The Chartreuse is a regional natural park in the pre-Alps between Grenoble and Chambéry, straddling the border of Savoie and Isère. The landscape is intensely green: forested limestone ridges, narrow gorges with rushing streams, cliffs overhanging the roads, and mountain meadows thick with wildflowers in spring.
The park is also the home of Chartreuse liqueur, still produced by Carthusian monks at the Grande Chartreuse monastery — the monastery itself is closed to visitors, but a museum in the nearby village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse explains the order's history and the famous recipe. The village of Saint-Pierre-d'Entremont, straddling the Savoie/Isère border, makes a good base for walking, with trails heading in every direction.