Goumois sits on the Doubs where it forms the Swiss–French border, and the village is split by it. Above it, the Franches-Montagnes plateau; below, the river; and in between, climbs on both sides of the border. Fourteen rides here between 2012 and 2025, six written up in full.
Goumois was where we came when we wanted the Jura instead of the lakes, with the camper or the T5, parking at Saignelégier or Le Noirmont and riding down to the river and back up. It's a different kind of riding from the Alps. There are no 2,000m passes, just a plateau about 500m above a deep river valley, so every ride is a series of descents to the water and climbs back up, often across the border and back.
One Village, Two Countries
Goumois is two villages with one name. Until 1780 the land on both banks belonged to the lordship of Franquemont; when that lordship was dissolved, its territory was divided along the course of the Doubs, and Goumois-Suisse and Goumois-France have faced each other across the river ever since, joined by the bridge that is also the border. The two halves have shared their school and their church. The Swiss side was under French rule from 1793 to 1815, passed to the canton of Bern after the Congress of Vienna, and has been in the canton of Jura since it was created on 1 January 1979. It's tiny: 82 people on the Swiss side in 2008, and in 2009 it merged into the municipality of Saignelégier.
The river is the Doubs, 453km long, which rises in the French Jura near Mouthe, forms the border through these gorges, loops through Switzerland past Soubey and Saint-Ursanne, and runs back into France to join the Saône. Up on the plateau is the Franches-Montagnes, horse country, with the Marché-Concours horse fair at Saignelégier every August since 1897.
The Six Rides
Around Goumois
A few from other visits over the years.
