Jura: what to see and do
42 sites listed in the département. A land of reculées and waterfalls, the Jura cultivates a discreet mountain identity around its large lakes, its distinctive vineyards and its perched villages such as Baume-les-Messieurs. On the Swiss border, this département appeals with its exceptional karst nature.
Cascades du Hérisson
The Hérisson Waterfalls, the Éventail and the Grand Saut: they are located near Doucier, in the heart of the lakes region.
La Cascade Baume les Messieurs
The Cascade des Tufs: this waterfall has a particularity; it is petrifying: the water, travelling long distances across the plateau, becomes loaded with limestone by dissolution of the rock.
Arbois
Historic capital of the Jura vineyards where Louis Pasteur carried out his research on fermentation, crossed by the Cuisance and its picturesque Capucins bridge.
Cascade de la Queue de Cheval
The Queue de Cheval waterfall: accessible on foot from Saint-Claude, it has a 60 m fall in two leaps in a charming site. See also the Queue de l'Âne waterfall.
Cirque et Gorges de Flumen
The Flumen gorges form a canyon of the Jura massif carved by the Flumen torrent, between the communes of Septmoncel and Saint-Claude, in the Haut-Jura.
Grotte des Moidons
Ten minutes from Arbois (Jura), discover a real masterpiece of nature.
La Cascade de la Billaude
Formed by the river Lemme, the Billaude waterfall plunges in two successive drops over a total height of about 28 metres, in the hollow of a wooded limestone cirque near Le Vaudioux, in the Jura.
La Cascade du Moulin de Vulvoz
The Moulin de Vulvoz waterfall in the Jura rushes into a slide carved into the rock.
La Source de l'Ain
The Ain is a fine and powerful river. It rises at 750 m altitude, on the Nozeroy plateau, in a magnificent forest setting.
Le Chapeau de Gendarme
Also called the "Route de Genève", these corniche bends of Septmoncel that make perilous hairpins along the Flumen gorges give a spectacular view of the Saint-Claude valley.
Le Tille de Bracon
A linden tree of about 18 m circumference. Said to have been planted on the order of Charles the Bold in 1477. At Fontaine (Territoire de Belfort), another linden dates from the thirteenth century.
Les Gorges de Langouette
"A sword stroke in the mountain", was one of the formulas commonly used at the beginning of the century to describe the Langouette.
Aquaparc isis
Baume-les-Messieurs
One of the French people's favourite villages lies in the typical reculées of the Jura foothills and in the heart of an exceptional site classified Natura 2000 and 3 stars.
Cascade des Tufs
The Tufs waterfall is in the heart of the Baume cirque, near the village of Baume-les-Messieurs, ranked among the most beautiful villages in France.
Cascade du Moulin des Bouchoux
A 19.5-metre waterfall on the Tacon, in the Haut-Jura, a classified site since 1961.
Château Fort du Pin
Château d'Andelot
Château d'Arlay
Château de Chevreaux
Château de Frontenay
Château de Présilly
Château de Syam
The château de Syam, also called the Palladian villa of Syam, is a construction inspired by the Venetian villas of Andrea Palladio, built between 1826 and 1828 in the Ain and Saine valley at Syam, south of Champagnole, in the Jura.
Château de la Muyre
Château-Chalon
Famous for its former abbey and its wines, this small village perched on top of a rocky spur has kept the ruins of a fortress built in the Middle Ages to protect a Benedictine nuns' abbey founded on the spot as early as the sixth century.
Grotte de l'Ermitage
The Forêt de la Serre recommends itself to lovers of the marvellous by an ancient druidic residence, known as the Ermitage de la Serre.
Grotte et Reculée des Planches
Also called the "Bout du Monde" (End of the World), the reculée des Planches, near Arbois, is certainly one of the most impressive in the region.
La cascade de la Quinquenouille
La station les Rousses
Le château d'Oliferne
Les Gorges de l'Abîme
The Abîme gorges are near the commune of Saint-Claude in the Jura département in the Franche-Comté region, at the foot of the Cirque de Vaucluse.
Musée de la Boissellerie
Musée du jouet
Parc Animalier du Hérisson - Héria
Parc naturel régional du Haut Jura
The Haut-Jura regional nature park was created on 10 February 1986 and then grouped thirty-seven communes.
Saut de la Saisse
A fall of the Ain at the entrance of Lac de Vouglans, with its giants' kettles carved in the limestone.
Tourbière de Prénovel
Cascade de la Frasnée
Lac de Chalain
Lac de Vouglans
Created by the filling of the Ain dam in 1968, Lac de Vouglans winds over several kilometres between wooded Jura shores. The third largest artificial lake in France, it has become a flagship water-sports destination.
Le Saut des Maillys
