page_title: Aix-les-Bains
section_title: Location
hierarchical_section_title: Aix-les-Bains / Geography / Location
caption_attribution_description: English: Panoramic sight of the dent du Chat mountain, the lac du Bourget lake, the city of Aix-les-Bains and the Mont-Blanc mount, in Savoie, France. Français&#160;: Vue panoramique de la dent du Chat, le lac du Bourget, la ville d'Aix-les-Bains et le Mont-Blanc, en Savoie.
context_page_description: Aix-les-Bains, locally simply Aix, is a commune in the department of Savoie, in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
  Situated on the shore of the largest natural lake of glacial origin in France, the Lac du Bourget, this resort is a major French spa town, and has the largest freshwater marina in France. It is the second-largest Savoy town in terms of population, having 28,585 inhabitants at the last census, and is part of its own urban area: The urban area of Aix-les-Bains.
  A leading town of the Belle Époque, of international renown, Aix-les-Bains was a vacation destination for nobility and the wealthy. Although the thermal baths are no longer the main attraction in Aix, the area continues to be draw visitors for water sports and activities. The town has partially compensated for the loss of visitors coming for spa treatments by developing tourism. It hosts up to 200,000 general visitors annually, between tourists and people seeking mineral bath therapy.
  In addition to thermal baths and tourism, Aix-les-Bains is known for its national Musilac festival.
context_section_description: Aix-Les-Bains is located in the southeast of France, 107 kilometres (66 mi) east of Lyon. The town is located in a corridor between the mountain of Mont Revard, the first natural rampart of the Massif des Bauges to the east and the Lac du Bourget, the largest natural lake of France to the west. Thus, the city extends mostly on a north-south axis. Its extension is such that its agglomeration merges gradually with that of Chambéry. The area of the commune is 12.62 square kilometres (4.87 sq mi), which is large for the Department. The town is traditionally divided into two, the lower town that occupies the banks of the lake to the west and the upper town, where the town centre is located, overlooking the Lac du Bourget. The town was first built on the heights in order to avoid the many floods of the lake until it was regulated by the dam of the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) between the Rhône and the natural spillway of lake, the Canal de Savières. The average altitude of the city is about 320 metres (1,050 ft) while the lower part of it is only around 224 metres (735 ft), at the level of the lake.
  560 square kilometres (220 sq mi) of the Lac du Bourget watershed is occupied by the spa town of Aix, which borders on the shore. The lake is primarily fed to the south by the waters of the Leysse, and to the east, by those of the Tillet and the Sierroz, both from the Aix territory. Native fish can be admired in the aquarium of Aix. The shore, which is occupied by Aix and Tresserve, is highly urbanized and developed along the northeastern part with the road and the railway track. Many restaurants and nightclubs are located there (mostly on the southeastern side). A nautical complex was built on its shore, this includes a swimming pool and a beach which has an Art Deco-style main entrance dating from 1936. After which is a vast esplanade, allowing walkers to stroll and special events to settle temporarily on this site. It offers a panoramic view of the lake and the Dent du Chat, where birds such as mute swans, mallards, grey herons, black-headed gulls and common moorhens can be found.
  The esplanade is bounded to the north and to the south by the Grand port and the Petit port respectively, thus constituting the Aix port which is the largest fresh water port in the country with 1,500 mooring rings, having privileged places for boating on the lake, with boats having a summer or annual allocation. The festival of yachting takes place each year. This event has old boats coming from all horizons, a professional market, demonstrations and shows.
  The slopes above the lake that culminate in the Tour de l'Angle Est, which overlooks the town and lake at a height of 1,562 m (5,125 ft). The western shore of the lake is narrower as the mountains along its edge are closer to the lakeshore, although lower than those on the eastern side. The lake drains out of its northern end into the River Rhône about 5 kilometres (3 miles) to the north.
caption: Aix-les-Bains in the background of the Dent du Chat, on the shore of the Lac du Bourget
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S4500", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix S4500 Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2013:09:25 23:52:26", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "2334", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "31312", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8607", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/280", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:09:24 16:05:16", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:09:24 16:05:16", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "81/10", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "977/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "163/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "43/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4065", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2292", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "31084", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "6992", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "6992", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "CD84828AF69A4E1BBF23DF6C66AB4846", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4140"}