Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard

Seminars, CSR days, team building, project presentations and product launches for up to 120 people can be organised in three rooms beneath the Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard, which overlooks Lake Annecy from the village of Menthon-Saint-Bernard in Haute-Savoie. The same rooms are hired for weddings, christenings and birthdays. The château offers room hire alone or a fully organised event.

Seminars and company events

Business events take place in the former wine cellar under the château. The three rooms come with Wi-Fi, a screen, a video projector, tables and chairs. The château can either rent the space or handle the whole programme, from set-up to suppliers. Quotes are prepared from a short description of the project, and a brochure and a 3D tour of the rooms are available online. A terrace with views of the lake and the mountains can take tables and reception tents for breaks, a lunch or an outdoor cocktail.

Weddings and receptions

For private events, the cellar and the terrace host up to 120 guests for a wedding dinner, a christening or a birthday. Couples can put close family up in the château's gîte.

Rooms and capacities

The event space is the 17th-century cellar below the château, divided into three bookable rooms with a combined capacity of 120 guests. The name and capacity of each room are set out in the château's brochure. In fine weather the terrace extends the space outdoors.

Accommodation

A gîte in an outbuilding of the château has four suites, a living room and an equipped kitchen, and sleeps eight. It suits a board of directors, a wedding couple and their family, or speakers staying overnight. Larger groups use hotels in Annecy and around the lake.

Catering

The château provides an equipped caterer's room rather than an in-house kitchen service, so meals are prepared by an outside caterer. For a turnkey event, the château's team coordinates this.

History and setting

The château has been lived in by the same family for close to 1,000 years and is one of the best-known monuments of Savoy, listed as a historic monument. Its present outline, with pointed towers and roofs, comes from a 19th-century Gothic Revival restoration. Saint Bernard of Menthon, patron saint of mountaineers, is linked to the family. The estate now includes a permaculture kitchen garden started in 2018 and biodynamic vines replanted on the slope. In season the château opens for visits, evening theatre tours and classical concerts in the grand salon.

Getting there

The château is 10 km from Annecy, about 50 minutes from Geneva and under 1 h 30 from Lyon and Grenoble. Annecy station has TGV and regional services, and Geneva is the nearest international airport.