Photo : Parrad.adrien / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Lac de Chalain
Set in the Chalain reculée, a blind valley typical of the Jura landscape, Lac de Chalain covers 232 hectares, making it the tenth-largest natural lake in France. Its waters, fed by karst resurgences, change colour with the light, from deep blue to turquoise.
Its western shores have yielded the remains of several Neolithic lake villages, now on the UNESCO World Heritage list as part of the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. These archaeological finds bear witness to human occupation of the site going back several millennia.
Today, Lac de Chalain is especially appreciated for its water sports and its beaches, which make it one of the busiest summer destinations in the Jura, between swimming, canoeing and walks on the wooded heights around it.
