Town: in the Isère department
Stage town: for the first time
Population: 8,600 (Vifois, Vifoises) 714,000 in Grenoble Alpes Métropole
Specialities: Grenoble walnuts. Gratin dauphinois. Caillette. Chartreuse. Ravioles. Bleu du Vercors
Personalities: Jean-François Champollion (Egyptologist). Finaly brothers (deported children)
Sport: Grenoble Métropole Cyclisme 38, FCG (rugby, Pro D2), GF 38 (football, Ligue 2), Brûleurs de Loups (ice hockey, Magnus League, French champions for the 9th time in 2025), Club Alpin Français
Events: La Thierry Claveyrolat (gran fondo), Ut4M (ultra-trail), L'échappée belle (trail)
Culture: Printemps du livre de Grenoble / Berlioz Festival in la Côte-Saint-André / Experimenta (biennial arts and sciences festival) / Centenary in 2025 of the International Exhibition of White Coal and Tourism
Economy: cement (birthplace of the Vicat company), pottery, glove-making and silk. Shops and services. Tourism
Websites and social networks: www.ville-vif.fr / www.grenoblealpesmetropole.fr / www.isere.fr
Vif and cycling
Located 18km south of Grenoble, Vif is the 21st town in Isère to host a stage of the Tour de France. Known primarily for its Champollion Museum, dedicated to the famous Egyptologist and his family, this town of 8,000 inhabitants has no real cycling vocation but it is at the heart of one of the departments most often visited by the Grande Boucle, if only because of the presence of legendary climbs like Alpe d'Huez and Les Deux-Alpes. There are countless riders from the Isère region, the best known of whom are Thierry Claveyrolat, the eagle of Vizille (12km from Vif) and best climber in the 1990 Tour, Bernard Vallet, who won the polka-dot jersey in 1982, and other stage winners such as Anatole Novak (1961), Jean-Luc Molinéris (1974), Jean-Claude Colotti (1992) and Nans Peters (2020), as well as Thierry Bourguignon, one of the most popular French riders of the 1990s, and Laurent Biondi.
Sights
Champollion Museum
Construction: 17th century
Museum opening: 2021
History: Acquired by the Isere Departmental Council in 2001, Les Ombrages (now Maison Champollion) first opened its doors to the public in 2004 on the occasion of the 9th International Congress of Egyptology. It was reopened in 2021 following renovation work. This elegant mansion, set in extensive grounds, was once owned by Jacques-Joseph Champollion-Figeac's wife, Zoé Berriat, who received it as a dowry in 1807. Jean-François Champollion used to come and stay here on fine days, under "the cool shades of Vif". The property has remained intact since the 19th century. The furniture, the family pictures, the objects of daily life, not forgetting the sixty volumes of manuscripts of the decipherer of hieroglyphs... everything here evokes the memory of Jacques-Joseph and Jean-François Champollion. In fact, vestiges of hieroglyphs can still be seen engraved in the beams of the latter's bedroom
Special feature: in the town centre, there is a trail where walkers can discover a number of places where the Champollion brothers and the Berriat family left their mark
Listed as: historical monument in 1994. Museum of France
Champollion Park
Description: Made available to the commune of Vif by the département, Champollion Park is the largest part of the 2.48-hectare Les Ombrages Estate, as well as being the town's largest park. The park is a vast meadow, a trace of the former farmland that fed the house in the fields and is enclosed by a surrounding wall. It has three entrances from outside the museum (north, north-east and south-east) and opens onto the pleasure garden
Activities: The local authority organises a number of open-air events in the country park, including the Bastille Day fireworks display, theatrical and artistic performances, open-air cinema screenings and activities linked to the Heritage Days
Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church
Built: between 1030 and 1709
Style: Romanesque
History: this is the church of a former Benedictine priory founded in 1035 and partly destroyed during the Wars of Religion. The church's porch tower dates from the 13th century and was remodelled in the 19th century. The nave was rebuilt in the 13th century but the Romanesque choir has been preserved. Attic space was added and the galleries were cut off. The south wall is typical of 13th-century Dauphiné architecture. Excavations have revealed the presence of a Carolingian and Merovingian cemetery and a remarkable collection of wall paintings has been uncovered on the north and south walls, particularly in the galleries, bays and triumphal arch (geometric decorations and scenes with several figures). In the 19th century, the choir was painted by Alexandre Debelle, but the decorations were lost forever when the church was restored in 1960
Characteristics: the church is built in a predominantly Romanesque style, although it has been altered several times since the 11th century. The general shape of the church is a three-vessel structure (two aisles and a nave) with no real transept. This architecture is similar to the structure of a basilica church. The original Romanesque church appears to have been composed of a triple nave, a chevet with three apses and a tower-porch. The apse dates from the 11th century, while the nave, which has a very different appearance, is modelled on that of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Grenoble and probably dates from the 13th century
Listed as: Historical Monument in 2011
Vicat du Genevrey cement works
Built: 1857
Style: industrial wasteland
History: the first cement works of the future Société des Ciments Vicat was created when Joseph Vicat built six kilns on land in the hamlet of Genevrey to manufacture artificial cement. Five years after the construction of these kilns, in February 1857, the first factory was set up, thereby launching the industrial manufacture of cement, making Le Genevrey a veritable "cement Mecca". In the 1960s, more than 200 workers were employed at the plant, which closed in 1976 and was razed to the ground in 1999
Characteristics: all that remains of the cement works are the "baby bottle" kilns (because of their shape) and the wasteland is off-limits to visitors
To eat
Grenoble walnuts
The Grenoble walnut draws its unique taste, finesse and freshness from its natural environment. Gathered in the Isère Valley, the walnut groves benefit from a relatively wet and windy climate. The orchards, cultivated between plains and hills, at altitudes of 150 to 800 m, benefit from the coolness of an Alpine climate perfectly suited to this small fruit with character...
These geographical conditions, combined with the expertise of the growers, have made the Grenoble walnut one of the region's flagship products for several centuries.
Today, walnut growers combine the most modern methods with respect for tradition and nature to produce a perfectly healthy, natural fruit.
