Overview
Alpexpo, officially the Parc Événementiel de Grenoble, is the leading events venue of the Grenoble metropolitan area. Located on avenue d'Innsbruck, on the footprint of the former Grenoble-Mermoz aerodrome to the south-west of the city (Mistral / Eaux-Claires districts, close to the Grand'Place shopping centre), it offers around 42,000 sqm of covered exhibition space, complemented by a conference centre (Alpes Congrès) and the Le Summum concert hall on the same site.
The venue was inaugurated on 6 February 1968, in the wake of the Grenoble Winter Olympic Games held that same year, and designed by the architect Jean Prouvé. The complex was extended in the late 1980s, and Alpes Congrès, the conference centre, was created in 1974.
Operations are today managed by SPL Alpexpo (a local public company, since 2019), whose shareholding is split between the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region (51%), Grenoble-Alpes Métropole (35%), the Isère Department (5%) and the City of Grenoble (9%). This regional governance makes the venue a structuring asset for the area's attractiveness strategy.
Alpexpo is known as the stage for two major events of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region: Mountain Planet, the biennial international trade show for mountain development, and the Foire de Grenoble, the historic general-interest fair held each autumn.
Halls
The venue has 3 modular exhibition halls, totalling around 42,000 sqm of covered floor space, complemented by the Alpes Congrès conference centre and the Le Summum concert hall.
- Hall Jean Marandjian: around 32,540 sqm, the main exhibition hall, configurable with full partitioning or as a single open floor for high-attendance consumer trade shows.
- Hall 89: around 8,726 sqm, a complementary hall for medium-sized trade shows or extensions.
- Hall Mermoz: complementary floor space, named in tribute to the former aerodrome that occupied the site.
- Alpes Congrès conference centre: 12 modular rooms. The main Dauphine room offers up to 970 seats in plenary configuration, complemented by the Oisans (240), Stendhal (180), Écrins (up to 650 combined), Bayard, Berlioz and Lesdiguières rooms for workshops and parallel sessions.
- Le Summum: a concert hall inaugurated in 1988, with a capacity of up to 5,000 seats, used for major events and concerts.
Access & transport
- Address: Avenue d'Innsbruck, 38100 Grenoble.
- Tram: line A, Pôle Sud - Alpexpo stop, connecting with the TAG metropolitan network.
- Bus: Chrono C3 (Alpexpo stop); Chrono C6, C8 and lines 12, 65, 67 (Grand'Place stop).
- Motorway: from the A48 (Lyon), A49 (Valence), A41 (Chambéry) or A51 (Sisteron), join the Rocade Sud, exit 6 Alpexpo.
- Grenoble TGV station: around 15 minutes from Alpexpo by tram, served by direct TGV trains from Paris, Lyon and Marseille.
- Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport: around 1 hour by road, the main international gateway for the Grenoble area.
- Grenoble-Alpes-Isère Airport (Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs): around 45 minutes away, open mainly during the winter season.
- Parking: free parking on site, several thousand spaces, complemented by the car parks of the neighbouring Grand'Place shopping centre. Exact capacity not publicly released by the operator.
- Accommodation: hotel options are concentrated in Grenoble city centre and around the station, 10-15 minutes away by tram. Detailed hotel capacity not publicly released by SPL Alpexpo.
Services
- Catering: event catering provided on site, for both exhibitors and visitors, with an offer sized for peak attendance (Mountain Planet, Foire de Grenoble).
- Business centre and meeting rooms: facilities for exhibitor meetings, press points and organising committees, housed in Alpes Congrès (12 modular rooms) and in the Espace 1968 (a 456-seat amphitheatre, rooms for 20 to 500 people).
- Accommodation: no hotel on site. Organisers negotiate hotel agreements in central Grenoble (10-15 minutes away by tram).
- WiFi and connectivity: coverage announced across the whole site, with exhibitor terms to be confirmed in the technical manual of each trade show.
2026-2027 pricing details (hall hire, technical options, exhibitor services): not publicly released, quotes available on request from SPL Alpexpo.
News
French Alps 2030 bid: the French bid for the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, led in particular by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions, was selected by the IOC on 24 July 2024 at its 142nd Session. Grenoble and its events ecosystem, including Alpexpo, are positioned within the orbit of the metropolitan arrangements around the 2030 deadline, although no precise Olympic hosting programme (event, ceremony or media hub) has been published to date. Data on the final decision not publicly available.
This prospect is fuelling the local debate on modernising the venue: refurbishment of the halls, upgrading of the conference centre, and integration into the metropolitan transport scheme to be strengthened by 2030. A firm timetable and budget envelope have not been publicly released by SPL Alpexpo or Grenoble-Alpes Métropole to date.
Flagship trade shows
Alpexpo hosts several structuring events for the mountain, energy, industry and consumer sectors. Selection listed on Agoris:
- Mountain Planet (mountain development and equipment, 21-23 April 2026): a biennial international trade show, a global showcase for resorts and ski-lift manufacturers, organised in partnership with Domaines Skiables de France.
- Bois Énergie (wood-energy sector, 17-19 March 2026): the benchmark trade show for wood-fired heating, pellets and energy forestry.
- SEPEM Industries Sud-Est (industry, subcontracting, industrial services, 24-26 November 2026): the regional edition of the SEPEM circuit, anchored in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes industrial area.
The venue also historically hosts the Foire de Grenoble (the annual general-interest fair in November) and the Grenoble Salon Habitat, neither of which is covered by Agoris to date.