Besançon
France
A stone town inside a loop of the Doubs, with Vauban’s citadel shutting the one gap the river leaves
Photo by Upendra Wanmali on Unsplash
Photos by Nico Miot, Mr Xerty and BERTRAND MORITZ on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
May to September
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 115mm in May
Where it is
47.24°N, 6.02°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Give the citadel half a day — the museums and the walls are more than the view
- Take the boat round the loop for the tunnel under the rock
- Be in the cathedral when the astronomical clock is shown, rather than just looking at it
- Buy Comté at two ages and taste them side by side
- Walk the towpath round the loop on a weekday morning
Besançon travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
Mid-rangeEuros, and cards everywhere, the market stalls included. Coming from Switzerland, spend the francs before the border; nobody here takes them.
ATMs & cards
Bank machines along the Grande Rue and at Viotte station. Use a bank’s own machine and refuse the offer to convert into your own currency.
Avoid these
- independent machines that offer to charge you in your own currency
Use these instead
- Crédit Agricole
- Banque Populaire
- Caisse d’Épargne
- La Banque Postale
Cards are taken everywhere. Refuse any offer to convert.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
SafeA calm university city and a safe one. The climb to the citadel is steep cobbles and a road with no pavement in places; there is a bus up in season. Winters are colder and wetter than people expect at this latitude, with freezing nights from late autumn. Out in the Jura, the roads are narrow, the bends are blind, and fog sits in the valleys in the cold months.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- the Boucle — the old town inside the river loop
- the Grande Rue
- Battant
- the citadel
Worth more attention
- the road up to the citadel — steep, narrow and partly without a pavement; take the bus up in season and walk down
- the riverside paths after heavy rain — the Doubs rises fast and the towpath floods
- Driving in the Jura in the cold months, when fog sits in the valleys and the minor roads ice over
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodThis is Comté country, and the cheese is graded by age — the twenty-four-month is a different food from the twelve. Morteau sausage is smoked in the big chimneys of Haut-Doubs farms and comes with potatoes and cancoillotte, a runny, mild cheese sauce eaten warm. Vin jaune from the Jura is an hour away and tastes like dry sherry, which surprises people who order it as a white wine.
Travel tipsGetting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Travel tipsReligion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Besançon
No Holistay rentals in Besançon yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Besançon on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Basel-Mulhouse BSL
2hfrom the airport· 120 km as the crow flies
About two hours by hire car on the motorway; by rail, the bus to Saint-Louis or Basel and the TGV from Mulhouse, about the same.
Also worth pricing: Geneva GVA — about two hours by road over the Jura, with far more flights.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
