Summer

Summer in Chapelle-des-Bois: forests, lakes and wide-open spaces

In summer, Chapelle-des-Bois becomes a base camp for hiking and mountain biking: the GR 5 and the Grande Traversée du Jura run through the village, the lakes are a twenty-minute walk away, the Risoux forest offers shade and cool air, and the cheese dairies, farms and markets reveal gourmet Franche-Comté. At 1,100 m: cool nights and mild days.

GR 5and the GTJ footpath pass through the village
31 kmTour du Risoux, mountain-bike loop no. 33 from the village
20 minwalk to the Mortes and Bellefontaine lakes
1,327 mRoche Champion viewpoint, looking over Switzerland

Hiking and trail running

Loops, viewpoints, GR 5 and GTJ: the Rando Nature route sheets of the Haut-Jura Park.

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Cycling, MTB and gravel

MTB and touring-bike circuits of the Park, GTJ by MTB and road loops, with GPX tracks.

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Hiking: lakes, viewpoints and long-distance trails

Around twenty marked walks start from the village. The best one to begin with: the loop around the Mortes and Bellefontaine lakes with the peat-bog nature trail, then the climb to the Roche Bernard and Roche Champion viewpoints (1,327 m) on the border ridge.

For long-distance walkers, the GR 5 and the GTJ footpath stop here: Mouthe – Chapelle-des-Bois (20 km), Foncine-le-Haut – Chapelle-des-Bois (13 km), Chapelle-des-Bois – Les Rousses (20 km). The Échappée Jurassienne and the GR 509 also pass through the village.

Mountain biking, gravel and road cycling

Chapelle-des-Bois belongs to the Val de Mouthe – Métabief FFC mountain-bike area. Loop no. 33 “Tour du Risoux” (31 km) leaves the village via Pré Poncet and Roche Bernard before dropping back down to the lakes. The Grande Traversée du Jura by mountain bike (425 km) stops here: Métabief – Chapelle-des-Bois, then Chapelle-des-Bois – Lajoux (42 km) through the Risoux and Massacre forests.

Bike hire in the village (Mont Noir Sports), and a bike repair stand in every home. Road cyclists will find the passes of the Haut-Doubs and the Transju’Cyclo route in September.

Water: lakes, source of the Doubs, waterfalls

Mortes and Bellefontaine lakes: protected site, no swimming, fishing with a permit (trout, pike, perch, whitefish).
Swimming: Lac des Rousses (25 km), Lac de Saint-Point and its beaches (40 km), Lac de Joux in Switzerland (30 min).
Source of the Doubs at Mouthe (20 km): the river springs out at 944 m at the foot of the Noirmont forest.
Hérisson waterfalls (50 km): seven falls on a 7 km loop.

Thrills and summits

Roche au Dade via ferrata in Morez (15 km), free, two routes; Les Rousses via ferrata (25 km).
Mont d’Or (1,463 m) at Métabief: views of the Alps on a clear day.
Transju’Trail in June: 82 Franco-Swiss kilometres through Chapelle-des-Bois.
Summer biathlon and laser shooting initiation with the Glisses Nordiques school.

Local produce and traditions

Visit the organic cheese dairy (organic Comté since 1976) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings by reservation. The Maison Michaud eco-museum, a 1683 farmhouse in the Combe des Cives, bakes bread in its wood-fired oven every Friday afternoon. Producers’ market on Tuesday evenings in July and August, Organic Fair on the second weekend of August, and the Comté maturing cellars of Fort des Rousses 25 km away.