The ruins of the Château de Saint-Michel lie south of Servoz. Unfortunately there is not too much left of the old castle but it is still a very worthwhile place to visit. The walk up to the ruins is beautiful and if you are coming from the direction of Servoz then you will be passing by the beautiful Chapelle Notre Dame du Lac. We got a wonderfull trail that explores both Servoz and Vaudagne and this trail passes by both the big church of Servoz, the Eglise Saint-Loup, the Chapelle Notre Dame du Lac and the ruins of the Château de Saint-Michel. We highly recommend combining all these sights in a single route.

The castle itself has a rich and fascinating history. There is a nice information sign in French and English providing a nice summary of the story. In short: Beatrice de Faucigny built the castle between 1290-1300 to defend her territory. It's location with a good view of the valley entrance and the Arve river made it a perfect location for fortifications. The castle itself is not very large in size. It had a single tower of 9m in diameter and 17.5 meters in height and the rectangular main body of the castle measured 30m x 13m. There is a website detailing the culture, history and heritage of Passy and it has an excellent page in French providing a lot more detail and very old illustrations of the castle. You can visit this page here.