In this article, I invite you to explore the city of Montbéliard and its surroundings. I also have an article that lets you discover the city during the Montbéliard Christmas market if you are interested. The city is located about 50km from Besançon (see my complete city guide to Besançon), in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne Franche-Comté region. It is interesting to note that the Pays de Montbéliard is a Protestant land (the Dukes of Württemberg turned it into a Lutheran principality in the 16th century), situated in an industrial region that is surprisingly green.
In this article, you will see that we also set out to discover the living heritage of the Pays de Montbéliard through the Route des Savoir-Faire (Craftsmanship Route), which offers experiences centered around gastronomy as well as local artisans. This getaway took place in September 2024, and we were in a group with the favorite photographer and a few blogger friends. Below, as usual, I offer a selection of things to do and see if you come to stay in the Pays de Montbéliard.
Practical Information
- Getting there by train from Paris: count on about 2h15 from Paris to reach the Belfort-Montbéliard TGV station (which is a joint station between Belfort and Montbéliard; you can then take a shuttle to get to the city center of Montbéliard)
- Getting there by plane: Montbéliard is 50 minutes away from the Basel-Mulhouse airport
Pays de Montbéliard Tourist Office
1 rue Henri Mouhot 25200 Montbéliard
Table of Contents
What to see, what to do in Montbéliard?
Below, as usual, I offer you a small selection of things to do and see if you come to stay in Montbéliard or the region. The city is quite small, and you will easily be able to do everything on foot. During your wanderings, you won’t be able to miss the essential Castle of the Dukes of Württemberg, residence of the counts of Montbéliard (also Dukes of Württemberg) between 1397 and 1793. The castle now houses a museum dedicated to history and science. You can also find the mark of Protestant and Germanic culture in the historic heart of the city, with its houses with colorful facades, its round towers housing spiral staircases (called yorbes), or its large dormer windows known as tchâfas. The city is also known for being the stronghold of Peugeot, the brand with the Lion.
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Play an outdoor escape game
During this escape game (an activity we love with the favorite photographer, and I actually wrote an article for you with our selection of the best escape games in Paris), we set out to discover the city with two boxes that contain clues and riddles to uncover the different stages of the game. This escape game allows you to explore the city in a fun way through 10 riddles.
On the agenda for our journey: the Castle of the Dukes, the Saint-Maimboeuf church, the Près la Rose Park, the Saint Martin Temple (one of the oldest Protestant temples in France, Renaissance style with its columns and pediments in pink Vosges sandstone)… Equipped with our time capsules (huge puzzles straight out of a mad scientist’s imagination), we discovered the heritage of Montbéliard in an original and entertaining way.
Outdoor Escape Game “Montbéliard, the weight of the secret”
Rates: €30 for 2 to 6 people / booking at the tourist office
Duration: 2h/2h30 approximately
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Stroll in the Près-la-rose Park
A stone’s throw from the city center of Montbéliard, the Prés-la-rose and Île en Mouvement parks form a very pleasant urban green peninsula. The place was particularly well-flowered during our visit, and one can also find temporary exhibitions, giant insect sculptures, a hundred plant species, a sundial, a singing megalith, a plant labyrinth, and other curiosities. It’s a perfect place for a short stroll, a bucolic wander, if the weather is right.
Près-la-Rose Park
25200 Montbéliard
The tip: free admission
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Visit the Science Pavilion
This center, dedicated to the Scientific, Technical, and Industrial Culture of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, is managed by an association that has existed since 1992 and put in place its first exhibition in the mid-90s. The venue offers interactive, educational, and fun exhibitions perfect for children, whether temporary or permanent. “The Discovery Island” is the permanent exhibition of the place, which allows exploring exotic fauna and flora with the 5 senses (for children aged 3 to 6, but even adults can have fun there and learn things).
During our visit, we were also able to discover a temporary exhibition, “Tous à Plumes” (All Feathered), about birds and their protection (incidentally, the exhibition was finally extended until the end of September 2024). It also offered a section for young children aged 3 to 6, titled “Boules de plumes” (Feather Balls).
Science Pavilion
Près-la-rose Science Park, 25200 Montbéliard
Rates: €4.50 adult / €3 children from 6 to 18 years old / free under 6
My good addresses in Montbéliard
As usual, you will find below my selection of good addresses in Montbéliard (accommodation and several restaurants) that we had the opportunity to test during our stay with the favorite photographer. These addresses often offer the chance to discover local products and a few regional specialties to taste if you come to Franche-Comté.
