Franche-Comte Property Guide

Franche-Comte Location

Franche-Comte is located on the eastern side on France adjacent to Switzerland with Lake Geneva at the southern tip. Bounded by Rhone-Alpes, Burgundy, Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine and Alsace. The departments of the region are Doubs, Haute-Saône, Jura, Territoire de Belfort.

Franche-Comte Landscape

Here you can discover wide open spaces and freedom - forests, mountains and valleys, lakes (in fact, 24 large lakes plus a myriad of smaller ones) and a vast network of rivers; From the historical perspective, numerous monuments and sites of exceptional interest.

Franche-Comte Attractions

Franche-Comte is well known for its Gruyère cheese, cross-country skiing in winter and for canoeing and hiking in summer in the beautiful Jura mountain range.

Besançon has a reputation for innovation in industries as diverse as optics, electronics, acoustics, climate control and automation. There are many science parks in the area. It is a former centre of watch-making excellence.

Among the attractions of Territoire de Belfort is the Lion de Belfort statue by Bartoldi (the sculptor of New York's Statue of Liberty).

Franche-Comte Weather

Winters tend to be quite cold and very similar to those in the UK.  Summer is relatively hot and sunny!

Weather in Haut-Saone
Weather in Territoire de Belfort
Weather in Jura
Weather in Doubs
 

Getting there

Air Travel
Air France offers London-Heathrow direct to Lyon
British Airways runs services from London to Lyon and Geneva
Easyjet offers flights from Luton to Geneva.

By Train
TGV trains from Paris-Gare de Lyon to Besançon, Lyon and Grenoble During the ski season there is a direct Eurostar service (www.eurostar.co.uk) from London-Waterloo (or Ashford) through to Bourg-Saint-Maurice.

By Road
Good autoroute access to Dijon and then change onto the autoroute to Besançon.

Franche-Comte population

1.1 million inhabitants.

Major Towns/Cities

The principal cities are Besançon (the historical and the modern capital of the region), Belfort, and Montbéliard. Other important cities are Dole (previous capital before the region was conquered by Louis XIV in the late 17th century), Vesoul (capital of Haute-Saône), Arbois (the "wine capital" of the Jura), and Lons-le-Saunier (capital of Jura).

Franche-Comte Prices

The major towns are more expensive but rural locations can be cheap! So shop around.

Price Guideline
Apartments: 100,000 + euros (major towns)
Farmhouses: 25,000 euros (needs renovation)
Townhouses: 120,000 euros
Land: from 9 euros per sq. m

Articles:
French Universities: ooh la la off to University I go!
Come to Franche Comte

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