Évian-les-Bains, simply called Évian, is a French commune in Haute-Savoie in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, capital of the canton of Évian-les-Bains and city center of the community of communes Pays d’Évian Abondance Valley, located on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Evian, with its thermal past, has managed to preserve all the richness of its heritage. The Cachat refreshment bar and the Griffon de la Source Cachat bear witness to the life of the resort in the past and are the emblematic places of Evian. Exceptional cultural places: Villa Lumière, Palais Lumière, Maison Gribaldi, Funicular, Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Theater and Casino make Evian a recognized cultural city.

Évian is best known as a spa town and its mineral water Evian, Operated by the Société anonyme des eaux minérale d’Évian, a subsidiary of the Danone group. A high-market holiday resort and spa town on the shores of Lake Geneva, it has been visited, over two centuries, by royalty such as Kings Edward VII and George V of the United Kingdom and King Farouk of Egypt, and celebrities such as countess Anna de Noailles and Marcel Proust.

History
The discovery of evian natural mineral water dates back to 1790 when, during a walk, an Auvergne gentleman, the Marquis de Lessert, quenched his thirst with the water of the Sainte Catherine fountain on the property of a man named Monsieur Cachat. Finding this beneficial water, “light and well flowing”, this man, suffering from kidney and liver ailments, drinks it regularly during his walks and notices a significant improvement in his health. He then praised the merits of this “miraculous” water and doctors began to prescribe its consumption.

The success is so rapid that Mr. Cachat encloses his source and starts selling the water. The first “Bains d’Evian” appeared in 1824 and two years later, the King of Sardinia granted a bottling authorization. The first company of mineral water was created in 1829, it was the beginning of the expansion of the resort with the construction of thermal baths, the casino, luxury hotels, the funicular, the theater.

Antiquity
Located on the pilgrimage route to the territorial abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune, Évian would have been first of all a stopover, in particular thanks to its port. It was one of the cities of the former Duchy of Savoy and the province of Chablais. It was notably one of the residences of the Dukes of Savoy. A historian, M. de Valois, mentions sources according to which the city of Épaone, made famous in 517, would have been the same as Evian. He indicates in his work that when Sigismond ascends to the throne after converting to Catholicism, the bishops meet in a Council of Epaone, on the shores of Lake Geneva, in Chablais, where Evian is today.

Middle Ages
According to a 2012 study, the tsunami wave of 563 would have had a height of 8 m in Évian (Épaone). In 1265, Count Peter II of Savoy granted the city a franchise charter: concedimus hominibus de Aquiano, qui modo, sunt in dicta villa and pro tempore erunt, libertates et franchesias infrascriptas. The act of 1265 mentions a market which was already established in the city and occasionally creates a fair. In 1279, his successor and brother Philippe I complete the charter granting the “right to elect four tribunals”. In 1285, their nephew, Count Amédée V, gave timber to which they associated exploitation rights, then three years later rights relating to the fishing trade. From 1536 to 1569, the city, capital of the bailiwick of Evian, was under Valais domination. It was returned to Savoy by the Treaty of Thonon. The city will develop between the XI and the XIV century before returning to sleep and experience a new golden age to the XIX and XX centuries, thanks to the development of Hydrotherapy.

French Revolution and Empire
The few sources that surface in Évian are still very little known at the time of the French Revolution. Analyzed in 1807 and 1808, Evian water demonstrates qualities for the treatment of the urinary tract. Access to Évian is facilitated by the creation of its port, then the passage of the national road 5 which connects Paris to Milan (1809).

Contemporary period
A Genevan, M. Fauconnet, founded the Société des eaux minérale d’Évian in 1823. He acquired the two sources, the best known of which, the source called Cachat, named after the family which ceded them, the March 16, 1827. The company of Mr. Fauconnet after going bankrupt and resumed in 1859 and we built the Hotel des Bains. There are also several other establishments, the Hôtel des Quatre Saisons, the Hôtel de France, the Hôtel des Alpes, etc. The setting offered by the proximity of the lake allows various attractions (canoe trips, walks, etc.).

The Société anonyme des Eaux minérale de Cachat, created on December 9, 1859by Parisian investors, ensures the sale of Evian water. The following year, the Cachat company inaugurated the Hôtel des Bains, the first luxury establishment in Evian, renamed the Grand Hôtel des Bains.

