Top choice in The Jura Mountains
Inside a charismatic 18th-century building, La Balance uses local, organic produce to produce signature dishes such as coq au vin with morel mushrooms, and crème brûlée with vin jaune (barrel-matured wine), while the meat-free platter assembles 10 different preparations of seasonal vegetables. The well-priced wine list emphasises vin jaune and other Jura varieties.
Reserve ahead on Saturday and holidays, especially from May to August.
25.7 MILES
Dominating the city from Mt St-Etienne, more than 100 vertical metres above the old town, the 17th-century Citadelle de Besançon – designed by Vauban for…
25.83 MILES
Literal and figurative interpretations of time are woven together at the Musée du Temps, which places allegorical paintings about the passage of time next…
28.71 MILES
Clinging to a limestone outcrop, Château de Joux, 10km north of Métabief, used to guard the route between Switzerland and France. Its foundations date to…
8.72 MILES
These wondrously symmetrical early–Industrial Age saltworks were designed to be an 'ideal city' by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. Though Ledoux's plans never came…
16.2 MILES
The 30-million-year-old Grottes de Baume are secreted away in the cliffs 2km south of Baume-les-Messieurs. On guided tours, visitors can weave their way…
Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie
26.01 MILES
France's oldest public museum, founded in 1694, is famous for its stellar collection of local Gallo-Roman archaeology; its Cabinet des Dessins, with some…
25.79 MILES
The base of 18th-century Cathédrale St-Jean's bell tower houses an incredible astronomical clock, powered by 11 weights, that has run the church's bells…
25.81 MILES
Erected in AD 175 in honour of Marcus Aurelius, this 16.5m-high Roman triumphal arch stands very near where the columns of a Roman theatre and the…
0.06 MILES
Louis Pasteur's laboratory and workshops have been preserved at his familial house, which still sports its 19th-century fixtures and fittings. Digital …
2. Musée de la Vigne et du Vin du Jura
0.29 MILES
The history behind the Jura's prized vin jaune (barrel-matured wine with a distinctive yellow hue) is told at this understated museum, between the turrets…
5.51 MILES
The salty history of the Jura is well-explained in the town of Salins-les-Bains, which derives its very name from the salt trade. Step inside the Grande…
8.72 MILES
These wondrously symmetrical early–Industrial Age saltworks were designed to be an 'ideal city' by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. Though Ledoux's plans never came…
14.83 MILES
Baume-les-Messieurs' abandoned Benedictine Abbaye Impériale has an exquisite polychrome Flemish altarpiece dating from the 16th century (the time when the…
16.13 MILES
Near the Grottes de Baume, the Tufs waterfalls slosh dramatically over limestone boulders into the Dard River. There are picturesque walking trails nearby.
16.2 MILES
The 30-million-year-old Grottes de Baume are secreted away in the cliffs 2km south of Baume-les-Messieurs. On guided tours, visitors can weave their way…
18.27 MILES
Louis Pasteur (1822–95), who developed the first rabies vaccine and, of course, pasteurisation, spent his first three years in Dole. His childhood home in…