Musée de la Grande Chartreuse Savoie

Encircled by forest-draped cliffs, this intriguing museum explores the millennia-long history of the Grande Chartreuse monastery, 2km north. Thirty-odd Carthusian monks still reside there, withdrawn in silence from the world, and the museum explains the meanings of their insignia, shines a light on unchanged traditions, and shows their touch-points with the modern world (that is, modern methods of liqueur distillation). It's a 24km drive east of the Caves de la Chartreuse.For deeper insights into the lift of Chartreuse's monks, watch Into Great Silence (2007), an almost-silent documentary film about the monastery.