The January 28, 1865, the small town on the shores of Lake Geneva (2,200 inhabitants) is showing its new vocation by becoming Évian-les-Bains. Several sources follow the main one, the Cachat source, and offer their services: Guillot, Bonnevie, Corporau. Experiments and the use of water confirm its properties and specify the modes of administration. At the same time as the Third Republic settles, the means of communication, road and railroad, allow the development of tourism and access to the spa.

Expanded between 1897 and 1898 by one floor, one wing and three domes, by the architect Ernest Brunnarius, the Grand Hôtel des Bains was renamed the Splendide Hotel, and now offers 200 rooms accessible by lift. A tram serves it from the train station for 10 years until the funicular opens. The Splendide is one of 20 hotels built to increase the city’s reception capacity.

At the request of Baron Vitta, a resident of Evian, Auguste Rodin produced four works for Villa La Sapinère: two stone pediments above the doors, as well as two splendid planters adorned with child geniuses.

The architect Hébrard designed one of the most remarkable hotels of the time for the Mineral Water Company, the Hôtel Royal, which opened in 1907. Many villas are also built and border the lake. A theater and the casino (also designed by Hébrard) occupied the curists and the writers of the time (Anna de Noailles, Frédéric Mistral, Marcel Proust). The city is gaining ground by developing a dock on the lake. Finally, the spa establishment was built near the Lumière brothers’ residence (1902), which was transformed into a Town Hall.

Between the wars
An international tourist population frequented Évian between the two wars. Many crowned heads, writers and socialites are seen in the city (Aga Khan III, Maharajah of Kapurthala, French President Albert Lebrun …). The Tour de France cyclist also stops there several times, the first start in the province of the Grande Boucle is given in Evian (1926).

In July 1938, a conference was held initiated by US President Franklin Roosevelt to deal with the issue of the influx of refugees, mainly Jewish, fleeing the Nazi regime in Germany and recently annexed Austria. The Evian conference brings together around thirty international delegations at the Hôtel Royal.

Second World War
The Splendide Hotel was transformed into a military hospital by the Germans.

Evian after World War II
After the war, the hotel business flourished again until 1950, but the Second World War made hydrotherapy out of fashion and diverted many tourists to other destinations. The hotels are transformed into residences, the frequentation decreases and the fame fades.

The March 18, 1962, the Evian accords, after negotiations in this place, were signed between representatives of the Algerian National Liberation Front and those of the French government, preparing for the independence of Algeria. This event allows the resort to exist again, under the leadership of Camille Blanc, mayor at the time; he was assassinated on the night of March 30 to 31, 1961, an attack attributed to OAS which put pressure on the negotiations between the two parties not to take place in Évian. At the end of 1975, the Splendide Hotel closed its doors for good after ten years of deficits. Squatted, the building withers and the Société des Eaux ended up having it demolished in 1983. In its place, a park was built.

Évian-les-Bains hosted the G8 summit, the 1 to June 3, 2003. The February 8, 2007, the Minister of Tourism, Léon Bertrand, inaugurates the congress section of the Palais Lumière.

Tourism
The town is one of the 48 in the department to receive the official label of ” tourist town ” but also that of “classified tourist resort”.

In 2014, the town’s reception capacity, estimated by the Savoie Mont Blanc organization, was 10,506 tourist beds spread over 1,548 structures. Accommodation breaks down as follows: 132 furnished; 2 tourist residences; 14 hotels; 2 holiday centers or villages / youth hostels and three guest houses.

Historical heritage

Town hall – “Villa Lumière”
Former summer residence of the LUMIERE family from Lyon, this sumptuous villa in a classic French style inspired by the Renaissance became the Town Hall in 1927. This villa was acquired unfinished in 1896 by Antoine Lumière, painter and photographer from Lyon, creator of the instant photographic plates which made his fortune. His sons, Louis and Auguste, are the inventors of cinema. Antoine Lumière modifies the plans of the villa and arranges it to his liking. Neoclassical on the outside and eclectic on the inside, it gives off an impression of opulence. The monumental oak entrance door is adorned with bronze bas reliefs representing painting and sculpture. It is framed by two Atlanteans, replicas of Pierre Puget (17th century), supporting a pediment decorated with a sun, alluding to the family name. The lake side door is surmounted by a bronze copy of the Thinker by Michelangelo. Villa Lumière, a historic monument, has been Evian’s Town Hall since 1927. On working days, the vestibule and the golden salon are open to the public, during office hours.

