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“Chocolate Box Jura,”
Our Family-Friendly Cycle Trip in the Jura
On this page, you will find...
For generalities concerning our “Family-Friendly” trips, please see our “Family-Friendly” introductory page.
Jura
The Jura is a small line of mountains shared by France and Switzerland,the one that you see on every box of Swiss chocolates and always assumed was the Alps. Goofy cowbells, achingly beautiful scenery, and Swiss cheese without the holes. We once asked why there were no holes in the Jura comté, and were told it was because people in Emmenthal don’t stir their cheese well enough to get the bubbles out. You have to be from theJura to accuse other Swiss of laziness.
Mountain scenery, quiet roads, beautiful lakes, forests and farms....
Home-made ice cream from dairies which receive daily milk from the cows you hear clanging all around you. Visit one to watch the process.
Choruses of frogs from the rivers and streams serenade you in the evening.
Visit trout farms, underground caverns, cheese makers, ancient forts. Admire giant waterfalls, go for walks in the woods, dive into beautiful lakes. Quiet roads link all of these places, and allow for safe cycling with the young'ns. We spend three nights in the center of a ski village, one in an old mill town, and three more at the end of an isolated canyon, surrounded by nature’s spendor.
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Day-by-Day Itinerary: Chocolate Box Jura
Ride distances don’t mean much on this trip, as different rides of different distances, 10 - 80 k, are proposed every day
Day of the Week |
Description |
Typical distances, in km |
Saturday |
MEET at the TOP of the MOUNTAIN
For help arriving, here are hints on reaching Les Rousses.
Our trip assembles on Saturday evening, in time for dinner. But should you arrive early, check out the Rouxy garden: trampolines, mini-golff, giant inflatable slides... an adult version of horror, but kids seem to love it, when the little darlings aren't over-excited and in tears. And there is a bar.
Les Rousses is essentially a ski resort, and it has a pleasant, sleepy feel in summer. Our hotel is in the center of the village. It also is home to France’s 2nd largest military fort, built in the 19th century, and now used as a cheese-aging facility. We couldn't make that up. Most importantly, it has mini golf.
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Sunday & Monday |
The SWISS JURA, LAKE GENEVA
Two days for exploring the top of the ridge, and the Swiss slope of the mountain down to Lake Geneva.
The Lac de Joux is an idyllic destination, notched in a ridge in the mountains, with footpaths on the hillsides for forest walks with views of the lake. A flat ride gets you there and back. If even that seems ambitious for a first day, you can almost walk to the Lac des Rousses, at the edge of the village, and spend the day on the lake beach.
Reserve a day to ride down to Lake Geneva, continental Europe’s largest lake. The journey is marvelous: a signed bike route on quiet lanes, descending 600+ meters (2,000 feet), and leading to Nyon, a pretty lakeside bourg. Founded in Roman times, Nyon is one of the oldest settlements in Switzerland. A museum traces the history of Noviodunum, the Roman city. But just as interesting is the Lac Léman museum, which offers an overview of life on the lake, including arts and crafts, a fresh water aquarium, flora and fauna, navigation.... Museums are only an option if you do this on Sunday: they are closed on Mondays.
So how do you get back up to the top of the mountain? Relax: a cute little train hauls us up there again :-)
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Variable k |
Tuesday |
St.-CLAUDE and MOREZ
We leave Les Rousses, and trade the top of the mountain for the bottom of the valley. You could just cycle down the hill in 30 minutes, and be done. But our route carries you south along the ridge, and then down on the French side, to St.-Claude, capital of the Upper Jura.
Like most of the river towns in the Jura, St.-Claude's day job is making little tiny things. Here, diamonds, pipes, little bits of plastic... It is somber, but not uninteresting, and makes for a good lunch stop.
We then follow the river back to Morez, on tiny lanes through dense forests, the river almost alays audible, but often out of sight through the trees. A beautiful change of scenery.
Morez is known for the manufacture of eyewear, and a couple of prestigious houses still manufacture here. Visit the glasses museum. Or don’t. Tonight's hotel is a creaky-floor type of place, with a beautiful dining room... a relic of 19th century village hotels that once graced every French market town.
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20 - 60 k |
Wednesday |
HEDGEHOG FALLS, the QUATRE LACS, arrival in the VINEYARDS
A late start this morning, as we use a train to get up and out of the valley, and there is only one whose schedule fits, at 11a. Then a beautiful, ride, through scenery that just never lets up. Lakes, waterfalls, vineyards, dramatic valleys.... The suggested route is fairly long, but there are many ways to shorten it, if the little ones lose patience. This is our most bike-centric day of the trip.
Evening finds us in Arbois, in a beautiful hotel at the end of a secluded canyon. Tired, but hopefully happy.
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All the k you can handle.
Hang on! |
Thursday & Friday |
The VIGNOBLE of the JURA, the SALINE ROYALE, LOUIS PASTEUR
Taking our children to wine tastings may not work very well, but we're going to try!
Fortunately, there are things on the menu targeted to them, as well: Louis Pasteur was an Arbois native, and his house, now a museum, is interesting on many levels — including some accessible to children (look, for instance, where he slept...). The Saline Royale, in nearby Arc et Senans, is aesthetically beautiful (for the parents), and clearly transmits the importance of salt harvesting in the time of the French royalty.
Picnic spots in the vineyards, more waterfalls (including a spectacular one walking distance from our hotel), a trout farm, underground caverns... a beautiful resort-like setting,
à la française. |
Variable k |
Saturday |
A SHORT MORNING RIDE
A morning ride through the vineyards brings us to a railway junction in Mouchard, from whence trains are available towards Paris, Switzerland, Germany, and all points everywhere. The ambitious can instead train to the Jura's biggest city, Besançon, for a walk and lunch. The trip disbands at the end of the morning, in either Mouchard or Besançon (ongoing train service is the same). |
15 k |
Chocolate Box Jura Family Trip — Facts & Figures
2012 Dates |
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Baggage Services
Offered**
(optional) |
Difficulty of the Ride |
August 4 - 11
Last spaces, enquire if interested
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$2,050 US
$2,075 C
1,495 € |
Daily
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Easy to Moderate
A couple of long days, but you can shorten them more or less on-demand. Back-ups are good. A few “walking” hills (you are in the mountains...); if you voluntarily go up a few more, you have a “Moderate” or a “Challenging” ride on your hands.
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* Prices in $ and € do not include precisely the same things. Click here for details.
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Prices of Optional Extras (links lead to explanations)
| Currency |
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$ prices include the bike.
See here for information on bringing your own.
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| $US |
$154
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$345 |
| $C |
$156 |
$350 |
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| €uros |
120€ |
265€ |
100€ |
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Family Pricing / Child Discounts
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Age of Child |
| Desired Lodging |
Under 2 |
2 - 5
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6 - 11 |
12 - 19 |
| Sharing Parents’ Room** |
Price* =
$250 US / $250 C / 180€ |
Price* =
$546 US / $546 C / 390€ |
40% discount on regular price |
20% discount on regular price |
Not in Parents’ Room
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30% reduction on base trip cost***
(includes use of high quality child monitors)
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20% reduction on base trip cost*** |
| Conditions |
*Prices for younger children do not include rental bike equipment. Child seats, trailers, and tagalong bikes are available at additional cost.
** With separate bed (crib or pack-and-play for children 2 and under)
***The trip’s Private Single Room charge will apply if the child occupies a single room.
- Discount triple rooms (used by three children) may be twin rooms with an extra bed.
- Quad parent-and-child “family” rooms cannot be guaranteed, as not all hotels have them, and certainly not in sufficient quantity for multiple families. When
available, they will typically be rooms with one double bed and two single beds. If you are two parents travelling with two children over 2 years old, you may request such a room when you sign up for the trip. But you must be willing to accept the alternate (and less discounted) solution of two separate-but-proximate rooms. If a quad can be assigned at some stops and not others, the additional discount will be pro-rated. Available quads will be assigned in order of trip sign-up.
- Child discounts are not cumulable with any other commercial discount, such as “student” or “group” discounts, or discounts accorded to the “Founding Members” of Guest-Initiated Trips. In all cases, the larger discount will be used.
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| Specific information on reaching your trip’s start in... |
Les Rousses |
| Specific information on departing from your trip’s end... |
Arbois / Mouchard |
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Services