Jura: yellow wine, blind valleys and waterfalls
Ledoux’s royal saltworks, the vineyards of Arbois and Château-Chalon, and a chain of waterfalls in the forest.
- Distance
- 137 km (85 mi)
- Driving
- 1 h 54 min
- Suggested days
- 3
- Stops
- 7
- Countries
- France
- Updated
- September 2, 2026
At a glance: 3-day road trip of about 137 km (85 mi) with 7 stops, from Besançon to Les Rousses. About 1 h 54 min of driving in total.
Route description
Start in Besançon, wrapped in a loop of the Doubs below Vauban’s citadel, and drive south-west to the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans. Arbois is close by: Louis Pasteur’s home town and the capital of Jura wine, where cellars pour vin jaune and the local Comté cheese.
South of Poligny the vineyard road leads to Château-Chalon on its rocky spur. Just beyond, Baume-les-Messieurs lies in a reculée, a limestone valley that ends abruptly in 200 m cliffs; visit the abbey and walk to the cave and tufa falls below the cliff.
Climbing onto the plateau past lakes and spruce forest, stop for the Hérisson waterfalls, a morning’s walk up a river that tumbles over some thirty falls. The N5 then climbs to Les Rousses, a lake and ski resort on the Swiss border, a short drive from Geneva over the Col de la Faucille.
The waterfalls are at their best after rain in spring and early summer. In winter the high plateau is snowbound but well cleared, and Les Rousses turns into a cross-country ski centre.
Stop-by-stop itinerary
In driving order. Distances are estimates between consecutive stops.
- 1Start
Besançon
France - 237 km
Royal Saltworks
HistoryArc-et-Senans, FranceClaude-Nicolas Ledoux’s semicircular 18th-century saltworks, designed as an ideal factory town. A UNESCO site, with a large garden festival in summer.
- 318 km
Arbois
France - 425 km
Château-Chalon
FoodChâteau-Chalon, FranceA stone village on a rocky spur above its vineyards, the home of vin jaune, the Jura’s nutty yellow wine. The viewpoint behind the church looks down the Seille valley.
- 57 km
Baume-les-Messieurs
NatureBaume-les-Messieurs, FranceAn abbey village at the bottom of a blind limestone valley, closed by 200 m cliffs, a cave and a mossy tufa waterfall. The belvedere on the plateau above gives the classic view.
- 620 km
Hérisson waterfalls
NatureMenétrux-en-Joux, FranceA chain of about thirty waterfalls on a forest river, including the 65 m Éventail. A path climbs past them all in two or three hours; wear good shoes, the rocks are slippery.
- 730 km
Les Rousses
France