Light Palace
The Palais Lumière was opened in 2006 after two years of renovation work. This former spa from 1903 to 1984 has kept all its splendor and is today a cultural and congress center. Inaugurated in August 1902, the hydrotherapeutic institute was then considered “a model of its kind”. Open from May 15 to October 15, it can administer 1,200 treatments per day: baths, showers, massages, electrical and mechanical treatments. The architect Ernest Brunnarius designed a building of imposing dimensions (68 m by 25 m), surmounted by a dome of more than 30 m on a square base. Along the facade partially clad in earthenware, the ramps lead to a monumental entrance framed by bell towers. Under the porch, two paintings by Jean Benderly illustrate the theme of water. Listed as a historic monument, the building underwent a major renovation between 2004 and 2006. Renamed “Palais Lumière”, it now houses a media library, exhibition rooms and a congress center.

Hotel Royal
This luxurious 250-room hotel was built between 1906 and 1909 for a subsidiary of the Mineral Water Company, on the plans of the Parisian architect Albert Hébrard. Located away from the resort and overlooking Lake Geneva, it offers its customers the proximity of a sports park with golf, tennis and clay pigeon shooting. An apartment of honor was fitted out from the outset in anticipation of a stay for King Edward VII of England, who died in May 1910 without ever having visited Evian. The main building has five floors; the wings, three. The consoles and wooden ornaments on the facade recall the countryside environment. The original roofs were modified after the fire that occurred on the night of August 12 to 13, 1958, which damaged the last two floors.

Hotel du Parc
This building, now a private residence, is linked to several key moments in 20th century history. Between 1907 and 1926, a Lyon company created a vast spa and hotel complex there around the mineral waters of the Châtelet spring. During the Great War, it was converted into a hospital managed by the American Red Cross and received sick children, repatriated from the departments of northern and eastern France then occupied by Germany. Finally, it is at the Hôtel du Parc that the two Evian phases of negotiations for the resolution of the Algerian conflict take place (May-June 1961 and March 1962). They lead, on March 18, 1962, to the signing of the Evian agreements.

Evian Casino
The current casino was built in 1912 by the architect Albert Hébrard in place of the castle of the barons of Blonay which destroyed the previous year. The last descendant of the Chablais branch and mayor of Evian, Ennemond de Blonay (1838-1878) had set up a municipal casino there before bequeathing it to the City. A 15,000 m2 hold over the lake makes it possible to create a new wharf and gardens. The reinforced concrete building has the shape of a large central hall onto which all the adjoining rooms open: concert halls, games and reading rooms, as well as a restaurant. It is covered by an imposing scalloped dome in which one sometimes believed to detect a Byzantine influence. One of the two side staircases, no longer present, gave access to large covered terraces with a view of Lake Geneva.

Villa La Sapinière
The construction of this pleasure villa was started by Baron Jonas Vitta in 1892 and completed after his death by his son Joseph, a great art collector. He belongs to a family of bankers and silk merchants of Piedmontese origin, settled in Lyon in the middle of the 19th century. Patron and friend of the greatest artists of his time such as Auguste Rodin, Jules Chéret, Albert Besnard, Félix Bracquemond or Alexandre Charpentier, he entrusted them with the decoration of this large Palladian-inspired residence with bell tower and terraces, built on the plans of Jean -Camille Formigé. The quality and innovative character of the interior decoration, partly Art Nouveau (billiards), make it an exceptional place, listed as a Historic Monument.

Villa du Châtelet
Built around 1900 for Charles Taillefer, legal counsel for the French Embassy in London, then integrated into the Châtelet spa complex, this large villa with its turret looks like a small castle. It is accessed by a monumental perron-promenade, which surmounts vast cellars and basements using the natural slope of the land. The facade is punctuated by balconies, columns with ornate capitals and large windows overlooking Lake Geneva. A testament to the art of living of the Belle Epoque, the villa of Châtelet has recently been renovated by its owners respecting the distribution of the rooms and the original interior decoration (colored stained glass, parquet floors in Hungarian point) then made available to the City of Evian. It is now promoted by the association “Les Amis de la Villa du Châtelet – Cercle culturel lémanique” which presents two permanent exhibitions and offers a space for conviviality and cultural meetings.

