5 days at the heart of the Doubs valley

You arrive in the beautiful city of Belfort. Behind the Vauban citadel and Bartholdi's lion sculpture, which made it famous, is a magnificent city with its wide shopping streets, its squares, its Haussmannian buildings with cheerful facades covered with geraniums. Belfort pulsates with life and is a wonderful gateway to the Franche-Comté.

You leave Belfort along the banks of the Savoureuse river. You will have the choice between continuing straight along the canal or crossing the forest and following the Rhine-Rhone canal. Your bike route takes you to Sochaux to the Peugeot museum. Stop to discover this industrial epic before entering the small Renaissance town of Montbéliard.
Go up to the castle of the Dukes of Wurtemberg, see the Saint-Martin temple, the oldest religious building of the Reformation in France, and stroll through the streets of medieval origin admiring the houses with colorful facades. In the evening, don't forget to taste the famous Montbéliard sausage!

Your bike ride of the day makes you discover the magnificent loops of the Doubs. You will leave Montbéliard and ride along the bucolic banks of the Doubs river in complete peace and quiet. From Isle-sur-le-Doubs the valley becomes majestic and very wild. You wind your way through the valley between sheer cliffs, which are a delight for rock climbers. Very beautiful arrival on the small city Baume-les-Dames, labeled "City of character" at the foot of the Babre cleft.

The Doubs valley is particularly spectacular after Baume-les-Dames. The cycling itinerary is very diverse: green banks on a background of karstic rocks falling steeply and reverberating in the peaceful waters of the Doubs, small villages with colored tiled bell towers, towpaths lined with plane trees and old brick paper mills stretching their narrow chimneys to the sky. At the bend of a loop you arrive without even noticing it at the foot of the citadel of Besançon. I love this vibrant and cultural student city.