Reculée des Planches

Trail description

The walk starts on the Chemin de l'Ermitage outside Arbois, crosses the plateau along the Allée du Roi de Rome, an avenue whose trees were planted in 1811, then descends into the reculée and follows the Cuisance upstream past Les Planches-près-Arbois to the Cascade des Tufs. Enclosed by limestone cliffs more than 200 m high, the Reculée des Planches is the highest reculée in the Jura; the Cuisance rises at its head and builds the tufa terraces of the cascade, where swimming is forbidden. The Grotte des Planches, a show cave from 1936 that feeds the Cuisance, has been closed to visits since 2011 and its rockfall-threatened access path is off limits, so the walk ends at the cascade. It is about 5.0 km one way: from about 525 m on the plateau the path drops some 205 m to the floor of the reculée, a descent that has to be climbed again on the way back.

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