Sixty kilometres southeast of Besançon lies PONTARLIER , one of the bigger Jura towns, and not very interesting in itself except as a transit point and recreational base. If you need accommodation here, try the Hôtel de Morteau , 26 rue Jeanne-d'Arc, near the river (tel 03.81.39.14.83, fax 03.81.39.75.07; 160-220F/?24-34), which has an excellent restaurant (menus from 70F/?10.67). There's also an HI hostel at 2 rue Jouffroy, near the station (tel & fax 03.81.39.06.57); a gîte - the Chalet-Refuge du Larmont (tel 03.81.46.61.07); plus a municipal campsite in rue de Toulombief. For places to eat , try the rue de Besançon, which is full of cafés and brasseries, or, for a fuller meal, the Brasserie de la Poste , 55 rue de la République. Good-quality mountain bikes can be rented from Vélos Pernet, 23 rue de la République (tel 03.81.46.48.00), for 80F/?12.20 per day; and cross-country ski gear can be found at Sports et Neige, along the street at no. 4 (tel 03.81.39.04.69). The tourist office , 14 bis rue de la Gare (Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 2-6pm; June-Sept also Sun 10.30am-noon & 5.30-7pm; tel 03.81.46.48.33, fax 03.81.46.83.32), has some good hiking maps for 12F/?1.83 and 58F/?8.84.

Just south of town, past a divinely aromatic chocolate factory that will have chocoholics drooling, a steep road to the left ascends for 11km to Le Grand Taureau , whose 1328-metre summit is just a short walk from the road's end and offers a view over the whole Jura Massif and across Switzerland to the Alps. A couple of kilometres further south of Pontarlier, the Château de Joux (guided tours daily: Jan-June & Sept-Oct 10am, 11.30am, 2pm & 3.30pm; July & Aug every 30min 9am-4.30pm; closed Nov & Dec; 32F/?4.88) stands over the defile known as La Cluse et Mijoux, the ancient Franco-Swiss frontier. It was originally constructed in the eleventh century, and Vauban had a hand in remodelling and modernizing it, but most of what you see today is less than a century old. The fort's history and impressive appearance are of more interest than its collection of military uniforms.

Moving on, there are trains and buses to Besançon, the TGV to Dijon and Paris, and local buses to the six-kilometre-long Lac de St-Point , where you can pick up the GR5 again to make the ascent of Mont d'Or (1463m) overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps, and to Mouthe , where the River Doubs emerges from an underground cavern.