Castle of the Counts of Savoy
Evian castle was one of the favorite residences of the court of Savoy. Arranged by Count Pierre II in the middle of the 13th century, it is a square wall of 45 m per side, guarded at each corner by a round tower. Its access is defended by a drawbridge spanning the Bennevy stream. To the north, facing the lake, is the main building. The walls two meters thick and ten high are extended by the ramparts of the city which descend to the shore, punctuated with towers and pierced with four gates. Abandoned by the Dukes of Savoy at the end of the 14th century, the castle was occupied by the Valaisans then taken over by the troops of the King of France and dismantled in 1591. Three towers, remains of the ramparts, are still visible above the street National.

Monument to returnees and granting
During the Great War, half a million civilians considered “useless mouths” were evacuated by Germany from the regions it occupied in the north and east of France. Women, children and old people gathered in rail convoys cross Switzerland before arriving in Haute-Savoie. Evian, where the official services are located, welcomes, hosts and comforts 370,000 of these returnees. This monument, erected thanks to a subscription, commemorates their passage. It was inaugurated on October 16, 1921. On the same day, the City of Evian received the vermeil medal of the French Recognition for its action. Nearby are the old grant and two granite slabs which mark the location of a scale formerly used for weighing goods.

Buvette Novarina-Prouvé
Intended to replace the Buvette Cachat, which has become unsuitable, this building is installed by the Mineral Water Company in the park of the former Grand Hôtel d’Evian, destroyed after the Second World War. From the collaboration between the architect Maurice Novarina, a native of Thonon, and the engineer Jean Prouvé, a large glazed hall was born in 1957, the framework of which consists of 12 steel crutches and the inverted sloping roof covered with aluminum. The interior design respects the codes of the genre: refreshment bar, rest area and music room are separated by slate and mosaic screen walls. A historical monument, the Buvette is supplemented to the east by a crenotherapy center (cure) opened in 1984. The ensemble constitutes the current Evian thermal baths.

Dollfus Park and Villa
Villa Dollfus or Villa des Hortensias, is representative of the Belle Époque pleasure houses built on the shores of Lake Geneva by the upper middle class. Built by a first owner, in 1906 it became the summer residence of a family of engineers of Alsatian origin, the Dollfus family (DMC textiles), who kept it for six decades. The estate includes a neo-classical style residence, a chalet, a park with pergola and green theater and a private port. It was acquired in 1965 by the City of Evian, which in 1978 set up the Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture there. The 3.5 ha park is open to the public. Under renovation, it houses the rowing and canoeing clubs. It is a place of conviviality where many events are organized each year.

Splendid (Cachat spring station)
The Hôtel Splendide, destroyed in 1983, is linked to the heyday of Evian spa. Created in 1860 by the Mineral Water Company under the name of Grand Hôtel des Bains, it benefited during the winter of 1897-1898 from an extension and an elevation carried out in seven months by the architect Ernest Brunnarius. This tour de force gives it its final silhouette: a long main building preceded by a terrace, punctuated by three forward pavilions crowned with domes. It then became the Hôtel Splendide, a palace with 230 rooms. Among its customers, we note the names of Sarah Bernhardt and Gustave Eiffel before 1898, then of Marcel Proust, who stayed there several times. In the old park thrives an imposing cedar. Undoubtedly contemporary with the first landscaping, it would soon be two hundred years old.

Château de Fonbonne and Herbularius
A stronghold stood in the 14th century on this site. It contributed to the defense of the new district of Touvière, located outside the city walls. This house was acquired in 1559 by Thomas Jacquerod who passed it on to his descendants, the noble Loys of Bonne-vaux. The name of Fonbonne does not appear until late. At the end of the 18th century, William Beckford, a wealthy Englishman, stayed at the château and gave Evian memorable celebrations. Transformed into a hotel around 1860, the building has undergone several restorations. In 1999, the City of Evian acquired the old dining room, converted into a temporary exhibition hall. She has more recently fitted out a medieval-inspired herbularius planted with aromatic plants and adorned with a gazebo

Boat Savoy
La Savoie, whose home port is in Evian, is a replica of a 35m boat with Latin sails, built in 1896 near Geneva for a family of Meillerie boatmen, the Péray. These boats with wide sides and shallow draft were used until the Second World War to transport various materials, in particular stones from the Meillerie quarries. Art and literature celebrated their characteristic silhouette, inseparable from the Lake Geneva landscape. La Savoie was built in Thonon between 1997 and 2000, using old templates and some old tools. This project was born out of the passion of volunteers gathered within the Mémoire du Léman association. Savoie now sails on the lake every summer. It is the largest barque with Latin sails currently sailing.

