Le Lauzet

As you descend from the Col du Lautaret, Le Lauzet is the first hamlet of the municipality of Monêtier-les-Bains, lying at an altitude of 1,660 metres. It has retained its mountain character with more traditional houses than those in some other hamlets, its distance from the ski resort being a factor in this. It is built on the left-hand bank of the Guisane, sheltered from the avalanches crashing down from the Combeynot massif. Before the annexation of Savoie by France in 1860, the hamlet was also a customs post for travellers passing through the Col du Galibier, as evidenced by the seventeenth century barracks, now converted into a gîte.