The Fontany waterfall in Saint-Ferréol

The Fontany waterfall (or Nant d’Arcier waterfall) is a short walk in Saint-Ferréol near Lake Annecy. A lot of sites regularly visit started to get crowded after lockdown. This is why I’m always on the look out for new places. After heavy rainfalls, ‘waterfall chasing’ has become my favorite pastime. This article will take you to the Fontany waterfall, a little-known place but easily reachable.

Itinerary: the Fontany waterfall

Reaching Fontany is easy since the road leads to a dead end. The parking is at the entrance of the hamlet and the path starts at the bend. It leads to a bridge over the Nant d’Arcier. A ‘Nant’ is a local name given to stream, river and torrent and you will often see waterfalls named after them.

Le sentier de la cascade de Fontany

The waterfall is barely visible from the path, hidden in the vegetation.

La cascade de Fontany cachée par la verdure
petite cascade près du pont

I missed the path leading to the bottom of the waterfall. I crossed the bridge and kept going until I realised it was the wrong way ? . Back at the bridge, the path is visible. It’s a short climb following the torrent.

La bifurcation du sentier
Le sentier donnant accès à la cascade de Fontany
La cascade de Fontany depuis le sentier

Because of the heavy rainfalls the past 2 weeks, the flow of the Fontany waterfall was pretty good. However, it was very windy and the water kept blowing towards me. I didn’t want to get too close and damage my camera. The trail was very muddy and I nearly slipped a few times: this is why I always take a hiking pole when I hike to waterfalls now.

La cascade de Fontany - Fontany waterfall
Top of the waterfall

I was curious to see if I could reach the top the waterfall. I decided to look for an access and follow the path hoping it would lead me a little further: the path leads to La Combaz hamlet. It branches off on the left to leads to the top of the Fontany waterfall.

sentier pour rejoindre le haut de la cascade de Fontany

As you can see on the picture, the view isn’t really worth it.

Le haut de la cascade de Fontany

Access

From Annecy, take the direction of Faverges, then Saint-Ferréol. The hamlet of Fontany is about 2 km up from there. The road is already pretty damaged with pothole. Parking is available at the entrance of Fontany. The start of the path is just before the bend and is indicated with a “cascade” sign.

Le départ du sentier de la cascade de Fontany

INFORMATION
River: Nant d’Arcier
Start: Fontany (Saint-Ferréol)
Altitude: 760 m
Elevation: 20 m
Time: 10 mn
Difficulty: none


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