Saint-Pancrace: Hiking, Skiing and Church Art

Saint-Pancrace brings together mountain scenery and winter sports in the Les Bottières area; at the same time, the Église de Saint-Pancrace offers a cultural and historical highlight. When planning your trip, you can first decide whether hiking, skiing or the church will shape your time here.

Scenery around Les Bottières

In Les Bottières, forests, meadows and mountain chalets are part of the landscape, as is access to the Les Sybelles ski area. Some extensive areas are mown and grazed sporadically. The landscape therefore includes not only forests and chalets, but also pastureland whose use is part of the area’s character.

In the higher areas of Saint-Pancrace, animals such as roe deer, badgers and wild boar may be found. The wildlife adds the possibility of nature watching to the description of the landscape, without promising an encounter.

Hiking and skiing

The Les Trois Croix et l’Alpettaz hiking trail in Saint-Pancrace is 5.1 km long. It takes about 2 hours and 30 minutes and has an elevation gain of 330 metres. These are different details to help you plan your day: the distance describes the route, the approximate duration provides a guide to the time required, and the elevation gain indicates the climb. Since the time given is explicitly approximate, you can use it as a planning guide, not as a fixed estimate for your individual hike.

Les Bottières’ winter sports offering includes six pistes and three drag lifts, accessible from the snow-start area. The offering can therefore be assessed in terms of its pistes and lift infrastructure, while the hiking route is described by its distance, duration and elevation gain. Since ski-area infrastructure can change, check the current operating conditions before your trip.

The Montée au Grand Truc ski touring route starts at the Les Bottières snow-start area and leads through alpine meadows and forests. The route is purpose-built and secured. The two skiing options are described differently: for the ski area, the focus is on pistes and drag lifts; for the tour, it is on the starting point, terrain and purpose-built route. Conditions and access may vary in winter; check them before setting out.

Church and Alpine Baroque art

The Église de Saint-Pancrace was built in the 16th century and completely rebuilt in 1900. It is an Alpine Baroque church and was renovated in 2019. These dates refer to different points in its history: its construction, its complete reconstruction and a later renovation. This makes it possible to place the building’s history in chronological order rather than treating the events as one and the same.

A special feature of the church is a portable altar depicting a large Baroque altar in miniature. Volunteers offer a short, free guided tour. If you would like to plan for the tour, check the local arrangements; they may vary.

More destinations

Discover more destinations: Les Bottieres, Seez, La Perrière, Bonneval-Sur-Arc, Doucy-en-Bauges, Moutiers, Grésy-Sur-Isère, Montaimont

For the main travel overview: Savoie.