Gastronomic specialties to discover: several local cheeses (tome des Princes, Wurtemberg, Morbier, Comté PDO, cancoillotte); Montbéliard sausage PGI; mushrooms and especially a local dish, the famous morel crust; snails…
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Where to eat Italian in Montbéliard? Restaurant Pane Olio & Sale
This family-owned restaurant with Sicilian roots is located in the city center of Montbéliard and offers Italian specialties of homemade pasta and gnocchi. There is a great atmosphere, and the welcome is very friendly! I recommend you try their spritz if you are a fan, and they also have a nice selection of Italian wines. As for food, don’t miss the house fresh pasta: we had the tagliatelle with Saint Daniele ham (€21) and also the gnocchi with summer truffle (€27). For dessert, I obviously couldn’t resist the tiramisu de la casa (€6.50).
Restaurant Pane Olio & Sale
4 rue du Docteur Beurnier 25200 Montbéliard
Price: spritz €7.50 / appetizers between €7.50 and €12 / pasta between €21 and €29 / desserts between €3 and €7.50
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Lunch on the terrace in Montbéliard? Restaurant Le Châtel
This restaurant has a very pleasant, shaded, and quiet terrace, ideal for sunny days. In terms of cuisine, the address highlights producers, suppliers (all listed on the back of the menu), and local cuisine.
To taste: tomato and bell pepper soup, watermelon and cucumber, goat cheese mousse from Emilie, green oil and toast (€8); Delle trout fillet with a Savagnin sauce, baked apples, and vegetables (€19); pork tenderloin in a herb crust (€20); tarte tatin and vanilla ice cream; as for beer, we tested a local brewery: the Backporte Bart (33cl bottle €7.45).
Restaurant Le Châtel
12/14 rue du Collège, Place Velotte, 25200 Montbéliard
Open Monday to Saturday, lunch and dinner
Price: menu of the month appetizer + main + dessert at €29
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Where to stay in Montbéliard? Ibis Styles Hotel
This 3-star hotel is ideally located almost opposite the station, making it very practical for a stay if you don’t have a car. In the room, I found that the bedding was of very high quality, as well as the pillow, as is often the case in establishments of the Ibis Styles hotel chain (we have had the opportunity to test them in several cities such as Troyes, at Puy-en-Velay, in Limoges or even in Mexico City).
There was no kettle in our room, but on the other hand, the hotel offers the possibility to get hot water downstairs, where breakfast is taken (this is also the case in several of the Ibis Styles we have had the opportunity to test). However, I found that the soundproofing between the rooms was not perfect (we could hear the family who was in the room next to ours a lot). As for breakfast, it was quite correct with good local products, and you can make your own freshly squeezed orange juice, which is always a plus that we appreciate with the favorite photographer.
Hôtel Ibis Styles Montbéliard
21 avenue des Alliés 25 200 Montbéliard
Room rates from €72 in low season and €160 in high season
What to do, what to see in the Pays de Montbéliard?
The Pays de Montbéliard is a small, verdant, and hilly territory. It is located in the meanders of the Doubs and the Rhône-Rhine Canal, surmounted to the north by the Vosges massif and to the south by the Jura. There are thick forests, reliefs, plateaus, and moorlands punctuated by villages of character. This Protestant land also houses no less than 70 temples, the oldest dating from the 17th century.
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Visit the Peugeot Adventure Museum
This incredible museum (whose collection is managed by a 1901 law association) was created in 1988. It is located a bit outside of Montbéliard, in Sochaux, the location of the first Peugeot factory (also accessible by car or bike). It traces the industrial history of the Peugeot brand, born in the Pays de Montbéliard, from 1810 to the present day. You can notably discover the beginnings of Peugeot, whose history started with a steel foundry created by brothers Jean-Pierre and Jean-Frédéric Peugeot, which manufactured small parts for watchmaking. Furthermore, the brand filed a patent for steel in 1818. In these early years, Peugeot manufactured saw blades and springs, developed a kitchen range for butchers, and starting in 1840, it developed its first coffee and spice mills. The Lion emblem has been present on products since 1870, although it was actually drawn in 1847. And then a somewhat crazy idea germinated in Armand Peugeot, the son of Jean-Pierre: to launch into the production of automobiles. The first vehicle signed Peugeot appeared in 1889, and the 1891 Peugeot Type 3 is one of the first mass-produced cars in the world and it followed the Paris-Brest-Paris cycling race over 2045 km. In 1929, the Sochaux factory became the largest industrial site in France.
