Walking itinerary: from Samoëns to Verchaix

With its chapel and its castle, Bérouze's hamlet is the entrance of Samoëns when arriving from Taninges. With its chapel and its castle, Bérouze's hamlet is the entrance of Samoëns when arriving from Taninges. It is crossed by the small river of Lachat which has been diked up, as its overflows sometimes interrupted the provincial road.In the 18th century, when the dukedom of Savoy was partly occupied by Spain, the captain of a battalion based in Samoëns married a girl from the castle. When the war ended, the husband returned to Spain, abandoning his pregnant wife. When the child, a girl, became a woman and looked for her father's consent to marry, he had become the wealthy governor of the Cadix province. Remorseful, he made this girl, whom he had never known, his heiress. The son-in-law became rich and was the benefactor of the Savoyard hamlet. He founded a higher school protecting the refractory priests during the Revolution. This school was located in the castle. As for the Bérouze Castle, it was built at the entrance of Samoëns, on the road coming from Taninges on the opposite side of the chapel dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. This 17th-century manor house was built next to a square tower dating from the 17th century. It was built by Bernard Ducis, the prince's farmer and former lord of Saint-Jeoire. In his will dated from 1660, the former lord made a donation to build a chapel facing the castle. This chapel was originally built on the Col de Coux. It probably disappeared in 1476, during the invasion of the Valaisan troops. The current chapel, located in the hamlet of the Septimontain village, dates from 1481. It belongs to the nine existing chapels in the hamlets of Samoëns. The chapel underwent a restoration in 1660, as indicated by the Latin inscription on its façade: "Noble Bernard Ducis thankfully raised me at his expense in the year of the Lord 1660". The Bérouze chapel lost its bell during the Revolution and recovered it in 1824. The latest restoration took place in June 2010.

The Giffre is an outstanding mountain river. It crosses Samoëns and allows all water-related activities.At the bottom of the valley, the Giffre river imperturbably unfolds its meanders of pebbles and gravel. A mountain torrent fed by the innumerable waterfalls of the Bout du Monde and Fer-à-Cheval, the Giffre becomes narrow and deep in the Tines gorges to let itself be won over by its desire for width further downstream in the Vallon plain. There, its banks and its pebble and sand beaches give free rein to water games, ephemeral dams and invigorating bathing. Lovers of rafting, kayaking and hydrospeed can enjoy themselves to the fullest. The Giffre does not stop at such a good bed and feeds both bodies of water at the leisure base. A vast and quiet area where you can fish for trout, try your hand at water golf or try your hand at the accro-branche course.

Small mountain lake of 2.5 hectares including a beach with free swimming and large green spaces.