Doubs: what to see and do
40 sites listed in the département. On the Swiss border, the Doubs cultivates a Jura identity of limestone reculées, waterfalls and the winding river that gives it its name. Besançon, with its UNESCO-listed Vauban citadel, and the Saut du Doubs complete a remarkable natural and historic heritage.
La Source du Lison
Located at the bottom of a reculée, near the edge-tool works of Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne, it is a fine example, like the Loue of which it is a tributary, of a resurgence typical of karst areas.
Le Saut du Doubs
Ranked the number-one natural site of Franche-Comté. From Villers-le-Lac, commented cruises of 14 km aboard tour boats offer a grandiose spectacle of the meanders of the Doubs, set in wild gorges.
Besançon
Former capital of French watchmaking, enclosed in an almost complete meander of the Doubs and dominated by the Vauban citadel listed by UNESCO.
Cascade de Syratus
The water comes from the Baume cliff above Mouthier-Haute-Pierre.
La Grotte de la Glacière
Located at Chaux-lès-Passavant, 30 km from Besançon, in the middle of the forest, this open-air cave collects the cold air and water seeping from the vault to form a large reserve of ice, a phenomenon unique in Europe at this altitude of 525 m. A mineral exhibition of more than 5,000 crystals from the...
Le cirque de Consolation
Among the great sites of the Doubs, the Cirque de Consolation is probably one of the finest landscapes of the département.
Lods
Crossed from one end to the other by the pretty river Loue that gushes out a few kilometres away, the town is a former village of winegrowers and blacksmiths.
Saline royale d'Arc-et-Senans
The Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, near Besançon, is the work of Claude-Nicolas Ledoux.
Cascade du moulin de Vermondans
A 25-metre waterfall forming fine tufa masses, at the bottom of a small reculée of the Doubs.
Cascade et source du Verneau
Not far from the source of the Lison, at Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne, is the Verneau waterfall. Park on the square after the fountain and follow the signposting.
Château Montalembert
Château de Belvoir
Château de Cléron
Château de Montby
Château de Montbéliard
The château de Montbéliard (also called the Château des ducs de Wurtemberg) dates from the thirteenth century.
Château de Roche-sur-Loue
Château de Vaire-le-Grand
Citadelle de Besançon
A Vauban masterpiece classified as UNESCO World Heritage, the Besançon Citadel is considered one of the most beautiful citadels in France.
Ecomusée - Maison Michaud
Fort de Joux
Gouffre de Poudrey
It could contain Notre-Dame cathedral of Paris! Giving access to an immense hall that gives us from the entrance the feeling of entering a sacred place, the Poudrey chasm takes us 70 metres below ground.
Grotte du Trésor
This site is in the Val du Saugeais, near Montbenoît.
Grottes d'Osselle
Stalagmites, stalactites, columns, pools, rocks and bones of cave bears welcomed us.
La Cascade de Valbois
The Valbois stream rises on the plateau, crosses its edge by a 40 m waterfall, then joins a tributary of the Loue.
La Source bleue
The Malbuisson blue spring is a karst spring or resurgence, a waterfall and a stream of Malbuisson, which flows into Lac de Saint-Point, in the Jura massif.
La source de la Loue et les Gorges de Nouailles
Gushing from a cave 60 m wide and 30 m high carved in an overhanging wall more than 100 m high, the source of the Loue is none other than a majestic resurgence of the Doubs.
Le Château de Montfaucon dans le Doubs
Les Vedettes Panoramiques du Saut du doubs
Maisons Comtoises de Nancray
Musée de l'Aventure Peugeot
The Musée de l'Aventure Peugeot is a historical museum of the Peugeot industry founded by the Peugeot family in 1988 near its historic industrial site at Sochaux (in the Montbéliard conurbation), in Franche-Comté.
Musée de l'horlogerie de Morteau
Our craft: hand-painted fir "Comtoise" clocks, a factory of life-size automata.
Musée du Temps de Besançon
An emblematic Renaissance monument in Franche-Comté, the Palais Granvelle was restored between 1988 and 2002 to become the Museum of Time, the history, science and watchmaking museum of Besançon.
Muséum de Besançon - Le Jardin zoologique
Métabief
A typical Jura relief adorned with sumptuous fir forests as far as the eye can see and combes and pastures occupied in summer by peaceful Montbéliarde cows!
Parc Polaire
Puits de la Brême
The Brême, a tributary of the Loue, has the particularity of partly disappearing into a chasm, called the Puits de la Brême or Black Well.
Cascade de Syratu
A double step nestled near Mouthier-Haute-Pierre, in the Loue valley.
Cascade de la Pisseure
Cascade du Rochanon
Montbéliard
A former Protestant principality linked to the House of Württemberg, now the historic cradle of the Peugeot car industry in Franche-Comté.