Les Fontenelles: Hiking and Heritage

Les Fontenelles combines hiking routes with natural landscapes and cultural heritage. These include the Puits du Glaçon cave and the Pré-bois habitat, as well as Chapelle Sainte-Anne, the Lavogne and the history of a religious congregation. For planning your trip, the different durations of the routes provide a practical starting point; local architectural and religious histories add to the landscape perspective.

Hiking and planning your time

The route to Puits du Glaçon is a 10.5-kilometre circular hike that takes three hours and passes through Les Fontenelles. Yellow and blue trail markers and direction signs bearing the number 7 help you find your way. The Le Plateau du Russey route and the Village Haut hiking route also pass through the village.

The starting point of the route to Puits du Glaçon can be reached on Mobigo line 206 between Pontarlier and Montbéliard. Check the current timetable before travelling. The La Lavogne geocaching trail is listed as a shorter option, taking one hour and 30 minutes. Compared with the three-hour circular hike, it offers a more compact time commitment. As information about geocaching materials or access may change, check these details before your visit.

Cave and Jura landscape

The Puits du Glaçon cave is 15 to 25 metres wide, and its ceiling reaches a height of four metres. It takes its name from an icicle that once often remained throughout the year. The route to Puits du Glaçon passes through a Pré-bois habitat typical of the Jura Mountains, characterised by woodland and pastureland. Its preservation depends on human activities. The term therefore describes a habitat where woodland and pastureland coexist.

The Point de vue des Fontenelles viewpoint offers hikers a view of the northern high range of the Jura; on a clear day, the peaks of the Bernese Alps can be seen.

Heritage in Les Fontenelles

The Lavogne is unique in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The circular basin is 16 metres in diameter and 1.20 metres deep at the centre. The Lavogne was restored in 2000, collects rainwater and provides water for livestock. Here, the basin’s shape and dimensions can be considered alongside its practical role as a water source.

Chapelle Sainte-Anne was built in 1890 on the heights of Les Fontenelles. Its sacristy incorporates part of a chapel dating from 1480. The building’s history thus brings together different periods: the construction of Chapelle Sainte-Anne and the older chapel section in the sacristy.

The history of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Christian Retreat is also connected with Les Fontenelles. Abbé Antoine-Sylvestre Receveur founded it in 1789 in Les Fontenelles, in the canton of Le Russey. Its mother house is also located in Les Fontenelles. Both its founding and the location of its mother house give this religious history a distinct local connection.

Discover more destinations: Morteau, Fourbanne, Grandfontaine-Sur-Creuse, Les Auxons, Recologne, Montferrand-Le-Château, Foucherans, Dampierre-les-Bois

For the regional travel overview: Doubs.