What to see in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

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.

La Roche de Solutré

For geological, prehistoric and historical reasons, the Roche de Solutré is the high point of any visit to the Mâconnais. A walk from the car park south of the rock lets the visitor reach the summit, after a visit to the departmental museum.

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.

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.

Autun

A former Roman city nicknamed the "sister and rival of Rome", whose tall Gothic spire of the Saint-Lazare cathedral still dominates the rooftops.

Beaune

Historic capital of Burgundy wines, a fortified town whose ramparts and bastions still ring an old centre renowned for its wine-merchant houses.

Besançon

Former capital of French watchmaking, enclosed in an almost complete meander of the Doubs and dominated by the Vauban citadel listed by UNESCO.

Bibracte

Bibracte is at the summit of Mont Beuvray and the panorama is superb. You arrive by a fortified gate in the middle of a mysterious forest of twisted "queules" beeches.

Cascade de Brisecou

A small waterfall. A pleasant hike in the Planoise forest. Excursions in the area lead to Uchon, a curious belvedere village with rock scree overlooking the Arroux valley, and to Mont Beuvray.

Cascade de Syratus

The water comes from the Baume cliff above Mouthier-Haute-Pierre.

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.

Cascades de la Savoureuse

Loop hike starting from the car park of the restaurant "Le Saut de la Truite", above Lepuix-Gy.

Château de Cormatin

Between Tournus and Cluny, in the heart of southern Burgundy, the Château de Cormatin awaits you amid its gardens and ornamental waters.

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.

Dijon

Former capital of the Dukes of Burgundy, a town of art with half-timbered houses and mansions, renowned for its mustard and gingerbread.

Grotte des Moidons

Ten minutes from Arbois (Jura), discover a real masterpiece of nature.

L'abbaye de Fontenay

Fontenay Abbey is a Cistercian abbey founded in 1118 in the French commune of Marmagne, in the Côte-d'Or département and the Burgundy region.

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 Charité-sur-Loire

A former monastic town listed by UNESCO as part of the Compostela routes, whose Cluniac priory still overlooks the Loire.

La Fosse Dionne

This Vauclusian spring, with a variable but perpetual flow, greatly intrigued our ancestors, who called it "divine" (fons divona, whence Dionne).

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...

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 Saut de Gouloux

Gouloux is famous for its waterfall "Le Saut de Gouloux" on the Caillot, a tributary of the Cure that was long used for floating timber.

Le Saut de l'Ognon

Before tackling the Col des Croix, in the Vosges Saônoises, you pass through the little village of Servance.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Semur-en-Auxois

Fortified town built on a pink granite promontory overlooking the meanders of the Armançon, with its four medieval towers and Gothic collegiate church.

Abbaye de Cîteaux

Abbaye de La Ferté

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 des gorges de Narvau

Coming from the Moulin du Bois pond then the Goulot pond, the Auxois leaves Lormes, becoming more and more enclosed in the Narvau Gorges.

Cascade du Moulin des Bouchoux

A 19.5-metre waterfall on the Tacon, in the Haut-Jura, a classified site since 1961.

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.

Centre Eden

Chaos d'Uchon-Griffe du diable

An orientation table lets you discover the Autunois from the superb granite block chaos that give this place its magical character laden with legends.

Château Fort du Pin

Château Montalembert

Château d'Ancy-le-Franc