SAVOIE (73) AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES
Savoie real estate.
Discover Investment and Lifestyle Opportunities in the Ski Valleys of the Tarentaise and on the Shores of Lac du Bourget
What we source
Ski chalets, altitude apartments and Belle Époque lakeside villas, sourced and renovated across Savoie.
Why Savoie
An Introduction to Savoie Real Estate: The World’s Largest Ski Terrain and a Spa Lake
Savoie is the ski département of France. The Tarentaise valley alone holds Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens in the Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski area in the world, with Tignes and Val d’Isère further up and La Plagne and Les Arcs across it. Down in the lowlands, Chambéry, the préfecture and former capital of the Duchy of Savoy, and Aix-les-Bains, a Belle Époque spa town on the Lac du Bourget, offer a gentler, year-round life an hour from Lyon and Geneva. For a U.S. buyer the market splits into altitude resorts, where prices are global and seasonal letting is the logic, and lakeside towns with steady tenants. Every notarised sale is recorded in the public DVF land registry, so we check prices against real transactions before you offer.
Your point of contact
One person runs your Savoie file.
Savoie is where I take clients who ski seriously and still want the numbers to make sense. Courchevel and Val Thorens are global addresses with occupancy to match, but the part of the département I find most interesting is the lake. Aix-les-Bains has the thermal spa, the casino, the marina and a hospital, and apartments there let at about €14.8 per m² per month to people who live there all year, not only in February. Buying a chalet at altitude for the winter and a lakeside apartment for yield is a strategy that works here better than almost anywhere in the Alps, and the motorway between the two takes about an hour.
Remy PampinCo-founder, Montclair and Ynspir
Start a conversation2025 open data · sources: ANIL carte des loyers, INSEE
What the open data says, by the square metre.
Four figures from open French data frame the Savoie market: the advertised apartment rent in the main town, the département’s population, median household income and the share of owner-occupiers, from published sources.
Average rent in Aix-les-Bains
€14,8/m²/mo
Advertised apartment rent, 2025 (ANIL)
Department population
448 226
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, INSEE 2023
Median income
€27 910/yr
Disposable income per year (INSEE)
Owner-occupiers
60.3%
Share of main residences owned
Where to buy in Savoie
The towns we know house by house.
Belle Époque Lake Spa
Aix-les-Bains
Aix-les-Bains, about 32,406 residents, is a Belle Époque spa town on the Lac du Bourget, the largest natural lake entirely in France, with thermal baths, a casino, a marina and the grand hotels that once welcomed Queen Victoria. It suits buyers who want a lakeside home with a year-round community, an hour from Lyon and Geneva.
The stock is apartments in Belle Époque palaces converted to residences, villas on the hills above the lake and modern apartments near the station and the port. A 2025 DVF apartment median of €4,082 per m² and rents of about €14.8 per m² per month give Aix the most balanced yield in the département, with tenants all year.
Avg rent €/m²/mo
€14,8
Global Luxury Ski Resort
Courchevel
Courchevel, about 2,290 permanent residents spread over several altitude villages, is the most exclusive resort in the Trois Vallées, with palace hotels, starred restaurants and an altiport. It suits buyers who want a prestigious ski address with the largest linked slopes in the world at the door.
The stock ranges from grand chalets in the highest village and the Jardin Alpin to apartments in the lower villages and the old houses of Le Praz. A 2025 DVF apartment median of €11,811 per m² and rents of about €14.5 per m² per month confirm a market of global capital preservation, where seasonal letting covers the costs.
Avg rent €/m²/mo
€14,5
Highest Resort in Europe
Val Thorens
Val Thorens, the highest ski resort in Europe, is a purpose-built village at the top of the Belleville valley with snow guaranteed from November to May and lifts into the Trois Vallées. Its statistics are those of the commune of Les Belleville, about 3,498 residents. It suits buyers who want a ski apartment that lets itself.
