"Meylan, La Tronche, Corenc, Montbonnot-St-Martin" Meylan by JLBG

Meylan Travel Guide: 30 reviews and 33 photos

In my Meylan page, I will present mostly Meylan but also neighboring cities of La Tronche, Corenc and Montbonnot-Saint-Martin.

Meylan and Montbonnot-Saint-Martin are now developped at the bottom of the valley though the ancient villages were on the slopes, out of reach of the Isère floods. La Tronche and Corenc have both remained entirely on the slopes of the Chartreuse massif. The Mont Saint Eynard with its fort is on the limit of these communities.

A residential area

These cities in the neighbourhood of Grenoble have always been residential locations. When a one hour horse or carriage ride was necessary to reach Meylan or La Tronche, wealthy citizens had for summer a country mansion in these remote places. Now that they are reached by bus or car in a dozen of minutes, everybody wants to live there as it is the less polluted part of the valley and has more green spaces. Meylan had 1074 inhabitants in 1946, 19,000 now.
Meylan is twinned since 1986 with Gonzales (Louisiana) in the USA, 1988 with Planegg (Bavaria) in Germany and since 1999 with Didcot in England.

A high Tech area

During the past thirty years, Meylan, the first and more recently Montbonnot-Saint-Martin have developed a district called ZIRST (for Zone industrielle de Recherche Scientifique et Technique = Industrial zone for scientific and technical research). That means that the ZIRST has built 2/3 levels buildings ready for rent to small, new companies in electronics, informatics, metrology and other high technology fields. Larger companies have bought land and have now buildings of their own, often developing an interesting architecture. They are the one I will show here.
This ZIRST has often been called the French Silicon Valley. On the 15th of April 2005, the unpronounceable ZIRST has become Inovallée, for Innovation Valley and with an evident wink to Silicon Valley.

Intro Updated Nov 25, 2007
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Reviews (30)

Jeux d'enfants Sports & Outdoors (3)

At first, it seems amazing but actually, the way they are carved and the exaggeration of the volumes, huge bodies, and... more travel advice

Jeux d'enfants Sports & Outdoors (3)

A playground with sand for little children is decorated by an amazing group of statues. They show three very fat little... more travel advice

Terrain de sports Sports & Outdoors (3)

In the center of Meylan, close to the town hall a wide space is a meadow open to the public. It is used as a football... more travel advice

Fort du Saint Eynard, the landscape - Meylan

Fort du Saint Eynard, the landscape Off The Beaten Path (5)

The view is complete towards the south and the east. This photo shows the southeast, in the foreground, mainly Meylan,... more travel advice

Local Customs (4)
See All Marché de Meylan
Favorites (9)
See All Col de Porte

Things to Do (9)
See All Telecom
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Comments (9)

volopolo Jan 19, 2009 at 3:52 AM Report Abuse

Must be intersting place your hometown Jean
Kuznetsov_Sergey Nov 30, 2007 at 11:34 PM Report Abuse

As I could understand Meylan is a scintific centre with a set of colleges and insitutes. I envy those students and engineers who can study, work and live in such a beautiful place! The Dent de Crolles is very impressive. Thanks Jean-Louis for the tour.
Nemorino Nov 27, 2007 at 5:59 AM Report Abuse

I never realized there were so many high-tech companies near Grenoble. A cousin of mine used to work for Sun Microsystems, but in California, not in the Inovallée. (She wrote user handbooks, which I also have done. It seems to run in the family.)
deecat Jan 8, 2007 at 2:36 PM Report Abuse

Jean-Louis, I found your local gardens tip very delightful. I also enjoyed the open-air market, the fort [and its beautiful location], the forest, the Dent de Crolles, your emphasis on architecture, and was surprised about Sun Microsystem.
Luchonda Apr 22, 2006 at 6:06 PM Report Abuse

Meylan has a table mountain aswell ?? Findly found where you're intro pic on the HP is coming from.
Trekki Aug 14, 2005 at 4:34 AM Report Abuse

Must be an wonderful experience to do horseback ride in this region !!!
matcrazy1 Jun 3, 2005 at 4:33 PM Report Abuse

Impressive views from the top and Fort du Saint Eynard itself, too. A must see for me...
Bwana_Brown Apr 21, 2005 at 3:48 PM Report Abuse

Excellent stuff Jean-Louis!! A very impressive high-tech area with amazing architecture as well. Stunning views from the fort and awesome massifs here - what a great place to live! It is very nice that gardens are available for city-dwellers too!
Maillekeukeul Apr 21, 2005 at 4:31 AM Report Abuse

The fort is really impressive. It reminds me of Ronda, an andalousian city... Some splendid pics... Was the horse paid to appear at least three times on your pages ?? ;-D