Sallanches (; frp, Salenches) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

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 Ann ...

department of France. Located close to 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 ...

, many visitors pass through the town en route to well-known alpine resorts such as

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 had ...

Megève Megève (; frp, Megéva) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France with a population of more than 3,000 residents. The town is well known as a ski resort near Mont Blanc in the French ...

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 ...

. Sallanches is also one of the towns in 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 km2 ...

Valley, made popular by the presence of many high-tech industries. Over 300 retail stores are located in Sallanches, making the town a commercial hub. In 2018, the commune had a population of 16,508, and its

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

had 46,128 inhabitants. In 2015 Sallanches hospital announced that, as part of the government's "groupements hospitaliers de territoire" policy, it would develop a specialist accident department to research and develop mountain-related emergency medicine, because of its proximity to, and past experience of, dealing with accidents occurring in the nearby high mountains. With an emergency team of 30 doctors and emergency staff, plus 50 support staff, it is expected that the new mountain medicine department will become a world-leader in developing treatments and researching into

altitude sickness Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is the harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People can respond to high altitude in different ways. Sympt ...

frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the ha ...

, hypoxia, trauma-injuries and related

sports medicine Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since the ...

Geography

Sallanches is a commune located in the far east of France in the historical region of Savoy. The town is located close to the Swiss and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

borders.

Transport

The commune has a railway station, , on the La Roche-sur-Foron–Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet line.

Climate

Under the Köppen system, Sallanches is close to a warm-summer humid continental climate (

Dfb DFB may refer to: * Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city * Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas * Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia * Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate * Distributed-feedback ...

) with mountain climate influence. Sallanches experiences cold to very cold, prolonged, snowy winters and warm to very warm, humid summers.

Population

Media

Sallanches is mentioned in American author

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including '' O Pioneers!'', '' The Song of the Lark'', and '' My Ántonia''. In 192 ...

's 1935 novel '' Lucy Gayheart''.

Twin towns

* Spaichingen, Germany, since 1970

References

External links

Official Sallanches website
{{Authority control Communes of Haute-Savoie