The exhibition presents about 100 cars of the Lion brand, but it also counts more than 650 vehicles in its reserve spaces in total. There is also a section with bicycles, since Peugeot began its discovery of travel vehicles with bicycles as early as 1889 (presentation of a bicycle model at the Universal Exhibition of Paris at that date). Part of the museum presents competition cars, old or recent. The museum also organizes events and vehicle rentals with a driver.
L’Aventure Peugeot
Carrefour de l’Europe 25600 Sochaux
Rates: €12 adult / €9 reduced / €6 children from 7 to 17 years old / free under 7
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Take a ride in vintage cars
The Club des Vieux-Volants Franc-Comtois offers a chance to show off by taking a ride in vintage cars. Aboard their “rolling heritage,” these enthusiasts take us on a discovery of the iconic sites of the Pays de Montbéliard. They offer short 2-hour circuits in collaboration with the tourist office. The drivers are also guides, and during the ride, you will be treated to anecdotes and information about the city, the Pays de Montbéliard, and the history of the Peugeot company. The association has about 130 drivers, 6 of whom do tours regularly.
During our ride, since there were many of us, we left with 3 vintage cars, all 3 from the 50s but in very different styles: a black Citroën Traction from 1952, a Peugeot 203 from 1959, and a Renault Prairie from 1953. We made several stops during the ride, including one near the fort of Mont Bart in Bavans (a fortified structure that dates from the end of the 19th century), which allow for beautiful views of the surroundings, including one over the city of Montbéliard!
Vintage car ride
With the Club des Vieux Volants Francs-Comtois / 1 rue de l’Hôtel de Ville 25600 Sochaux
Ride possible from March to the end of October, Monday to Saturday included
Rates: €110 / car (max 3 passengers) +€15 filing fee
Duration: 1h30/2h
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Visit the Mandeure Ancient Theatre
These important Gallo-Roman archaeological remains are those of the 2nd largest agglomeration of the Séquanie (name given to the civitas of the Sequani, meaning the territory that was controlled by the Gallic people of the Sequani) after Besançon: Epomanduodurum (which means “fortress of the small horses”). Indeed, it is a strategic site since it is located in a loop of the Doubs and the ancient city extended over about 180 hectares! The Gallo-Roman theatre, whose shape can still be guessed today, was built over several periods between the 1st and 2nd century AD. It could accommodate about 18,000 spectators and its scale was 30 meters high and 142 meters wide. It was probably one of the largest theatres in the Gauls. The ancient city perished at the time of the barbarian invasions, and the theatre was used as a stone quarry, which explains its current state.
Today you can freely visit (but respecting the fragile nature of the site) the theatre and/or enjoy free guided tours also offered during the summer season by the cultural service of the Mandeure agglomeration.
Mandeure Ancient Theatre
13 Rue du Théatre, 25350 Mandeure
The tip: free guided tours offered every summer, Saturdays and Sundays in June and September, and every day except Mondays in July and August
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Take an introduction to ceramics workshop
During our stay, we had the chance to do an “Introduction to ceramics” workshop at the workshop of Sylvie Bauer, who is a member of the Route des Savoir-Faire du Pays de Montbéliard (I told you about it in the introduction). Sylvie is passionate about ceramics, which she has been practicing for 20 years. At first, it was just a passion, but she then wanted to make it her profession. Since 2009, she has been perfecting her practice, and for 2 years, she created her company to work locally and promote the region. She creates unique pieces of ceramics, she does not do series, and she works with two types of clay for her objects: earthenware and stoneware. She then sells her creations directly from her home or at pottery markets.
She is also keen to make the pleasure of this work accessible, and in this sense, she organizes pottery wheel initiation workshops at her home, in the small village of Beutal, which is about 30 minutes by car from Montbéliard. During this workshop, Sylvie explained to us the different ways of working with clay: modeling; slab work; “molding” with a mold; throwing; enameling (with glass powder). Then we were all able to “get our hands dirty” and create our own small ceramic piece, which was then sent to us a few weeks later.
L’Atelier de Sylvie
3 rue de la Combe 25250 Beutal
Rates for the ceramic initiation workshop: 2h lesson for €50 (1 or 2 people)
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Stroll at the pond of Beutal
If you are near Sylvie’s or in Beutal, don’t miss taking a little bucolic tour of the Beutal pond; it’s a place full of charm and perfect for a quiet stroll.
