Auberge du Père Bise

Cloistered in the French Alps between the turquoise edge of Lake Annecy and La Tournette mountain’s frosted peak is a five-star Relais & Chateau inn that’s not only home to a fine, Savoyard restaurant, but welcomes cigar smoking on its outdoor patio with a resplendent natural setting. The fairy-tale town is Talloires and the boutique hotel is Auberge du Père Bise, a luxury hideaway where the fresh mountain air and stunning lakeside views have lured the well-to-do from their stuffy city dwellings for more than 100 years. (Eight suites, 15 rooms, starting at $254.)
An environmental restoration project that started in the late 1950s has turned Lake Annecy into what …