-archeologique-grenoble.fr)
• Musée de la Révolution Française – located in the Vizille Chateau, the only museum in the world dedicated to this key period in French history (domaine-vizille.fr)

Culinary specialties:

• walnuts – in 1938, the noix de Grenoble was the first fruit to receive an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC)
• cheese – two local-area standouts are Saint-Marcellin and Bleu du Vercors Sassenage
• murçon de la Matheysine – local boiled pork sausage with aniseed flavor

Local wines & spirits:

• Chartreuse – the only liqueur in the world with a completely natural green color, a product of distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbs, plants and flowers
• Bières de Sassenage – one of the beers produced at the Brasserie des Cuves is called Sacrebleu, the first European blue beer with a 100% natural color (brasseriedescuves.fr)

Shopping:

• Vieille Ville et Championnet – shops selling designer clothes, art and amazing chocolates
• Halles Sainte-Claire – a huge, classic, covered market packed with fruits, vegetables, pastries, cheeses, meats etc.
• La Caserne De Bonne – 50 shops in the De Bonne eco-district

Most popular night spots:

• La Belle ÉlÈctrique – artistic and cultural project that spotlights amplified music: jazz, rock, pop, techno, fusion and more
• La Bobine – concerts, bar, restaurant, exhibitions, theater etc.
• Mark XIII – Friendly bar with DJ electro sets and cyber-goth-punk atmosphere

Local population’s favorite activities (or hangouts):

• Jardin des Dauphins – the city’s most luscious garden and a perfect place for a sunny stroll
• MC2 (for Maison de la culture) – Grenoble’s main cultural center, which hosts music, theater, and dance performances (mc2grenoble.fr)

Local industries:

• FrenchTech – Grenoble was recognized for its growth in high-tech industries, including biotechnology and nanotechnology
• scientific research – Grenoble is a major scientific research center (second only to Paris) focused on physics, computer science and applied mathematics

In Pop Culture:

• electronic music – pioneered in Grenoble since the 1990s by the likes of The Hacker (Michel Amato), Miss Kittin, Oxia and others
• The Trilogy (On the Run [Cavale], An Amazing Couple [Un couple épatant] and After Life [Après la vie]) – three separate feature films by Lucas Belvax, each set in Grenoble over the same few days in the lives of six characters
• 13 Days in France (13 jours en France) — a documentary about the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, directed by Claude Lelouch and François Reichenbach