Civil heritage

Church Street
The narrow, winding streets that surround the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption well recreate the atmosphere of the Frankish quarter, the oldest in the city, tightened inside its ramparts. Here an intense economic activity reigned thanks to the franchises granted to the city by the counts of Savoy. The oldest charter found was granted by Count Pierre II in May 1265. The monetary workshop of the sovereigns was located in the current rue de la Monnaie, very close. This house retains windows with curved stone frames. A pointed arch surmounted by an escutcheon faces the entrance to a courtyard. At the corner of the Place de l’Eglise, a plaque indicates the location of the birthplace of General Dupas, hero of the Napoleonic wars, whose commemorative monument is on the quays.

Buvette Cachat
An interactive and fun space dedicated to evian mineral water is accessible on the ground floor from rue Nationale. From Avenue des Sources, you can admire its dome and its magnificent Art Nouveau stained-glass windows. It is on the site of the Sainte-Catherine de la Touvière church, demolished at the end of the 18th century, that a bathhouse was built in 1826 using water from the Cachat spring. It is modified several times to adapt it to the growing number of curists and to the evolution of care. In 1905, the Société des eaux minérale replaced it with this refreshment bar, the center of social life at the resort. Designed by the architect Albert Hébrard, it is a masterpiece of Art Nouveau all in curves and counter-curves, whose monumental entrance overlooks the rue Nationale. The framework of the great hall, pierced with stained-glass windows with floral motifs and covered with glazed tiles, is listed as a historic monument. It houses a graceful statue by sculptor Charles Beylard, “Apotheosis of the Cachat source”, a recent copy of which is in front of the source.

Medieval hospital (old town hall)
Demoiselle Pernette Grenat, “native and bourgeois of Evian”, attached her name to this house which she bequeathed in 1355, as well as her property, to the hospice-hospital founded a few years earlier. Encouraged by the counts of Savoy and the papacy, enriched by donations and bequests from the Evianais, the establishment prospered quickly. It welcomes passing pilgrims (hospice) and provides care to the poor bourgeois of the city (hospital). After several restorations, the last of which was carried out between 1864 and 1867, its facade presents ogival style openings on the ground floor, mullioned windows on the upper floors and a square clock tower, surmounted by a four-sided roof. framed. This building, whose front door is adorned with the city’s coat of arms, was the Evian Town Hall from the mid-19th century to 1927.

Market place
The market square is the economic heart of the medieval city. It is placed directly above the castle and near the shore where the boats land on the shore. From the 13th century there is a hall covered with slats of wood, the scindules, a kind of tavaillons that make it vulnerable to fires and gales. It will be rebuilt several times. Nearby, a large stone carved from various cavities serves as a measure for the goods. The count’s agents circulate between the banks to levy leydes, a tax on certain products, such as meat and wheat. The square is decorated in its center with a fountain with a wooden basin.

Station and glass roof
The opening of the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway station in June 1882 was decisive for the future of the station. Evian is now linked to the main French lines by Annemasse and Thonon. Tourist numbers increased dramatically, from 3,700 visitors in 1879 to 6,000 in 1883. The extension of the railway line to the east (the so-called “Tonkin” line) made it possible four years later to connect to the Swiss network. Inside the station, an imposing glass roof on metal architecture, probably installed in 1908, overlooks the platforms and tracks. It benefited from a complete renovation in 2010 as part of the preservation of the remarkable regional heritage.

Religious heritage

Church of Our Lady of the Assumption
Built in the second part of the 13th century, under the reign of Count Pierre II of Savoy, the church of Evian belongs to the first Savoyard Gothic art. The parish church, built in the second half of the 13th century, is representative of Savoyard Gothic. Altered at the end of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century (piercing of the chevet), restored several times, it was extended by two and a half bays towards the west before 1930. From this period dates its facade in the Romano-Byzantine style. The square tower bell tower was surmounted by a spire and four turrets, knocked down in 1794 and replaced by a lantern.

Inside, we notice the cross-ribbed vaults, ornate molasse capitals and lamp bottoms depicting cherubs with the arms of Savoy. In a side chapel, the relief painting of the Madonna and Child, dated 1493, belonged to Louise of Savoy. In front of the high altar is the funerary slab of Vespasian by Gribaldi *, Archbishop of Vienna. The neo-Gothic walnut stalls date from the first half of the 19th century. The nave houses a contemporary Stations of the Cross, the work of the Evian painter Pierre Christin, and the tribune a pipe organ with 43 stops inaugurated in 2014.

