Travel guide Jura

The Jura is a land of human-sized know-how. These heirs of half peasants and half rural craftsmen: furniture and recreational woodworking, horn turners, pipe makers, diamond cutters, watchmakers, founders, ironworkers, glassmakers, potters, enamellers, stone cutters. Some of them are small and medium-sized businesses today.

Comté is the emblematic cheese of Franche-Comté. It was the first AOC cheese in 1958 and AOP in 1996. As its standard-bearer, it has brothers and sisters to discover such as morbier, bleu de Gex, mont d'or, mountain tomme... not forgetting cancoillotte! A gastronomic jewel in fondue or with a Bresse poultry. Among others.

You cannot escape the pleasures of the table in the Comtois region. It is full of excellent rural and urban addresses; starred chefs, but not only. It relies on its regional products such as trout, frogs, poultry, various cured meats (Morteau and Montbéliard sausages in particular), mushrooms and farm dairy products.

The Jura mountains are known as "Santa's other country". Dozens of companies, craftsmen or large manufacturers, of international renown. A speciality initiated in the Middle Ages by the monks of Saint-Claude who were already making toys in "turned wood". Toys have their own museum in Moirans, not forgetting their annual Idéklic festival.

The Jura big cat, also known as the "Lynx boréal" is the mascot of the regional fauna. Protected since 1981, it is one of the endangered species like the capercaillie. They live in the forests with deer, chamois, roe deer, wild boar, badger and many small mammals and birds.

The green of the pastures and the 720,000 ha of forests, the blue of the 33 lakes, waterfalls and streams, the winter white of the mountainous area with its 129 km of ski slopes sum up the portrait of this Jura often called "Little Scotland". This abundant flora is the companion of the County. We can also mention the interest of the coombs, the secluded areas and the peat bogs.

The heritage of the Comtois is infinitely varied. From the Celtic and Roman remains, the traces of the dinosaurs, the lakeside cities to the "Petites cités comtoises de caractère". The region has some of the most beautiful villages in France, such as Mouthier-Haute-Pierre, Ornans, Arc-et-Senans, Pesmes, Beaume-les-Messieurs and Château-Chalon.

A Republic within the Republic. This self-proclaimed micronation in the Haut-Doubs has existed since 1947 under the name "République du Saugeais", with its own flag, coat of arms and television! A must-see if you're allowed to cross the border. It comprises 11 dynamic communes, whose president is Madame Bertin-Pourchet, elected for life.

With cross-country skiing and its mythical "Transjurassienne" race, all the disciplines linked to the "lattes" are practicable, without forgetting the biathlon and its champions. In the summer months, too, the marked trails are a joy for hikers, including mountain bikers and horseback riders. Natural cycle paths, in the plain, without crossing a car.

The Jura massif would not be complete without its Swiss counterpart, so much so that these twins separated by the border merge. Same relief and cover, but also the similarity of precision craft activities (including watches), agriculture by recalling that the Swiss cheese makers taught the Comtois how to make Comté cheese. A beautiful country.

With its incredible salt deposit, thermal spas appeared in the region with the fame that followed. In Luxeuil, in Lons-le-Saunier, in Salins-les-Bains. The water of the latter being denser than the Dead Sea. The water is rich in trace elements and is used for therapeutic, fitness, health and beauty cures.

It is described as the smallest of the great vineyards. It has been raising its head since the 1970s. 5 grape varieties and 6 appellations have left a generous range of products. But above all 2 nuggets: the sweet straw wine and the no less rare yellow wine considered as one of the best whites in the world. The Château-Chalon is the undisputed sovereign.