Lakes and pools
The paradise of the great lakes
In the heart of our untouched nature, take a refreshing break by the side of one of our 80 lakes.
Saint-Point, a major lake
At an altitude of around 850 m, it stretches out over 6 km across an open landscape, the most welcoming of mountain lakes you could ever hope to see.
Saint-Point, the third largest natural lake in France, is easily accessible. It is set in a rustic landscape of pastures and villages, and much of it has been developed for leisure activities.
Port-Titi, the village of stilt cabins built by fishermen at the start of the last century, has set something of a trend: Malbuisson, the lakeside resort, Les Grangettes and its water sports centre, Saint-Point, its port and beach...
Saint Pont's close neighbour, Lake Remoray (the two lakes used to be united, before the alluvial deposits of the Doubs cut them in two), is the expert in the environment: with its peat bog, it is a wildlife reserve of Europeanwide importance.
Vouglans, or the River Ain tamed
A wall 130 m high and 430 m wide, made with 54,500 m3 of concrete: welcome to Vouglans Dam, one of the finest examples of a narrow arch dam in France.
Thus was the River Ain tamed and the third largest reservoir in France (behind Serre-Ponçon and Sainte-Croix) created, a "tourist" lake some thirty kilometres long and of a surface area of 1,600 hectares.
The Lake Region
Lakes, more lakes and yet more lakes and…waterfalls too: it is not for nothing that this region, where beauty is everywhere you look, is nicknamed “Little Scotland”.
Nowhere else will you wind so many beautiful lakes all together: the Chalain, Chambly, Le Val, Ilay, Petit Maclu, Narlay, Bonlieu, Clairvaux and L’Abbaye Lakes, among others.
As a contrast to the calm waters of the lake comes the River Hérisson, which rushes down 280 m vertically in just three kilometres: a dozen waterfalls, including the Grand Saut, a dramatic 60 m falls, and the L’Eventail, which fans out, in downward steps, over 65 m...
The Tale of the Thousand and one Ponds
Desolate moorland, peat bogs, mountain streams, beaten tracks leading to the occasional isolated farm, marked out with cairns: the Haute-Saône of the foothills of the Vosges resembles nothing so much as an Irish ballad.
In the early hours of the morning, come and discover the mist over the ponds, rising as the golden sun of autumn breaks through. A land where, like the wheels of the old water mills, time seems to have stood still.
Lake Malsaucy, mirror of nature and of leisure
What connection could there possibly be between the silent heron, standing stock still on the waterside, and the frenetic Eurockéennes festival?
The answer is Le Malsaucy, 40 hectares of lakes and ponds at the gateway to the city of Belfort and at the foot of the Vosges, a region with two very different facets: one where nature smiles at its own beauty, in the mirror, another where the images of sport, leisure and culture mix together in a visual whirlwind.
Then there is the Le Malsaucy water sports centre, with centre boarders, canoeing, windsurfing, rowing, aqua-jogging, the Le Malsaucy leisure centre with mini-golf, mountain biking, hiking and more besides.
The Départemental Environment Centre invites visitors to explore and to become more familiar with the needs of nature and in particular of the nearby lakes and Vosges mountains.
Information, advice and bookings : 
For a great choice of ski holidays in France, there are wonderful ski resorts in the Jura Mountains.