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Tourism and Industry
 Faverges , county
seat, is a medium-sized city located in the midst of picturesque
mountains: la Dent de Cons (2060 m), la Sambuy (2198 m), l'Arclosan
(2032 m), and la Motte, (1420 m). Numerous hamlets dot the valley
and mountainsides. Faverges' location, halfway between the major
cities of Annecy and Albertville, at the intersection of several
valleys, makes it an active and lively community all year long.
Visitors to Faverges will find
that the community has over 130km of marked hiking trails as
well as tennis courts, three sports stadiums, a modern gymnasium,
three hotels (60 rooms total), 400 beds in furnished apartments
or vacation homes, a golf course (27 holes), and three ski resorts
(Montmin and La Sambuy for downhill,
and Seythenex for cross-country skiing). And of course, Lake
Annecy, with its many water-sports facilities and beaches, is
just minutes from downtown Faverges.
Among the main tourist attractions
in the Faverges district, Tamié
Abbey clearly stands out; it attracts thousands of pilgrims
yearly for retreats; however, just a couple of miles outside
of Faverges on the road to Tamié, you will find the Seythenex
cave
and waterfall; it is the only cave in the Savoie area open
to tourists. In the area you can also find some fine restaurants
and hotels such as "l'Hôtel du Parc" in Faverges,
"Les Trappeurs" at the Tamié mountain pass,
and "le Gay Séjour" at Le Tertenoz.
Industry in Faverges is represented
by three major players in world markets: the largest is Staübli
S.A., which manufactures loom control boxes as well as high-tech
connectors of types found on train braking systems, Airbus aircraft
or even the Ariane space rocket. Staübli started a few years
ago to develop and manufacture industrial robots, and now sells
leading-edge designs of unparalleled precision. These are used
in heavy industry, as well as medicine and pharmaceutics.
The other large factories in
Faverges are S.T. Dupont, which manufactures fine gold and lacquer
objects such as cigarette lighters and fountain pens. It is in
Faverges that the company was born; it has retail stores in cities
such as Paris, London and Tokyo. The third large company is Bourgeois
S.A., which manufactures professional oven equipment; some of
their products are known in North America under the Hobart brand
name.
 The town of Faverges is especially proud
of its new steam heating plant which uses as a fuel source 100%
recycled wood products. The plant now heats one third of the
city, from apartment buildings to sports facilities and public
schools. The pipe network is being lenghtened, and the heating
plant, which now functions well under capacity, will heat almost
all of central Faverges. The plant uses discarded wood products
as a fuel source; previously, shipping crates and pallets, sawmill
discards and forestry waste had to be buried or incinerated;
these materials are now used as a fuel source and are burned
in zero-emission high-efficiency furnaces, thus providing low-cost
heat while at the same time reducing demand on the municipal
landfill, and helping the environment. The photo at right shows
the Director of the Office de Tourisme leading American university
students through the heating plant.
end of the Faverges
Tourism web page - Mar 24 1999
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Welcome
to Faverges
The
Musik'Alpes International Festival
Montmin, Alpine village
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