📅 Dates 2026: every Wednesday from July 1st to August 26th, from 14pm to 16:30pm.
ℹ️ From 8 years old / Adult: €20 – Child: €15
📞 Reservations at 06 03 05 26 48 or 06 82 86 41 43
During the warmer months, Véronique and Anne-Laure , in partnership with the Rumilly-Albanais Tourist Office, offer introductory gold panning sessions in the Fier River. This fun activity provides an excellent opportunity to connect with these alpine rivers, home to significant biodiversity.
It seems that mainland France still holds more than 50 tons of gold in its subsoil! In fact, geologists are adamant: the yellow metal is everywhere in the country, but dispersed in very small quantities. The Fier , one of the two rivers that flow through Rumilly-Albanais , this area located between Aix-les-Bains and Annecy , carries minute particles of it, torn from the rocks upstream by erosion and transported by the water.
But there's no need to rush there to explore the vein, lured by the prospect of easy money; you'll quickly be disappointed! While gold panning has been practiced in these gold-bearing rivers since Roman times, extraction has always remained on a small scale, once allowing people to make a few pieces of jewelry or, for the luckiest who struck a nugget, to supplement their income. It takes hours of effort to extract even a gram of alluvial gold from the riverbed, gold which is remarkably pure, close to 24 carats!
In a fun spirit, gold panning discovery outings are offered during the summer season, where gold spots, sand or gravel banks, the "placers" in gold panning jargon, are very accessible.
A perfect family outing because you're never too old to catch yellow fever!
