Grenoble is the prefecture of the Isère, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in the south-east of France. With around 156 000 inhabitants, it is the main city of the French Alps and the heart of an urban area of nearly half a million people. The city spreads across a plain where the Drac meets the Isère, framed by three massifs that draw its horizon: the Vercors to the west, the Chartreuse to the north and Belledonne to the east. That position at the foot of the mountains, which earned it the name of capital of the Alps, shapes its living environment and its relationship with nature.
The city has built its identity on science and on the mountains. The Bastille fort, reached by the cable car opened in 1934 and its cabins nicknamed the Bubbles, overlooks the old town and offers a view over the peaks. The historic centre, around the place Grenette, the place Victor-Hugo and the Notre-Dame cathedral, has kept Haussmann-era buildings and pedestrian streets. The Perret tower, in the Paul Mistral park, is a legacy of the 1925 Exhibition, and the 1968 Winter Olympics left their mark on the city, from the Olympic Village to several facilities.
Grenoble today rests on a leading scientific hub, concentrated on the Polygone scientifique and the Presqu'île: the CEA, the ESRF synchrotron, the Minatec campus and the Grenoble Alpes university make it one of the main French research centres. The city is served by five tram lines, a high-speed rail station linking Paris in about three hours and Lyon, and a very extensive cycle network. That setting, combined with measured prices for a large city, shapes a property market supported by student, scientific and family demand.
