Vauban Citadels of the Upper Doubs

Three days in the Haut-Doubs, following the Vauban fortifications that sealed the Swiss border. The route starts at the citadel of Besancon, a UNESCO-listed masterpiece above the loop of the Doubs, now housing a Resistance museum and a zoo, then the chateau de Joux and its five successive curtain walls spanning five centuries, where Toussaint Louverture died in 1803. The Saut du Doubs and its twenty-seven-metre waterfall on the Swiss border, the fort of Saint-Antoine converted into a comte ripening cellar holding tens of thousands of wheels, and finally Ornans, Courbet's birthplace, close the trip. The Saut du Doubs is reached by boat from Villers-le-Lac or on foot, and its flow drops sharply in summer.