The Saut du Doubs

Above Les Brenets the Doubs slows and spreads into a long still basin between grey limestone walls, and at the end of it the whole river drops about twenty seven metres over a lip of rock into the pool below. The setting is the odd part: this is Jura plateau country rather than mountain, and the river has cut a trench into it that feels far deeper than the surrounding land suggests. The Doubs runs between Switzerland and France here, so the fall is looked at from both banks, each with its own viewing platforms. Small flat boats work the basin from Les Brenets in season, and a shore path covers the same ground on foot in about three quarters of an hour.

What you actually see

• The fall itself - the river dropping in one wide sheet between the cliffs.
• The basin above - still dark water held between grey limestone walls.
• The boat trip - flat bottomed boats working up the trench from Les Brenets.
• The two banks - platforms on either side giving quite different angles on the drop.

When to go

Spring, with snowmelt and rain behind it, is when the fall carries real volume. By late summer in a dry year it can shrink to a trickle, and the boats stop running when the water is too low to float them. In hard winters ice builds around the rim. Boats operate roughly from April to October.

Honest expectations

Water level decides everything, and in a dry summer people arrive to find a wall of rock with a thin stream down it. Boat or walk, both take time for a short sight at the end. The path can be muddy, the platforms are small and crowded on summer weekends, and facilities at the fall itself are minimal.

Nearby

Les Brenets and Le Locle, with La Chaux-de-Fonds and the Jura ridges beyond.