As you climb from the plateau through the pine forests to the scrawny higher pastures, the temperatures dip and the landscape takes a bleaker turn towards the summits of the Haut Jura. The main roads struggle up the valleys towards the Swiss border, but less demanding routes run along the mountains' narrow folds linking Pontarlier to Morez and St-Claude; when they're not passing through woodland or low cloud, these can provide memorable motoring. While the main towns in the area are valley-bound and claustrophobic, the resort towns tend to be expensive or rather soulless out of season, but most people come up here for the views across Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) in Switzerland towards the perennial snowscapes of the Alps.
Pages in section ‘Haut Jura’: Morez - Les Rousses, St-Claude.
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