Annecy earns its old nickname honestly. Canals thread through the medieval quarter, geraniums spilling from window boxes above water so clear it shows the current shifting beneath stone bridges, and the lake beyond opens into one of the cleanest large bodies of water in Europe, ringed on every side by the Bornes and Bauges massifs. Above the shoreline at Talloires, Auberge du Pere Bise has been serving Michelin-starred Savoyard cooking to lakeside guests for generations, the kind of restaurant that treats a dining room view as seriously as the food. The drive up to Col de la Forclaz does the rest of the work: switchback after switchback climbing above the treeline until the lake appears in full, paragliders lifting off from the same ridge where the road ends. It's the kind of ascent that asks real composure of a car built to hold a line through altitude changes most roads never attempt. Annecy runs on a quieter register than the Riviera an hour south, but the demand for something serious to drive here is genuine. Rent or hire a sports car with Zeus Prestige and Col de la Forclaz is exactly the road it was built for.