My good addresses in the Pays de Montbéliard
As usual, you will find below my selection of good addresses in the surroundings of Montbéliard (a dairy and several restaurants) that we had the opportunity to test during our stay with the favorite photographer. These addresses often offer the chance to discover local products and a few regional specialties to taste if you come to discover the Franche-Comté gastronomy.
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Where to buy cheese and local products? At the Fruitières du Lomont
This traditional cheese dairy is located at the foot of the Jura Mountains, in the Lomont in Noirefontaine. This dairy specializes in the artisanal production of Comté PDO, but also raw butter and cream. In its shop, the cheese dairy also offers regional cheeses such as Morbier, Mont d’Or, cancoillotte, or even Bleu de Gex. But you will also find plenty of local products that are not cheese, such as coffee, jams and honey, beers and wine, syrups… It is therefore a very nice stop to stock up on products to take home from your stay.
To buy: local cheeses (3 different types of Comté aging; Morbier, Tomme with white wine; Tomme with wild garlic…); cancoillotte from Sancey; Montbéliard sausages (which have benefited from a PGI since 2013); local honey; fir beer; caramel spread from Klaus; coffee roasted by Café Escalon…
Les Fruitières du Lomont
21 rue des Herbiers 25190 Noirefontaine
Open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm, and also on Sundays and public holidays from 9am to 12pm and from 3pm to 7pm
The tip: visits to the Comté production workshop possible on Wednesday mornings at 9am from April 15 to the end of October (free and duration of the visit 1h / by reservation)
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Where to eat local specialties? Restaurant la Table Comtoise
This restaurant is installed in the barn of an old renovated farmhouse with a lot of character. In this atypical setting, the address offers regional specialties like Franche-Comté fondue with Comté and Savagnin (280g per person – €21.40) that we tasted with pleasure even in September, or Montbéliard sausage with cancoillotte (€15.80). And with all that, a small glass of Savagnin, a typical grape variety from the Jura (€15.60 for a 25cl pitcher). In addition, they serve you unlimited salad and roesti (grated potato pancakes) with the dishes. A good address that I warmly recommend to discover local gastronomy.
La Table Comtoise
14 Avenue Charles de Gaulle, 25460 Étupes
Open Thursday to Sunday, lunch and dinner
Price: à la carte between €14.80 and €28.80 / child menu €8 / wines by the glass between €4.20 and €7.80
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Where to eat good fried fish? Restaurant de la Rive
This restaurant, specializing in fried carp and perch, is located on the banks of the Doubs. It also offers other Franche-Comté specialties, as well as mussels. To accompany this, I recommend taking a local little white wine (wines by the glass between €5.20 and €9). Finally, the establishment also has a covered and closed terrace by the water, which can therefore also be used during the cooler season.
We tasted: the perch and carp fry, which are really great and accompanied by unlimited fries and salad; for dessert, the gourmet coffee.
Restaurant de la Rive
7, place Boudry 25420 Voujeaucourt
Price: perch or carp fry unlimited with fries and salad €24.50 / menus between €15.80 and €40 / child menu €12
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Where to have a gastronomic dinner in Blamont? L’Auberge de la Tante Arie
In a small village about 30 minutes by car from Montbéliard, Blamont, is this chic bistro with a wooden chalet decor. It is one of the good tables in the region, since it has a rating of 10/20 in the Gault and Millau guide. You will find artisanal Franche-Comté cuisine that changes according to the seasons. The name of the address, Tante Arie, refers to the character we met at the Christmas market in 2023, and whom I told you about in that specific article.
We tasted: duck and quail foie gras terrine (€17.50); duck breast with Fougerolles griottines with baby potatoes (€25.50); roasted lamb piece with garlic and mint with risotto (€26.50); Alsace raspberry crisp (€10).
L’Auberge de la Tante Arie
4 rue Viette 25 310 Blamont
Price: menus between €20.50 and €39 / à la carte appetizers between €13.50 and €19.50 / à la carte main courses between €23.50 and €29.50 / à la carte desserts between €9 and €11 / wines by the glass between €7 and €9
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Thanks to the Pays de Montbéliard Tourist Office and Emilie from the AirPur Agency for organizing this great stay to discover Montbéliard and its surroundings. If you want to know more about the destination, don’t hesitate to check out the articles of my fellow travelers, Esprit Globe Trotteuse, Poulette Blog and Mummy Fast.
I hope that with all this, I have made you want to visit Montbéliard, and if you also have your own good addresses and tips for this destination, don’t hesitate to share them in the comments below!
Photo credits: Nicolas Diolez Photos not royalty-free, photographer's authorization required before any use
