Cul de l'Ane loop

You can swim in the lake of Bozel with swimming patrolled by lifeguards in July and August. Everybody can swim with a small area for children and a big one for adults. You have got a bar / restaurant and a leisure place.Throughout “les rives du Doron” leisure park, animals must be kept on a leash. Access to the beach area is prohibited for animals, even if kept on a leash. Access to bathing for animals is prohibited throughout the lac.

The hamlet of les Moulins (870 m height) has got a real history well settle down with its beauty and its heritage, like the other villages of Bozel.Located close to the lake, “les Moulins” has this name due to the presence of mills which was powered by the mountain stream of la Rosière. Its chapel is dedicated to Saint-Agathe (celebrated the 5st of February), built between 1484 and 1492 and rebuild in 1659. While the 3rd century, Agathe leaves in Sicily. Quintinius (Roman prefect) is falling in love of Agathe, but she declines the advances of the pagan. He requires that she deny its God at risk of cut off its breast. She rejects and dies under torture. She is becoming the Patron Saint of childminder but we also implore her to be protected against volcanic eruption, fire and flood. Les Moulins is also famous for its excavations: Le Chenêt des Pierres. Indeed, it is in this area that the first pottery dating of 2 500 years BC. It is sure that the Tarentaise valley has got human establishment from the middle Neolithic, but it is at Bozel that we find the older human mark of the Tarentaise. The Chenêt des Pierres is an area located within rocks. It is in 1909 that the first pottery was discovered. The occupation of the area would be dated between the middle of the 5th and the 4th millenary before our era.

Bozel is located in the heart of the Savoie, in Tarentaise. Just after Moutiers, the Bozel’s valley is famous with its proximity of the Vanoise National Park. Bozel it’s at 860 m of altitude, and it goes to 2594 m height with the Roc du Becoin and with the Mont Jovet (2589 m height) and the Dent du Villard (2284 m height).The centre of the village is located in the border of the stream of the Bonrieu which gave before the energy of the mill and other sawmill. The village has got different services, schools, shops, leisure area and handcraft area really active. The way of how the different hamlets are located show the ancestral way of life, which was based on the cultivation and on the farm. The most part of the people are leaving in the south mountainside. Then, we can find the hamlet of Villemartin, les Mollinets, le Ratelard, Lachenal and Tincave, they are lively all the year long. Upper 1300 m height, the hamlet of les Champs, les Monts, le Pré, le Cour and Mirabozon are lively only during the summer. The north mountainside has got less people. Only les Moulins is lively all the year long. Upper we can find l’Epine, le Reposoir and Montcharvet, relic of old farms that are now recover by the forest. In summer, Bozel is close to the Vanoise massif which is really attractive for hiking. In the winter, the village is really close to big ski areas, 3 Vallées and Paradiski, which is really attractive for snow sports. History... Bozel has got different name before: Bosellis (1170), Bossel (1691), Boselles (1759) and Bozeil (1764). Its name comes from the latin word “Buxellus” which mean the “wood”. The people of Bozel are named “Bozelains” and “Bozelaines”. Bozel has still got a proof of a human being in Savoie, and particularly in Bozel, 2500 years ago BC. Bozel had an important vineyard and its most important economy was the production of cheese (Beaufort) which was exported in Italy (Piemont) through the “Col de la Vanoise”. It’s the reason why the architecture of our villages and hamlets are like this: Houses (or chalets) was used for living and for the cultivation. The first floors was often half-buried and build with rocks, it was used for human living and for stable for cattle, which was used to reheat the room. The upper floors were built with wood and were used as hayloft. At the end of the 19th century, Bozel has seen a new era with the ore-mining from 1880, a new factory in le Villard du Planay in 1898 and a power station in les Moulins in 1910. 200 employees were working in this factory in 1920 which closed in 1984. The valley has been then developed with the tourism, with the hydrotherapy industry first and the mountaineering and with the winter sports. The ski resorts have been developed in 45-60’s with Courchevel.