Baume-les-Messieurs

Baume sits where three reculees meet, a Jura landform of valleys that end abruptly in a cliff amphitheatre rather than a pass. The abbey was founded in the ninth century and monks from here went on to found Cluny; its church holds a large sixteenth-century Flemish carved altarpiece. Above the village, the Cascades des Tufs fall over a lip of soft porous rock in a wide fan, strongest in spring snowmelt and often reduced to a trickle by late summer. The Grottes de Baume run into the cliff with chambers, an underground river and a colony of bats, visited on a guided route.

What you actually see

• The reculee cliffs - three blind valleys ending in rock amphitheatres.
• The abbey - Benedictine buildings with a Flemish carved altarpiece.
• The Cascades des Tufs - a fan of water over porous rock, best in spring.
• The caves - guided chambers with an underground river.

When to go

April to June for the waterfall at full strength; it can dry to almost nothing in August. Caves open roughly April to September. The belvedere road above gives the classic view of the valley.

Honest expectations

The waterfall is heavily dependent on rainfall and disappoints in dry summers. Parking near the falls is charged and fills. Caves are cool and involve steps.

Nearby

Chateau-Chalon lies south; Lons-le-Saunier is southwest.