The stock is almost entirely apartments in ski-in ski-out residences, from studios to large family units, with a few chalets in the lower villages of Saint-Martin and Les Menuires. A 2025 DVF apartment median of €7,761 per m² and rents of about €14.7 per m² per month reflect a market driven by a long season and strong occupancy.
Avg rent €/m²/mo
€14,7
Glacier Skiing Resort
Tignes
Tignes, about 1,919 residents, is a high-altitude resort built around a dam lake, with a glacier that allows skiing well beyond winter and a shared ski area with Val d’Isère. It suits buyers who want altitude, snow certainty and a sporty, international clientele, with a summer season of hiking, biking and lake activities.
The stock is apartments in the resort villages of Val Claret, Le Lac and Le Lavachet, with chalets and newer residences in Les Brévières lower down. A 2025 DVF apartment median of €9,799 per m² and rents of about €13.6 per m² per month show a premium market where a long season and glacier skiing sustain rental demand.
Avg rent €/m²/mo
€13,6
Historic Capital of Savoy
Chambéry
Chambéry is the préfecture and the former capital of the Duchy of Savoy, with a castle, an old town of arcaded streets and painted facades and the famous Elephant Fountain. It sits between the Chartreuse and Bauges massifs, which suits buyers who want a real city with a university, a TGV station and the ski resorts an hour away.
The stock is apartments in the old town and the bourgeois quarters around the station, villas on the hills and houses in the nearby villages. The logic is a year-round primary or rental home with students, public-sector staff and commuters as tenants, and a renovation that brings an old-town apartment up to modern comfort.
Chalet Village Ski Resort
Méribel
Méribel is the central resort of the Trois Vallées, founded by a British colonel who insisted on wood and stone chalet architecture, which gives it a warmer, more domestic character than its neighbours. It suits buyers who want a family ski home in a resort that feels like a village, with the whole linked area at the door.
The stock is traditional chalets in the hamlets, apartments in chalet-style residences and larger properties up in Méribel-Mottaret. The logic is a family second home with a strong winter season, where a renovation by our Ynspir architects modernises a dated chalet while keeping the character the rules protect.
Why our clients buy here
Why U.S. Buyers Choose Savoie
01
The Best Ski Terrain on Earth
The Trois Vallées, with Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens, is the largest linked ski area in the world, and Tignes and Val d’Isère add glacier skiing and high-altitude snow certainty. For an American skier used to flying across the country for a week on the mountain, owning here means a home at the centre of the sport, with a rental audience from every country.
02
Year-Round Yield on the Lake
Aix-les-Bains apartments let at about €14.8 per m² per month against a 2025 DVF apartment median of €4,082 per m², a balanced long-let profile fed by spa visitors, hospital staff and commuters to Chambéry and Annecy. It is the counterweight to the resorts: a lakeside market where tenants stay all year and prices remain far below the altitude villages.
03
Snow Certainty and Capital Preservation
Val Thorens and Tignes sit high enough to guarantee snow from November to May, which protects both the rental season and the resale value as lower resorts struggle. Courchevel adds a global clientele that treats chalets as a store of value. Scarce buildable land and strict mountain planning rules keep supply tight across the Tarentaise.
04
Easy to Reach, Easy to Manage
Geneva and Lyon airports are about an hour from Chambéry, TGV trains run from Paris into the Tarentaise valley, and the motorway network brings you to the foot of the lifts. Our Ynspir architects handle the mountain building constraints, snow loads and energy upgrades, and our management keeps a chalet or lakeside apartment earning while you are home in the United States.
Cities
Explore cities in Savoie.
How it works
How we run your Savoie real estate project.
Buying in Savoie follows the same four stages as everywhere we work, adapted to a département where altitude resorts and lakeside towns play by different rules. We find, we buy on your side, our studio renovates and we manage, all in English.
Find Your Alpine Property
We leverage our local network to give U.S. buyers privileged access to on and off-market homes across Savoie, from a Courchevel chalet or a Val Thorens ski-in apartment to a Belle Époque apartment on the lake at Aix-les-Bains, matched to your brief.
