Lalaye

Lalaye is a commune in the southwest of the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.

The inhabitants are known as Lachenois.

Geography

Lalaye is positioned approximately fifteen kilometres (nine miles) to the west-north-west of Sélestat on the departmental road D39, one of a number of minor roads that twists across the Vosges Mountains into Lorraine. It is three kilometres (two miles) upstream of the cantonal town, Villé, and on the left bank of a branch of the Giessen river which tumbles down from Urbeis to the west-south-west. To the north the commune is bounded by the Honel ridge which continues at an altitude of around 600 meters to the Blanc-Noyer peak (822 meters) which dominates the area. To the south a line of lower peaks running from the Kohlberg (500 meters) to the Goutte Henri (610 meters) a separates the Urbeis Giessen from the "Giessen proper".

The village itself is positioned at the lower end of the valley, having an average elevation of just 310 meters, shortly before the Charbes stream and the Urbeis Giessen converge. The houses are stretched along the south facing side of the narrow Charbes valley.