Parking in Annecy: the four zones, the rates and the €35 cap

Annecy does not park like an average town of its size. The municipal tariff has four zones, it counts in quarter hours rather than hours, and the lakeside follows the opposite rule to the rest of the town.

Most English-speaking visitors fly into Geneva, about 40 km away, and only face this question if they pick up a hire car there. Here are the official rates taken from the town's documents, the prices of the two best documented car parks, and the exact points where public sources disagree.

Each pin is a car park named in OpenStreetMap. Tap it, then tap Go: directions open in driving mode.

How much does street parking cost in Annecy?

The reference is a single town document, "Tarifs stationnement de surface" (street parking rates), for 2026. It counts by the quarter hour, which explains part of the gap with the hourly figures published elsewhere.

• Lakeside zone: €0.70 per quarter hour, charged 9am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday, public holidays included.
• Red zone (the historic core): €0.70 per quarter hour, 9am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday. Free on Sundays and public holidays.
• Green zone: €0.30 per quarter hour, 9am to noon and 2pm to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
• Orange zone: €0.30 per quarter hour, 9am to noon and 2pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Nothing to pay on Saturdays.

Converted to hours, the lakeside and the historic core cost €2.80, the outer ring €1.20. The free lunch break in the green and orange zones is the only gift in the tariff, and it does not apply along the shore.

Why is the lakeside the only zone charged on public holidays?

It is the most expensive exception in town, and it is written in black and white in the municipal document. Everywhere else, Sundays and public holidays are free. Along the shore, the meter runs seven days a week: 9am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday.

The logic is that of a zone under constant pressure: the lake is what draws people to Annecy, and a sunny 15 August brings far more demand than a Tuesday in November. The charge is there to turn spaces over, not to fund a service.

A second safeguard applies in the same zone: beyond 7 hr 45 min of parking, a flat charge of €35 kicks in. A badly timed beach day therefore costs the price of a good dinner.

Bonlieu or Chevêne: what are the covered car parks worth?

Two covered car parks are properly documented, and they are not in the same league. Chevêne is the only one whose prices the town publishes itself, in a dedicated PDF.

• Chevêne: €0.50 per quarter hour, €15.00 for 24 hours, then €1.00 for each further 24 hours. The second day costs fifteen times less than the first.
• Bonlieu (central, on the edge of the Pâquier lawn): €0.40 per quarter hour, €1.60 an hour, charged 9am to noon and 2pm to 7pm, Monday to Saturday.
• Bonlieu passes: €25.00 for 2 days, €33.00 for 3 days, €45.00 for 5 days, or €9 a day over a week-long stay.

The rule of thumb is simple. Under two hours, Bonlieu wins because it sits right by the Pâquier. Beyond a day, Chevêne wins by a wide margin thanks to its sliding rate, at the cost of a few minutes' walk.

A word of caution: the Bonlieu prices come from a private platform checked in 2024, not from a municipal document. They may have changed without anyone publishing it.

How much does overstaying cost?

No municipal document we consulted publishes the amount of Annecy's post-parking charge (forfait post-stationnement, the French penalty for unpaid or overstayed parking). That is a notable gap, because it is precisely the figure a visitor would want before taking a risk.

The two sources that display it are payment and summary platforms, not the town: they give a range of €25 to €50 depending on the zone. PayByPhone states €50 beyond 2 hr 15 min in the most expensive zones, and €35 after seven hours in the long-stay zones.

To stay within the limits: the same app shows €6 for two hours in an expensive zone, and €8.10 for about 6 h 45 in a long-stay zone. Paying for the real duration stays well below the penalty.

Can you park with a disability badge?

The only clearly published concession is a solid one: street parking is free for holders of a French GIC, GIG or CMI card with the parking mention, for up to 12 hr in the same space.

This does not cover the multi-storey car parks, and no document consulted says whether they apply an equivalent rule. Nor do the documents mention badges issued in other countries. The municipal traffic plan does, however, give precise capacities.

• Poste: 317 spaces, 7 of them accessible.
• Chevêne: 161 spaces, 4 of them accessible.
• Artisans: 143 spaces, 3 of them accessible.

That is about 2% of spaces, in line with the legal requirement. Nothing is published on the real width of the bays, how close they are to the lifts or whether the route to the quays is step-free: that part has to be discovered on site.

What are the four traps of parking in Annecy?

• Assuming public holidays are free. They are, everywhere except where you are going to park, that is, by the lake.
• Reading an hourly tariff. Private summaries round the figures, the town counts by the quarter hour. The two do not give the same total.
• Leaving the car all day in the red zone. The maximum stay is around 2 hr 15 min: beyond that, the penalty applies.
• Mixing up the colours. Depending on the source, "green zone" means either a paid zone in the centre or a free zone on the outskirts. Trust the sign, not the map you found online.

Which figures do the sources not agree on?

Three discrepancies are worth flagging rather than smoothing over. For the historic core, the local press reported €3.00 an hour in summer 2024, while a platform showed €1.60 the same year.

For the green zone, a 2024 article said parking became free from 6pm, while the 2026 summaries give 7pm for all paid zones. The municipal document stops the green zone at 6pm, which proves the press right.

Finally, the official list of accepted payment apps appears nowhere in the price PDFs. A visitor cannot know in advance which app will work: the pay-and-display machines remain the safe option.

To see what these zones look like on the ground, our map of Annecy sets out the geography. And if you would rather leave the car on the outskirts, we cover the system in Annecy's park and ride car parks.

Sources

Ville d'Annecy (PDF "Tarifs stationnement de surface", 2026 edition; PDF "Tarifs parking Chevêne"; 2024 traffic plan; price guides adopted by the town council, December 2024 and June 2026), L'Essor Savoyard (9 August 2024 issue).

Parkopedia (Bonlieu and Annecy pages, 2024 readings), PayByPhone (Annecy page, 2026), Seety (Annecy parking rules, 2026). Research consolidated on 12 September 2026. The tariffs change by council decision: this page is revised at each change.