5 Reasons Why I Love Grenoble

The Location

Grenoble offers a beautiful location near the mountain chains Belledone, Chartreuse and Vercors. If you’re new to this French Alp city, I suggest a ride with the telécab to la Bastille to see the view over the city and the surrounding mountain tops. The telécab starts near the Palais de Justice by the river. Since it’s Grenoble’s most popular attraction, be prepared for many tourists in the fortress. And do skip the restaurant (tourist trap) on the top. A walk up to la Bastille takes about 30 minutes. Access the walk from Place Saint-Laurent or, to admire the pretty Jardin des Dauphins, from place Aristide Briand.

The Shopping

For good shopping, take a bus to Place Dr. Martin (a hub for buses) and follow Rue de la Poste to Rue Felix Poulat and Place Grenette. The pedestrian streets in the Old Town near Place Grenette are lined with restaurants, cafés, bakeries, and shops while Blvd Edouard Ray and Blvd Gambetta has a modern feel with designer shops and expensive spas and boutiques. Tip: the square Victor Hugo between these boulevards offer many benches for tired feet. If you like shopping malls, check out Grand Place in Echirolles outside the center of Grenoble.

The Restaurants

After a few weeks in Grenoble we understood why so many locals in the city spend their evenings in front of plates with fresh pasta and pizza. Quai Mounier on the north side of the river l’isere is lined with pizzerias and Italian pasta restaurants, as are many other streets in the rest of Grenoble. Expect lots of butter and cheese! And remember people eat late in France, usually after 9pm. To see the stunning sight of the city at night, consider a walk across one of the bridges over the Isère river.

The Nightlife

Clubbing in Grenoble is different from many other European cities. For example, we didn’t see any women dressed up or wearing skirts. People wore jeans and a t-shirt, or a college sweater, with sneakers. Everyone seemed to get in everywhere. Can’t imagine any place having a dress code.

There are many good bars around Place Notre Dame, especially the London Pub at 11 rue Brocherie which (despite its two floors) is packed all night with people (mostly students) of all nationalities. If the London Pub is too crowded, try the sport pub Le Couche Tard at 1 rue Palais or Café Notre Dame, also popular among students.

Other lively squares worth checking out are Place St-Andre, Place aux Herbes and Place de Gordes. During our first night out we didn’t knew anyone from Grenoble, or where to go. But people we met were friendly and offered recommendations of the best places. A French girl suggested a discotheque where they danced Le rock, the French equivalence to jive. Not my thing, but apparently common in many discotheques.

As a real student city, you can meet people from many different parts of the world in Grenoble. One night, my Swedish friend and I, a British student, a Brazilian girl, and a Mexican au-pair went to a cozy Spanish Tapas restaurant near Place Notre Dame, and later to a cool place called the Sand Bar (because of the sand on the floor), where they played Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. The bar is located on a side street near Place du Verdun, but doesn’t have any sign or a visible door so ask a local for directions.

A plus at night is the view of the three snow-covered mountain chains in the distance.

The Nature

Don’t leave Grenoble without having experienced the mountains, whether for skiing, via-ferrata, climbing, or hiking. Hiking is especially beautiful during misty days when the haze is dancing over the valley.

During my 5-hours hike in the forest above Montbonnot, a village outside Grenoble, I passed Fort du Bourcet and followed the path in the forest Bois du Mullard, beside Bois d´Avril, below the mountain chain Chartreuse. At times I could see peak Mont St-Eynard. I continued to La Chapelle north of the city. (There’s a parking spot across the road if you have a car.) From there, one can follow the hiking trail to the top of the hill and Fort du St-Eynard, or walk downwards toward the villages further south (my option). Bring your own picnic, or stop by the restaurant on the right side of the road from La Chapelle for a meal or a quite delicious blueberry cake.

After the restaurant, and the aforementioned cake, I turned right into the small twisting (mostly downhill) road past a few houses and the villages Battoniere, la Tour des Chiens, and Chantemerle. Finally, I reached Bouqueron — a village between the districts of La Tronche and Corenc, and returned to Montbonnot where I lived. Buses to Grenoble from Bouqueron don’t pass by often, so consider a brisk thirty minutes walk back to the city!