Marché de Chambéry

The Marché de Chambéry is the best place to taste Savoy, the mountain region around the town, and it is centred on Les Halles, the covered market hall near the Place de Genève. Like other great French markets, it is both a place to shop and a social meeting point, where regular customers chat with stallholders and weekend crowds fill the aisles. Details of days and stall holders change over time, so check current opening hours locally before planning a visit around it.

The cheese is what many visitors come for. Savoy is one of the great cheese regions of France, and the stalls sell wheels and wedges of Beaufort, a hard, nutty cheese from high mountain pastures, Reblochon, a soft, creamy cheese that is used in the famous dish tartiflette, and Tomme de Savoie, a mild, rustic cheese with a grey rind. Abondance and other mountain cheeses are also common, and the traders are happy to offer advice and a taste. Charcuterie is another strength, with dry sausages such as diots, which are traditionally cooked in white wine, and hams cured in the mountain air.

Other stalls sell bread, pastries, honey from alpine meadows, organic vegetables, fruit, butcher's meat and international specialities, and there is a florist and a small bar where you can have a coffee or a glass of wine. The wines of Savoy are distinctive: light, crisp whites such as Jacquère and Apremont, and the deep red Mondeuse. The local liqueur made from the génépi plant, an alpine herb, is a typical souvenir. Chambéry also has a special place in the history of aperitifs, since the vermouth of Chambéry was developed here in the early nineteenth century, and it is still produced and sold.

Outside the hall, open-air markets add to the activity on certain days, with local and organic producers and other vendors. The town centre around the market is easy to explore on foot. The Vieille Ville, with its Italian-style arcades and trompe-l'oeil, the Château des Ducs de Savoie, the Musée Savoisien, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Chambéry, the Place Saint-Léger and the Théâtre de Chambéry are all nearby, so a morning at the market fits easily into a day of sightseeing.

Buy a few cheeses, some bread and a bottle of local wine, and you have the makings of a mountain picnic. The market suits food lovers, families and self-caterers. Go in the morning, when the choice is best, and bring a bag; check days and hours before you set out.