Cascade du Rouget, la « Reine des Alpes » et l'eau des jeunes mariés

Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval

At the bottom of the Giffre valley, in the cirque de Sixt, the torrent of Sales falls from a height of about 90 metres in two leaps. It is called the ‘Queen of the Alps’. According to the traditions of Sixt, reported by the listed-site sheet and the Haute-Savoie tourist office, the water of the Rouget gives virility and fertility. Formerly the elders offered a flask of this water to newlyweds, for the prosperity of their household. No source read dates this custom. The water stays very cold, about 5 °C all year, and in wind it can be heard from about ten metres. The site has been visited since the 18th century: travellers and scholars, including Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, then discovered the wild valley of the Haut-Giffre. In 1914 the Rouget was listed, and it still took several hours by mule to reach it. Today the car gets there in about fifteen minutes. The passage of 800 tourists a day in summer has changed the place: the Grand Site operation project plans to keep cars in the village, with shuttles for pedestrians. It is at snowmelt that the waterfall is most powerful.

Getting there: Free. In summer a small tarred road leads to the foot of the fall, about 6 km from the centre of Sixt, with a car park; it is closed to cars in winter (on foot, snowshoes or skis from Sixt). Very busy in summer (about 800 people a day on average according to the DREAL). Best period: end of May to end of June, at snowmelt. A Grand Site operation aims to limit car access. Coordinates from OpenStreetMap (waterfall).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound