Relais Mercure Besancon Hotel Des Bains

Geography of Franche-Comté:...

by mignonne

Geography of Franche-Comté:

Situated in the central Europe
at the river Saône
at the Jura Mountains
The important towns of Franche-Comté:

Besançon (Capital of Franche-Comté)
Montbéliard
Belfort
Vesoul
Dôle
The Franche-Comté Region is the region where there is the most number of trees, in other words, greenery in France. Almost all the 'Boites des Fromages' Cheese boxes are made and produced in this region. There is also a large number of forests and parks here.

Go yatching in Summer time. The DOUBS river, the Rhône au Rhin, and especially the Saône river is a great adventure by 320 km of navigation! Cool. :)

Fountains ...

by Loeffle

Many fountains can be found in Besançon. Small ones, big ones, historical and modern ones. Most of them are from the 16th and 18th century though.

Especially Grande Rue (if you walk from Place de Huit Semtembre to Cathedral Saint-Jean) has many fountains to offer.

Discover them on your own or take a guide with you ...

Fra Bartolomeo’s Virgin with Saints (Saint-Jean)

by Loeffle

One of the mayor works of Italian painter Fra Bartolomeo. He was born 1473 in Florentia and died 1517 in Pian' di Mugnone. As a member of the Florentine school he influenced for example Raphael.

Most of his other works can be seen in the Uffizi (Florentia), Galleria Borghese (Rome) and the Louvre (Paris).

Our guide didn't give us much information about this painting, so I'm afraid I can't tell you much about it.

You can find in the Saint-Jean Cathedral near the sacristy door.

Yellow Wine, Comte Cheese, Spas & Sports

by thinking

"Besancon"

Three principal communes

Besançon (134,376)

With large parks and clean streets, this grey stoned town enclosed in a loop of the River Doubs and surrounded by the hills of the north Jura range is considered one of France's "greenest" cities.
There are few tourists but, with France's largest foreign student population, it is nonetheless a cosmopolitan place.

The cobbled streets of the old town are full of lively bars and places to eat. Since Gallo-Roman times it has been an important stop on the trade routes beween Italy, the Alps and the Rhine. Since the 18th century it has been an important clock making centre and in 1890 was the birthplace of rayon (artificial silk) . It was also the birthplace of novelist Victor Hugo and the film-pioneering Lumière brothers.

France's least-known mountain range, the Jura extends along the Swiss border from Geneva almost to the Rhine valley. Old limestone hills, the Jura peak at about 5000 ft, on the Swiss border; but most of the area consists of a series of high plateaux, getting higher towards the border.

At the southern end, the Jura has a lot of spectacular deep river valleys, and a lot of lakes too. The hills are quite forested, and the villages on the French side of the border are very similar to those on the Swiss side. Franche Comté, which includes the Jura, has the greatest concentration of deciduous forests in Europe.

Ryanair will be starting flights to Dole-Tavaux (Franche Comté Burgundy regional airport, for the Jura region) from September 2006.

Pierre_Rouss's Besancon, Franche-Conté and Juras r

by Pierre_Rouss

Besancon is very nice, you can spend a couple of days to visit the city. You should circle the countryside to visit the Jura, Doubs, Haute-Saône region.

As mentioned in my France homepage, I chose Besancon as my Franche-Conté and Juras region anchor city. It is the capital of Doubs département, Franche-Comté région. The Franche-Conté and Juras region is located East of France, along the Swiss border and North of the Alpes.

It is a magnificent region not very well-known, with a mix of low and high mountains, around the plain where Besancon is located. A lot of interesting geological wonders can be found in this region. I suggest that you play 'Connect the dots' with a couple of 'dots' on your itinerary, and drive at random trying to find them, and don't be afraid to jump over a mountain to see what is on the other side.

Neuchatel in Switzerland is a few hours South of Besancon.