Why it works with small children

Three things make this a forgiving destination. Everything is close: from a base near Lake Vouglans, most of the sites below are between fifteen and fifty minutes away, so no day starts with two hours in the car. The lakes are warm enough to swim in from June, with supervised beaches and shallow entries. And a gîte with a kitchen and a garden solves the two problems that wreck family holidays — mealtimes and somewhere to let them run.

The lakes

This is the backbone of a family week here. Lake Vouglans has three laid-out beaches: la Mercantine, Bellecin and le Surchauffant, with grass, shade and water that reaches proper swimming temperature in summer. Lake Chalain and Clairvaux-les-Lacs are the other two big family lakes, both with beaches and pedalo hire.

A practical note: the water is a deep turquoise because of limestone sediment, which means it is not as clear at depth as it looks from the shore. Armbands for small swimmers, as anywhere.

The toy town

Moirans-en-Montagne has been making wooden toys for centuries and calls itself the toy capital of France. Its Musée du Jouet is the obvious rainy-day card to play with under-tens: it is a real museum rather than a play barn, but it is built for children and they rarely want to leave. Moirans is about twenty minutes from Orgelet.

Underground

The Jura is limestone, which means caves. The caves at Baume-les-Messieurs sit at the foot of the cliff at the end of the blind valley, alongside the abbey and the waterfall — you can do all three in a morning. Caves are cool year-round, so take a jumper even in August, and they are a good answer to a hot afternoon as well as a wet one.

Up in the trees

Two treetop adventure parks sit close together in the lakes region. Doucier Aventure, near Lake Chalain, has ten courses and around eighty stations, including roughly 800 metres of zip lines and one 130-metre giant. Clairvaux Aventure, at Clairvaux-les-Lacs, has eight courses from 3 to 20 metres up, graded by colour.

Both use a continuous safety line, so once a child is clipped in they cannot unclip by mistake — which is what makes these workable from a fairly young age. Both open daily in July and August; Doucier also opens weekends, public holidays and school holidays from April.

Cheese, and why children like it more than you expect

A fruitière — the village cooperative dairy where Comté is made — is a free, half-hour, weather-proof outing, and the copper vats and the sheer size of the wheels tend to land well with children. Cheesemaking happens in the morning, usually between about 7 and 11, so go early if you want to watch through the window. The Fruitière du Mont Orgier is in Orgelet itself.

In the same register, Lons-le-Saunier is where La Vache qui rit was created, and the museum devoted to it is aimed squarely at families.

Walks that work with short legs

• The lake shore paths at Vouglans — flat, shaded, and you can turn back whenever you like. The best starting point for a first walk of the week.
• The valley floor at Baume-les-Messieurs — gentle, with the cliffs closing in overhead, which children find more impressive than any summit.
• The Hérisson waterfalls — the full trail is 7.4 kilometres return and about three hours, which is a lot for under-sixes. But the Éventail, the 65-metre fall, is only 400 metres from the Maison des Cascades car park, so you can see the best one and turn around. Dogs on a lead, no swimming, and it is not a pushchair route.
• The Pic de l'Aigle — about an hour up and down for a view over four lakes. Short enough for a determined seven-year-old.

What to leave for later

Via ferrata, canyoning and the harder treetop courses generally start at 8 years and a minimum height, and the more technical canyons are 16 and over. If you have teenagers as well as small children, there is plenty for them here — but plan those as separate outings rather than trying to make one activity fit everybody.

Practical advice

• Rain plan. Have the museum, the caves and a fruitière in your back pocket. A Jura week almost always includes one wet day.
• Warm layer, always. The plateau is several degrees cooler than the valley, and the caves are cold year-round.
• Markets. Morning markets plus a gîte kitchen beat restaurant meals with small children, and they cost a fraction as much.
• Book the popular activities. In July and August the treetop parks and guided activities fill up; a day or two ahead is usually enough.
• Ticks. Check children after woodland and long grass.

Where to stay

Our gîtes are around Orgelet and Lake Vouglans, which puts the beaches, Moirans and the lakes region all within easy reach.

• Gîte du Sapin and Gîte Cadet Roussel, both with the space and the kitchen a family week needs.
• Our group gîte, for two families travelling together or a large one.
• Our studio in the toy capital, at Moirans-en-Montagne itself.

For the detail on individual days out, see our guides to Lake Vouglans, the Hérisson waterfalls trail and the fruitières where Comté is made. If you are choosing a property, how to choose and book a gîte explains how renting works here.

Questions before booking? The easiest way to reach us is by email: write to us in English and we will reply in English.

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