Starting Point: Boudry
Trail Type: Short Tour. (April to November)
Physical Fitness: 3 to 4 (40km, 1100m ascent)
Technical Difficulty: 3 (some steepish rocky singletrails on the descent)
Map: Ordanace Survey Map 1163 Travers



Creux de Van is a huge amphitheatre shaped cliff formation in the Jura region of Switzerland.




From Boudry train station head downhill and take the firs right towards Gorge de l’Areuse. The proper route takes a left here and heads past the gorge on paved streets. We took the option of pushing our bikes through the gorge (biking is not allowed here and we would never have been so irresponsible as to ride through it!). The scenery in the gorge is truly amazing and well worth taking a diversion to check out.



At the top of the gorge you rejoin the tar road and keep climbing towards Champ du Moulin Keep going straight on following the signs for Ferme Robert. On many of the junctions there are signs which say no bikes, but there is always one option that you can take. From Ferme Robert you can already see the cliffs, but you only have about half of the climbing done. Keep following the unpaved road that goes past the restaurant. It winds its way up through a variety of scenery. There are a few turn offs, but keep following the wanderweg signs going towards La Grand Vy and Creux de Van or La Soliat (there is always an option where biking isn’t forbidden). Eventually you cone out on a paved street again, where you turn right and keep going until the street ends and you take some singletrail type paths to the top of the cliffs. Once you get to the cliffs enjoy the view and work your way towards La Soliat.


The View from the top




Finally there! The highest point on the tour.



Once you have had a rest and enjoyed the view the descent takes some singletrails from La Soliat down to La Barrone. At La Barrone there is a T-Junction. Take the base of the T, and keep going until you start to go downhill, after a little bit on this road there will be a wanderweg sign to the left. The next section of singletrail begins here. It has some fairly steep rocky sections. Keep following the trails and roads back down towards Boudry.

I would advise getting the 1:25,000 or 1:50,000 map of the area before going. There are no singletrail maps for the region.


There are a lot of hikers in the area so be courteous.