Cultural space

Antoine Riboud Theater
Every year in August, the theater hosts the summer theatrical shows and its boulevard comedies. Evian is one of the first French spa towns to have a municipal theater, to meet the entertainment needs of its spa clientele. Built on the plans of Jules Clerc, a French architect living in Vevey, the theater was inaugurated on July 1, 1885. With a capacity of around 400 seats, it is built in artificial materials imitating stone and incorporates the latest technical innovations. It is then described as an “architectural gem” that has nothing to envy Parisian venues. Neoclassical in appearance (balance of proportions, fluted pi-lastres), it has rich interior decorations where sculptures, mosaics, enamels and gilding bear witness to the taste of the time for decorative exuberance. It is listed as a historic monument.

Gribaldi House, archives and heritage
The Gribaldi House, a site dedicated to the promotion of municipal historical and iconographic archives, pays homage to Archbishop Vespassien. Considered to be one of the last vestiges of old Evian, it has a space for consulting archives and exhibitions.

CF Ramuz media library
Located inside the Palais Lumière, the CF Ramuz municipal media library offers more than 56,000 references (adult books, children’s books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, etc.). The municipality wanted to give a prestigious name to this place, the choice fell as obvious, on that of the Swiss writer.

Natural heritage
In 1992, the Evian Mineral Water Impluvium Protection Association (APIEME) was created, one-third funded by the municipalities of Évian-les-Bains, Publier, Neuvecelle and Maxilly, and two-thirds by the Evian Mineral Water Company; its objective is to protect the Evian impluvium (35 km in area), that is to say the part of the Gavot plateau where water falls before filtering. In particular, it encourages organic farming or farming that does not risk endangering the quality of runoff and feedwater from the catchment area.

In October 2009, all 70 wetlands (from 1 to 24 hectares) of the Gavot plateau were included in the list of wetlands of international importance established by the Ramsar Convention.

Pré Curieux water gardens
Lovers of country walks or budding explorers, embark on board the electro-solar boat “L’Agrion” and discover the water gardens of Pré Curieux, a “remarkable garden”! Located by the lake, at the western entrance to Evian, the Pré Curieux comprises a charming colonial-style house dating from 1870 at the foot of which extends a wooded park of 3.5 hectares, rehabilitated by the landscape designer Laurent Daune (Lucinges). This site is a unique place to discover wetlands. In 2005, the water gardens obtained the “Remarkable Garden” label. Here, no phytosanitary product is used for maintenance and people particularly sensitive to the preservation of the environment have been recruited to watch over the site. In addition to their own missions, gardeners have an educational role, particularly in the direction of children welcomed throughout the year.

A first detour through the house allows you to discover over the exhibitions, the function, richness and fragility of wetlands. The walk continues in the park, which is organized around different ecosystems linked to water. It is the domain of the koi carp which evolve in ponds where water lilies and pondweed spread. There, natural water gardens: a stream, a pond, a marsh, wet meadows and a delta which are all home to a flora and fauna as unique as they are varied. Le Pré Curieux brings together a collection of impressive perennials (astilbes, heucheras, eupatoires, hostas, etc.). Here the water passes from the stream to the pond, the wet meadow and the swamp. So many environments where amphibians and aquatic insects swarm. We also observe the arrival of new species each year (spotted salamanders.

Source Cachat
The source of Cachat – the old fountain of Sainte Catherine – is the most famous of the many sources in Evian. Built in 1903, like the Buvette Cachat which faces it. It bears the name of Gabriel Cachat, owner of the garden in which it flowed at the end of the 18th century. Its therapeutic properties were discovered by Count Jean Charles de Laizer, an Auvergne aristocrat. Fleeing the French Revolution, he stayed in Evian from June 1790 to September 1792, stayed with Gabriel Cachat and drank every day at the source. He was quickly cured of gravel which had been causing him pain for several years. Analyzed in 1807, this water is recommended as a cure in the treatment of kidney and bladder diseases and has been increasingly successful as table water from the 1860s. The Cachat source belongs to the Société anonyme des eaux minérale d’Evian.

Espaces verts
Évian is placed in the first rank of flower towns with four flowers in the national ranking.

The curious meadow water garden, classified as a remarkable garden of France, and protected as a Ramsar site, that is to say protected by the Ramsar convention.

The parks and gardens (15 ha) of the Royal and Ermitage hotels are the first private green spaces eco-labeled under the Eve® label from ECOCERT innovember 2010.