THE RHÔNE-ALPES REGION
A unique MICE experience

By Frans Rombouts

90 minutes by plane or some 4 hour by high-speed train from Brussels: the Rhône-Alpes French region is quite near, and yet it offers a manifold of unexpected MICE opportunities meetings, conferences, incentives and teambuilding activities. Nature, history, culture, gastronomy, action, the cities and villages… they all work together standing out Rhône-Alpes as a venue sensation.

Rhône-Alpes has everything to make your MICE event into an unrivalled success. The timber chalets in the Alps, the white stone of Tricastin, golden architecture in the Beaujolais vineyard, the cob and daub and wattle in the Dombes area and Dauphiné, the timber and cob in the Bresse area – there are so many different atmospheres that make Rhône-Alpes a unique destination for business tourism.
Hundreds of picturesque mediaeval villages are ready to give your guests an unforgettable experience : Pérouges in la Dombes, Yvoire near Geneva, Conflans above Albertville in Savoy, Samoëns the Grand Massif in Haute Savoy,… and further to the south, in the Drôme and the Ardèche, hilltop villages like La Garde Adhémar and Antraigues...

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of these villages before. They are preciously kept MICE treasures.

Although some cities are better known, they have a lot of MICE opportunities to offer, too:

Lyon: the ancient capital of Roman Gaul and now capital of the region, with various UNESCO World Heritage circuits.	© - Rhône-Alpes/S. Maviel
St Etienne: the "green city" at the foot of the Pilat Natural Park, ideal to explore the Loire river gorges.	© - Rhône-Alpes/JL. Rigaux
Annecy: on the banks of the majestic crystal-clear lake, a good starting point to discover the Bauges and Semnoz highlands – and the unforgettable road of the Dukes of Savoy.	© - Rhône-Alpes/S. Maviel
Chambery: home of the Dukes of Savoy, with nearby lake Le Bourget, Aix-les-Bains, the southern part of Bauges highlands, the Chartreuse highlands and the Combe de Savoie.	© - Rhône-Alpes/JL. Rigaux
Grenoble, the gateway to the Alps, with its marvellous routes through the Cartreuse and Vercors highland, as well as the Grésivaudan.	© - Rhône-Alpes/S. Maviel
Valence: the southern spirit of the region, with its Provencal flavours of its markets, and its rich Renaissance heritage.	© - Rhône-Alpes/S.Maviel

The Castle Experience
The Dukes of Savoy, the Lords of Dauphiné, the Counts of Forez and the Barons of Beaujeu and many more have all left a heritage of remarkable castles: Menthon, Thorens, Clermont, Longpra, Virieu, Bayard, Chambéry and Annecy. Further south the castles of Grignan and Adhémar in Montélimar were immortalised in the letters of Mme de Sévigné.

The Wine Experience
Here is the paradise for wine lovers. Hills are dotted with vineyards, ‘châteaux’ and gracious houses... Roads wander through the vines and the roadmap is almost a wine encyclopedia: Beaujolais, Mont Brouilly, Beaujeu, Juliénas, Beaujolais, Saint-Amour, Juliénas, Chénas, Moulin à Vent, Fleurie, Chiroubles, Morgon, Régnié, Côte-de-Brouilly and Brouilly.
And on the Côtes du Rhône side: Côtes Rôties, Condrieu, Château Grillet, Saint-Joseph, Crozes Hermitage, Hermitage, Cornas and Saint-Péray. In the first century BC, the wine of Vienna graced the tables of Rome!

The Outdoors Experience
MICE groups have an amazing choice of outdoor activities with nice weather conditions (almost) always guaranteed.

Cruising on the Rhône and the Saône, in boat-hotels with stopovers and excursions is an original way to explore the Beaujolais, the Dombes and the Bresse, Lyon, the Rhone river valley and the vineyards of the Côtes du Rhône, the countryside of Drôme Provençale and Ardèche.
Except if paragliding or flying in a hot-air balloon over the vineyards is more your cup of tea…

And then there is golf… As the second largest golf-playing region in France, Rhône-Alpes has a huge variety of landscapes and an exceptional range of golf courses (over sixty). Among them Aix-les-Bains, Chamonix , Megève, Evian, la Valdaine-Montélimar.

And in winter as snow falls: 180 ski resorts in the Northern Alps - 60 of which are famous throughout the world - makes the Rhone-Alps region the biggest ski area in the world.

The History Experience
In the Rhône-Alpes region you can travel through time.
The gorges de l'Ardèche, a prehistoric site of international importance, has several caves inhabited in the early Palaeolithic, like the Aven d'Orgnac and the Grotte Chauvet discovered in 1994 with the walls painted with 300 animals over 30,000 years ago.

Somewhat later Gallo-Roman civilization made its way through the region. In 100 BC, Helvetians, Gauls and Romans signed a treaty in Alba la Romaine. The city still has a 2000 year-old theatre, villas and a 250-meter long monumental sanctuary.
On the banks of the Rhône, Vienne has 300 hectares of remains to be visited. Formerly the capital city of the Allobroges, it has an immense ancient theatre (the temple of Augustus and Livia and the garden of Cybella) where takes place the famous international jazz festival.
Lyon 's Gallo-Roman past is much in evidence. The Roman senate decided to found Lugdunum in 43 BC. The Croix-Rousse was the site where the Gauls lived, so the Romans built Lugdunum's theatre, forum, Odeon and temple on Fourvière.

The region is also particularly rich with Renaissance buildings, too many to mention. In Lyon's Saint-Georges, Saint-Jean and Saint-Paul districts, the mansions flanked with galleries opening onto inner courtyards reached through heavy doors have also been restored. These homes, registered by UNESCO as part of the World Heritage, form the most beautiful Renaissance complex in Europe.
The small churches in the Savoy are some of the best examples of the Baroque style omnipresent in the region. In Lyon again, judicious renovation has returned the chapel in the lycée Ampère to its former baroque glory.

The MICE Experience
All the locations mentioned aboved are ideal to create that unique incentive experience.
The Rhône-Alpes region also hosts meetings, conferences and exhibitions of all sizes. All the cities have their own Congress Centres like 'La Cité International' in Lyon , Alpexpo in Grenoble, 'Centre Fauriel' in Saint-Etienne or again 'l’Impérial Palace' in Annecy. Numerous country houses and 'châteaux' also welcome guests for seminars, meetings and upmarket incentives.

And scattered all around the region, international chain hotels as well as small charming properties are ready to pamper your guests.

Access
All this is just a couple of hours away from Belgium.

Several times a day, various high-speed Thalys and TGV trains connect Brussels with Bourg-en-Bresse, Bellegarde and Geneva, or with Lyon and Valence. The journey takes from 4 to 4:30 hrs.
For more information: www.b-rail.com

Different airline flights from Brussels Airport to Lyon International Airport (SN Brussels Airlines, Air France and American Airlines), and to Geneva International Airport on the French-Swiss border (Virgin Express, Swiss International Airlines, SN Brussels Airlines and Finnair). The flight takes approximately 90 minutes.

Would you like to know more?
Full information and various brochures can be requested free of charge from:

Comité Régional du Tourisme Rhônes-Alpes
104, route de Paris
F-6926 Charbonnières-les-Bains (France)
Tel. +33-4-72 59 21 59, fax +33-4-72 59 21 60
E-mail: crt@rhonealpes-tourisme.com
Internet: www.rhonealpes-tourisme.com
www.rhonealpes-meeting.com