Sallanches is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department of France. Located close to the Mont Blanc massif, many visitors pass through the town en route to well-known alpine resorts such as Chamonix, Megève and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. Sallanches is also one of the towns in the Arve Valley, made popular by the presence of many high-tech industries. Over 300 retail stores are located in Sallanches, making the town a commercial hub. In 2017, the commune had a population of 16,088, and its urban area had 44,192 inhabitants.
In 2015 Sallanches hospital announced that, as part of the government's "groupements hospitaliers de territoire" policy, it would develop a specialist accident department to research and develop mountain-related emergency medicine, because of its proximity to, and past experience of, dealing with accidents occurring in the nearby high mountains. With an emergency team of 30 doctors and emergency staff, plus 50 support staff, it is expected that the new mountain medicine department will become a world-leader in developing treatments and researching into altitude sickness, frostbite, hypoxia, trauma-injuries and related sports medicine.