The Arve Valley (La vallée de l'Arve) is an alpine valley located in the French

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is ...

department. The namesake of the valley is the river at the bottom: the

Arve The Arve (french: L'Arve, ) is a river in France (''département'' of Haute-Savoie), and Switzerland (canton of Geneva). A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long, of which 9 km in Switzerland. Its catchment area is , of which 80 k ...

. The valley as a whole makes up the majority of

Faucigny Faucigny ( it, Fossigni) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Historically, Faucigny was a region in Savoy which included the area of the modern ''département'' of Haute Savoie ...

, one of the Natural Regions of France, and one of six that make up the Savoie region.

Geography

The Arve Valley consists of the upper reaches of the river Arve, whose source is in the

Mont Blanc massif The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indepen ...

, on the Savoyard Col-du-Balme side. Down stream, the river passes through the plain of Annemassy, before emptying into the Rhône in the Swiss canton of Geneva. The Valley came into being during the last ice age when the Alpine glaciers extended beyond Geneva. There is controversy over the true extent of the upper valley. The broadest definition makes the start upstream of Sallanches, including Passy and the valleys of Mégève, Montjoie, and Chamonix. This also describes the region of "Mont Blanc country" (Pays du Mont Blanc.) Some consider the upper valley to only include the valley of Chamonix. This valley stretches, from downstream, through the communes of Servoz, Les Houches, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and Vallorcine.

History

Historically, the valley was a part of Farcigny, which was ceded to the Count of Savoie during the reign of

Amadeus VI Amadeus VI (4 January 1334 – 1 March 1383), nicknamed the Green Count ( it, Il Conte Verde) was Count of Savoy from 1343 to 1383. He was the eldest son of Aymon, Count of Savoy, and Yolande Palaeologina of Montferrat. Though he started unde ...

in 1355.

Urbanisation

The bottom of the valley is heavily urbanised including the cities/towns of: *

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it ha ...

(including

Les Houches Les Houches () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Eastern France. In 2017, it had a population of 2,943. Overview Les Houches, located 6 kilometres from Chamonix, is a ski resort with a domain w ...

, Servoz, Les Bossons, Argenitière...) *

Sallanches Sallanches (; frp, Salenches) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department of France. Located close to the Mont Blanc massif, many visitors pass through the town en route to well-known alpine resorts such as Chamonix, Megève and Saint-Gervais- ...

Passy Passy () is an area of Paris, France, located in the 16th arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is home to many of the city's wealthiest residents. Passy was a commune on the outskirts of Paris. In 1658, hot springs were discovered around whic ...

and

Saint-Gervais-les-Bains Saint-Gervais-les-Bains () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, southeastern France. The village is best known for tourism and has been a popular holiday destination since the early 1900s. It has of ...

Cluses Cluses (; frp, Clluses) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. Citizens are known as ''Clusiens''. The commune is situated in the Arve Valley, on the river which bears the sam ...

* Scionzier * Bonneville

References

{{Reflist Geneva Haute-Savoie Mont Blanc massif