Franche-Comté is
possibly the most underrated of all French regions, in terms of tourism
and holiday potential. Lying between Burgundy and Alsace, and between
Champagne and Switzerland, it is a beautiful rural region that has a
lot to offer the traveller in terms of natural environment, historic
heritage, museums and sites.
The region consists of four departments; in the north lies the
Haute Saone
(70) mostly a deeply agricultural area, with small towns and villages,
low hills and valleys, but rising into the foothills of the Vosges
mountains to the east. In the centre of the region, between the
Haute-Saône and the Swiss border is the department of the
Doubs
(25), consisting of a series of plateaux and hilly ridges rising from
200 metres in the north to 1200 metres on the Swiss border. In the
south of the region, the department of the
Jura
(39) covers part of the broad flat Saône valley, plus the central
part of the Jura mountains, peaking at over 1500 metres on the Swiss
border. Finally, in the north of the region lies the smallest of all
French departments (except Paris), the
territoire de Belfort,
an area that was for centuries the French-speaking part of Alsace. This
department is quite industrialised, and is the home of the Peugeot car
group.
The capital city of this region is
Besançon,
a historic city nestling beneath its ancient citadel in a loop formed
by the river Doubs. In terms of townscapes, Besançon is one of the
hidden jewels of France. The city centre is largely undamaged by
the insensitive development that razed the historic quarters of many
French cities in the 19th and 20th centuries; it is composed mainly of
old stone-built houses, with a fine selection of 18th century urban
residences. The town boasts the oldest, and one of the finest, public
art galleries in France, with an impressive collection of old masters
and 19th century French art, including works by Cranach, Titian,
Bellini, Rembrandt, Rubens, Fragonard, Courbet, Matisse. It has been
nicknamed the "petit Louvre", on account of the richness of its
collections.
Besides its Musée des Beaux Arts,
the city has two other major museums, the Museum of time, housed in the
16th century Granvelle Palace, a jewel of the French renaissance, and
the museum of the Resistance and the Deportation, one of a number of
museums and sites in the Citadel, a stronghold fortified by the great
military architect Vauban in the 17th century, and classed as a UNESCO
world heritage site in 2008. There is also a fine cathedral, the
birthplace of Victor Hugo, and river cruises.
The Franche-Comté region likes to promote itself as a haven for "
green tourism"
or nature tourism; in hot summers, when much of France turns brown and
dry in the heat, Franche Comté, watered by summer storms, almost always
remains green and inviting. In the
Haut Doubs and
Haut Jura area, running along the Swiss border, the meadows remain green and full of flowers; this is a great area for
camping
hiking and mountain biking, or even for sailing on the lakes. And in
winter time, there is plenty of opportunity for nordic skiing and even
downhill skiing, as Franche Comté has two fully equipped resorts.
This is a region famous for its agricultural
products, notably the famous "Comté" cheese, very similar to Swiss
Gruyère, and smoked sausages. It is also famous as France's watchmaking
area - watchmaking being an industry that is still active either side
of the Swiss border. Franche Comté is also the home of France's optical
glasses and spectacle industry, and the town of St Claude in the Jura
is famous for its pipes. In the north of the region, the area around
the towns of Montbéliard and Belfort is the heartland of the region's
most famous company, Peugeot, which has a major production unit at
Sochaux.
Regional specialities: Like many mountain regions, Franche-Comté boasts plenty of delicious regional specialities; among the most famous are its
cheeses: of these, themost famous is Comté (pronounced
contay)
cheese, similar to the Swiss Gruyère cheese but with its own
distinctive taste. This is one of the best cheeses in France, and one
of the most traditional. Other cheeses: Mont d'Or, Morbier, Bleu de Gex
(see About-France.com
Cheeses page).
Other gastronomic delights:
Morteau sausage, a smoked mountain sausage that can be boiled or
grilled; Montbéliard sausage - similar but smaller; mountain ham.
Wines: Arbois and Côtes du Jura are the great regional AOC wines.
Arbois white is especially distinctive, when made from Savagnin
grapes. The Jura also produces a very special aperitif wine, called Vin
Jaune; the most famous vin jaune comes from Chateau Chalon, a village
that is one of the most attractive in eastern France..
Access:
The regional capital Besançon is accessible by direct TGV train from
Paris (2h 30) or from Strasbourg or Lyon. By motorway from UK / Holland
via Troyes or Nancy, from Germany via Strasbourg or Mulhouse. The
region has no airport, but three airports just outside Franche Comté
are served by Easyjet from the UK, and flights from many other cities
in Europe; Basel-Mulhouse Euroairport in the north, Geneva Cointrin in
the south, and
Lyon St. Exupéry in the south west.
Main tourist attractions in Franche Comté
Besançon from the air - Photo JP TUPIN - Ville de Besançon .
Below: the chapel at Ronchamp
 | - Besançon.
Site, historic centre, Vauban's citadel (UNESCO world heritage site),
Roman triumphal arch, Musée des Beaux Arts, Palais Granvelle, Musée du
Temps, Musée de la Résistance, St. Jean's cathedral, riverboats.
- Ecomusée de Franche Comté (25) - Open air museum of historic houses, Nancray, near Besançon.
- Ornans (25): site in the Loue valley, birthplace of Gustave Courbet, Courbet museum.
- Peugeot motor museum, Montbéliard (25):
- Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, masterpiece of swiss architect Le Corbusier. Ronchamp (70), near Lure.
- Arc et Senans: Royal Saltworks, (25) visionary 18th century development by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Saut du Doubs: near Villers le Lac, on the Swiss border. Impressive waterfall of the river Doubs, accessible by boat trip from Villers.
- Source de la Loue (25) - where the river Loue emerges at the foot of a steep gorge.
- Natural environment of the Haut Doubs (25) and Haut Jura (39); hills, forests, lakes. Haut Jura Regional Park around the ski resourt of Les Rousses.
- Metabief / Mont d'Or: (25) Small ski resort with summer activities; Le Conifer steam railway. Lac de St Point; one of the larger lakes in France.
- Ballon d'Alsace; the southern peak of the Vosges mountains.
- Metabief (25) and Les Rousses (39) ski resorts, with summer activities
- Chateau de Joux (25) Impressive fortress commanding a narrow valley near the Swiss border.
- River cruising (boat hire) on the Saône, at Gray (70) and/or the Doubs at Dôle (39)
- Arbois (39) Attractive small town in the heart of the Jura vineyard. Maison Pasteur, Pasteur's family home
- Château Chalon: (39) very pretty village perched on a cliff overlooking the famous vineyards.
- Lons le Saunier (39): Attractive small town. The Laughing Cow cheese museum
- Lac de Chalain (39) : popular lake in the Jura hills. Boating, swimming.
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