Buy With Independent Representation
We negotiate on your side alone, cross-checking each asking price against DVF sales in the same resort or street, then coordinate the compromis de vente, the surveys, the copropriété documents and the notaire so the process is clear in English.
Renovate With Ynspir Architects
Chalets, resort apartments and lakeside villas each come with mountain planning rules, snow loads and energy requirements. Our Ynspir architects assess the works before you offer, then design and deliver the renovation on a budget fixed on paper.
Manage Your Ski or Lakeside Let
Whether it is a winter season let in the Tarentaise or a year-round tenancy in Aix-les-Bains or Chambéry, we set up the rental, the furnishing, the local caretaking and the reporting so the property earns while you are in the United States, in English.
What renovation looks like with us
Recent work by our studio.
A property in Savoie is rarely turnkey: the chalet needs insulation and a new roof, the resort apartment needs a complete refit, the lakeside villa needs light. Ynspir, the studio we work with across France, handles the renovation. Below are three recent projects.
Silent Wood, a reborn chalet
A mountain chalet in the Vosges brought back to life in wood and stone.
Île-de-FranceAn Île-de-France family house
A 180 m² family house fully redesigned near Paris.
MarseilleA Marseille apartment, kitchen-led
An 88 m² apartment in the 7th arrondissement rebuilt around its kitchen, oak fronts and glazed terracotta.
On the ground
Where Savoie actually is.
Savoie lies in the heart of the French Alps, bordering Italy. Geneva airport (GVA), with direct flights from the United States, and Lyon-Saint Exupéry (LYS) are each about an hour from Chambéry, whose own airport (CMF) handles winter charters. TGV trains link Paris to Chambéry in about three hours and run on to Moûtiers and Bourg-Saint-Maurice for the Tarentaise resorts. The A43 motorway connects Lyon, Chambéry and the Fréjus tunnel into Italy, and the A41 links Aix-les-Bains to Geneva.
Good to know
Savoie real estate, the questions buyers ask.
Why invest in real estate in Savoie?
Savoie holds the largest linked ski area in the world and the highest resorts in Europe, with snow certainty that protects both rental seasons and resale values. Aix-les-Bains and Chambéry add a year-round lakeside and city market an hour from Lyon and Geneva, so lifestyle and yield can be combined.
How do I know the real sale prices in Savoie?
Every notarised sale in the département is recorded in the national DVF land registry, which is public. We cross-check each asking price against DVF sales in the same resort, residence or street and period, so you know the 2025 median for Courchevel or Aix-les-Bains before you make an offer.
What rental yields can I expect in Savoie?
Aix-les-Bains apartments let at about €14.8 per m² per month against a 2025 DVF apartment median of €4,082 per m², a balanced year-round profile. In the resorts, rents of around €14.5 per m² per month in Courchevel come with far higher prices, so the logic there is seasonal letting and capital preservation.
Is it hard for a U.S. citizen to buy in Savoie?
No. There are no restrictions on Americans buying property in France. The practical hurdles are language, financing and distance, which is what we remove: we search, negotiate and coordinate the notaire in English, and introduce you to lenders used to non-resident buyers.
What types of property are typical in Savoie?
Traditional and contemporary chalets in Courchevel and Méribel, ski-in ski-out apartments in Val Thorens and Tignes, Belle Époque palace apartments and lakeside villas in Aix-les-Bains, old-town apartments in Chambéry and farmhouses in the valleys, many of them renovation projects.
How does French Real Estate Experts assist in Savoie?
We act as your independent buyer’s agent: a search mandate, access to on and off-market homes through our Montclair network, price checks against DVF, negotiation on your side, legal coordination in English, renovation by our Ynspir architects and rental management once you own.
Start your Savoie real estate search with us.
Begin your journey in Savoie with a private conversation with co-founder Remy Pampin. Tell us whether you picture a chalet in Courchevel, a ski apartment in Val Thorens or a lakeside home in Aix-les-Bains, and we will build a search around it, in English.