Jura, Fribourg Prealps and Vaudois Alps

Three ranges, one corner of the map

Three separate ranges share this corner of western Switzerland without forming a single geographic unit: the Vaud portion of the Jura in the northwest, the Fribourg Prealps in the centre, and the Vaudois Alps, the Alpes Vaudoises, toward the Rhône valley in the south.

The Vaud Jura

The Jura here is folded limestone rather than granite, in ranges that run from northeast to southwest, and its winter trails include cross-country ones, such as the 33km ski route through the Jura vaudois park over the Mollendruz, Marchairuz and Givrine passes. Mont Tendre (1,679m), between the Vallée de Joux and the Lake Geneva basin, is the highest summit in the Swiss Jura; La Dôle (1,677m), about 25 kilometres to the southwest and topped by a radar station, is the second highest. The Vallée de Joux has its railhead at Le Brassus, the end of the line from Vallorbe, and La Dôle is easily reached from Saint-Cergue, on the Nyon to St-Cergue to Morez railway. The Vallée de Joux is, with Neuchâtel, the birthplace of Swiss horology and still the home of watch factories such as Audemars Piguet, Blancpain and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The Fribourg Prealps

East of the Jura, the Fribourg Prealps are a different kind of hill country again, limestone rather than folded ridges, and centred on Gruyères, a medieval town on an 82-metre hill that gives its name to Gruyère cheese. Above the town, the Moléson (2,002m) lies at the northern end of the chain, and the Vanil Noir, at 2,389m the highest summit of the canton of Fribourg, stands further south, a reminder that these foothills still reach real altitude.

The Vaudois Alps

South again, toward the Rhône valley and the Valais border, the Vaudois Alps proper begin. Villars and Leysin are resorts, Château-d’Œx is the seat of the Pays-d’Enhaut district, and at Les Diablerets the Glacier 3000 cable car climbs to the Scex Rouge at 2,950m, where a suspension bridge links a viewpoint with the station, and ski lifts run on the Tsanfleuron Glacier. The Vaud Alps are counted as part of the Bernese Alps, the same range as the Bernese Oberland just across the cantonal border, and are markedly higher and more alpine than either the Jura or the Fribourg Prealps.

Season and access

Winter here means two different things depending on which range: Nordic skiing on the Jura’s marked trails, and downhill skiing on the higher ground around Les Diablerets and Villars. Château-d’Œx and Montbovon sit on the Montreux Oberland Bernois line from Montreux into the Pays-d’Enhaut, with Gruyères on the Palézieux to Bulle to Montbovon line, which connects with it at Montbovon.