Since Empress Eugénie's cure in 1863, Aix-les-Bains has preserved a century and a half of thermal architecture more intact than most of the other imperial spa towns of the era. The town was one of the leading retreats of the French court under the Second Empire, and that imprint still shapes both its identity and its prime real estate market. The Imperial Town distinction, awarded on 8 November 2025, now officially recognises this trajectory.
At the BARNES agency in Aix-les-Bains, we read this recognition as a strong signal on an already selective destination. We handle the sale of heritage villas and lakeside residences every day, and their value now carries a nationally recognised cultural endorsement. If you are considering selling or buying in Aix, this distinction reshapes the grid we use with you.
Aix-les-Bains joins the closed circle of Imperial Towns
The Imperial Town label was created in 2011 at the initiative of Rueil-Malmaison. It distinguishes municipalities whose history and heritage bear lasting witness to a connection with the First or Second Empire. The network now brings together 26 member communes and 11 partners, among them Biarritz, Nice, Compiègne, Fontainebleau, Aix-en-Provence and Ajaccio.
Joining this network opens new dynamics for heritage valorisation and tourism in Aix, which should translate into:
- enriched cultural itineraries on imperial sites
- explanatory panels on historic buildings
- dedicated programme of guided tours
- increased visibility among French and international clients sensitive to Belle Époque heritage
The Imperial Town network: in November 2025, Aix-les-Bains joins the 26 member communes alongside Biarritz, Nice, Compiègne, Fontainebleau, Aix-en-Provence and Ajaccio.
From Pauline Bonaparte to Empress Eugénie, a century of imperial retreat
The Savoyard anchor of the dynasty goes back to the early years of the 19th century. Pauline Bonaparte, the Emperor's sister, stayed at the Villa Chevalley, as did Queen Hortense and later Lamartine. This 18th-century residence, close to the thermal establishment, was among the earliest retreats of the family in Alpine territory.
The real turning point came under the Second Empire. In 1863, Empress Eugénie chose Aix for a cure. Her stay, carried by the aura of Napoleon III, lifted the town into another dimension and placed it lastingly among the destinations frequented by the court, alongside Biarritz, Vichy or Plombières. Napoleon III himself financed the modernisation of the thermal facilities, notably the Pellegrini Thermal Baths. British aristocrats, Italian and later Russian sovereigns would extend this tradition up to the First World War, turning the spa into one of Europe's laboratories of aristocratic thermalism.
The grand hotels of Aix, architectural witnesses of a golden age
The influx of high society under Napoleon III and the Belle Époque triggered a major architectural transformation. Between 1881 and 1883, the Geneva-based architect Antoine Gouy designed the first building of what would become the Royal-Splendide-Excelsior, the emblematic hotel complex of Aix, part of which is today a listed Historic Monument.
The place welcomed leading figures of European high society.
- the Maharaja of Baroda
- Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil
- Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sissi
Around these major addresses developed a fabric of aristocratic villas, private mansions and holiday residences, on the hillsides and along the shores of Lake Bourget. This heritage stock, often restored with great care, continues to shape the upper segment of the residential market and to feed the renovation economy.
Exceptional apartment in a former grand hotel, 152 sqm with panoramic lake view, for sale at BARNES Aix-les-Bains.
Imperial elegance shaping Aix art de vivre
What sets Aix apart from the thermal spas that declined after the Great War is the continuity of its art de vivre. Thermalism is still active, the listed Grand Casino still runs its programme, and the shores of Lake Bourget, the largest natural lake in France, concentrate the heritage villas and exceptional residences that anchor the basin's prime segment. A rich cultural offer, fine dining tables and the immediate proximity of the Bauges mountain range complete a way of life that blends heritage and nature, rare on the Alpine arc.
Manor house in Aix-les-Bains, 4 bedrooms, parkland and lake view, for sale at BARNES.
A legacy that still shapes the prime real estate market
Since 2023, we have been observing a recovery concentrated on the high-end segment of the Aix basin, driven by buyers from Lyon, Geneva and Paris whom we welcome at the agency and who are looking for a lakeside second home, a profile that precisely values the architecture inherited from the imperial period.
In the Aix market, this heritage dimension translates into figures. Within Aix itself, the two districts where restored imperial-era buildings settled, the East around the Grand Port and its 19th-century hotels and the West with the Royal-Splendide-Excelsior complex in Marlioz, show the highest prices in town (MeilleursAgents, April 2026).
- East (Grand Port): €4,727/m²
- West (Marlioz): €4,718/m²
- Centre Ville: €4,318/m²
- Lafin / Saint Simond: €4,322/m²
This average remains contained by the size of the town. Aix-les-Bains, the largest town in the Bourget basin, concentrates a broad and varied residential stock that mechanically pulls the average down.
Villa in Tresserve, direct lakefront, 253 sqm with panoramic view, for sale at BARNES.
The neighbouring villages of Tresserve, Pugny-Chatenod and Brison-Saint-Innocent, where the private villas of imperial-era aristocracy and prime detached homes dominate, extend this dynamic. Land scarcity and lakefront positioning push house prices to €6,087/m² (Tresserve) and €5,266/m² (Brison-Saint-Innocent), 7 to 24% above the Aix average.
Bourgeois apartment near Place Mirabeau, 145 sqm, for sale at BARNES Aix-les-Bains.
At a regional scale, this lakeside segment nevertheless remains markedly more accessible than the ski resorts that pull prime real estate prices in the Savoie region upwards, where average house prices can reach nearly 4 times those of Aix.
BARNES supports your project in the new Imperial Town
Our consultants, specialists in luxury real estate in Aix-les-Bains and its region, support you in your sale or acquisition project. Our team brings particular expertise on properties of character, from the apartments for sale in Aix-les-Bains of the historic centre to the houses and villas for sale in Aix-les-Bains on the heights, including the properties for sale in Brison-Saint-Innocent and the other lake-shore towns and villages.
When you entrust us with a Belle Époque villa on the heights of Aix, an apartment on the Grand Port or a house in Tresserve, the label now gives us an official reference to highlight the heritage character of the property to outside buyers. In practice, the label becomes a tangible differentiator for sellers of character properties and an official benchmark for buyers from Lyon, Geneva and Paris seeking historical authenticity.
