Arboretum Robert Ruffier-Lanche

Gières, France, France

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The Arboretum Robert Ruffier-Lanche is a 2-to-3-hectare arboretum located on the Université Grenoble Alpes campus at 2233 rue de la Piscine in Gières (Saint-Martin-d'Hères), Isère, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France.

Created in 1966 by Robert Ruffier-Lanche, a self-taught botanist who served as the culture chief of the Jardin botanique alpin du Lautaret from 1950 until his death in 1973, the arboretum is dedicated to his memory and contains more than 250–300 species of trees and shrubs from temperate regions around the world.

Integrated into the Joseph Fourier Alpine Station alongside the Lautaret Alpine Botanical Garden, it serves as an educational space for students, schoolchildren, and the general public, with signposting panels indicating the name and origin of each tree and plant. The arboretum is unique for featuring the Manuel Forestini Planetary Path, installed in 2003, which is a scale model of the entire solar system where each meter walked represents 10 million kilometers, named after the Grenoble University researcher who died in 2003 at age 40.

It is situated on the banks of the Isère River, freely accessible to all year-round without charge, offers guided visits by appointment, is accessible to people with mobility issues, and is particularly beautiful in spring when the trees bloom and in April when the unique Chinese "handkerchief tree" (Dbogdia groveii) flowers for the only time annually.