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The Jura Mountains

Brooding landscapes and inspiring hikes define the sparsely populated Jura Mountains. Extending along the Franco–Swiss border from Lake Geneva northeast to Belfort, these sub-alpine mountains lent their name to the Jurassic period in geology, when they formed. Rising highest is Crêt de la Neige (1720m), in the southwest of the Parc Naturel Régional du Haut-Jura.

In summer, fruitières (dairies) and vineyards unbolt their doors to sell prized regional produce like Comté cheese and unmistakable vin jaune (regional gold-coloured wine) to a mostly French influx of hikers and bikers. Winter attracts cross-country skiers to Les Rousses and Métabief, while the best limber up in the regional park for the Transjurassienne, France's toughest cross-country ski race.

Cultural sights, mostly overlooked by foreign tourists, provide opportunities to catch your breath: the citadels of Belfort and Besançon, modernist architecture in Arc-et-Senans and Ronchamp, and legacies of home-grown luminaries like Victor Hugo and biologist Louis Pasteur.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout The Jura Mountains.

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Citadelle de Besançon
Dominating the city from Mt St-Etienne, more than 100 vertical metres above the old town, the 17th-century Citadelle de Besançon – designed by Vauban for Louis XIV – commands sweeping views of the city and the serpentine Doubs River. Along with 11 other similarly impressive military architectural sites, the 12-hectare Citadelle was recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2008. English and German booklets are available at the entrance, including pamphlets aimed at kids. Entry includes audioguides (in French, English and German). For an introduction to the citadel's architecture, head to St-Etienne Chapel, where a 15-minute multimedia presentation illuminates Besançon's history. The chemin de Rond lets you walk along 600m of the citadel's outer ramparts. The Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation is one of France's most in-depth and comprehensive WWII museums. Each room has an information sheet in English but the 20 rooms of evocative photos, documents and artefacts are best visited with a free audioguide. Some of the photographs are unsuitable for young children. During WWII, the Germans imprisoned British civilians in the citadel, and German firing squads executed about 100 resistance fighters here. Nearby, the three-floor Musée Comtois presents local life in centuries past, including food, religion and a colourful puppet theatre. Kids are sure to be fascinated by the Insectarium, with creepy-crawlies such as tarantulas, scorpions and stick insects; the small Aquarium, where you can admire goldfish and koi; the ho-hum Noctarium, where a few nocturnal rodents like dormice and voles snuffle around; a six-room biodiversity exhibition; and a zoo. There's a restaurant, snack bar and vending machines around the site. If you don’t fancy the uphill trudge, take Ginko bus 27 (€1.40) from the city centre or Parking Rodia, which runs from April to mid-October (find schedules on www.ginko.voyage).
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Musée du Temps
Literal and figurative interpretations of time are woven together at the Musée du Temps, which places allegorical paintings about the passage of time next to 18th-century wall clocks and early astronomical equipment. The result is beautifully thought-provoking, and the philosophical questions it raises are best pondered while gazing out from the tower, which houses a Foucault’s pendulum.
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Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie
France's oldest public museum, founded in 1694, is famous for its stellar collection of local Gallo-Roman archaeology; its Cabinet des Dessins, with some 6000 drawings from the 15th to 20th centuries, including masterpieces by Dürer, Delacroix and Rodin; and its 14th- to 20th-century paintings, with standouts by Titian, Rubens, Goya and Matisse. When we passed through, the museum was preparing to reopen in December 2018 after extensive renovations.
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Horloge Astronomique
The base of 18th-century Cathédrale St-Jean's bell tower houses an incredible astronomical clock, powered by 11 weights, that has run the church's bells since its installation in 1860. The ornate gadget has 30,000 moving parts and 57 clock faces and, among other things, tells the time in 16 places around the world and indicates the tides in eight different French ports.
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Porte Noire
Erected in AD 175 in honour of Marcus Aurelius, this 16.5m-high Roman triumphal arch stands very near where the columns of a Roman theatre and the vestiges of an aqueduct (all still visible) were discovered in the late 19th-century. The site, which attests to the importance of Besançon as a site of Gallo-Roman civilisation, was restored as an 'English-style architectural garden' in 2006.
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Maison Natale de Victor Hugo
This spiffy museum gives an engaging account of the life and works of Besançon's best-known literary son, Victor Hugo, famous for masterpieces such as Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Hugo was born in this building in 1802. Today its three floors are filled with modern displays, led by audioguide commentary (in French, German or English): an interactive map of Besançon, a tiddly library of Hugo's works translated into various languages, and screenings of an hour-long film. The museum also brings Hugo into the 21st century by joining the dots between the novelist's activism and modern-day struggles for social justice.
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Cathédrale St-Jean
The earliest parts of Besançon's cathedral date to 1127. Though heavily modified in ensuing centuries, following a 13th-century fire and the collapse of its bell tower in 1724, Romanesque capitals still sit atop its interior columns. On the wall hangs La Vierge aux Saints (1512), painted by Italian Renaissance virtuoso Fra Bartolomeo; flick the switch to illuminate it. The cathedral’s best-known treasure is its astronomical clock.
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Hôtel de Ville
Dating in its earliest parts from the late 14th century and later decorated with Italian Renaissance-style flourishes, Besançon's town hall was gutted by fire after an arson attack in 2015. Restoration work was due to be completed in July 2018; ask about visits at the tourist office.
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FRAC Franche-Comté
Behind the chequerboard timber façade of this riverside gallery are ever-changing contemporary art exhibitions. The distinctive building, FRAC's home since 2013, was designed by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.