The Lac de Joux in Western Switzerland is the largest lake in the Jura Mountains. Each year, usually around early February, the lake freezes sufficiently to transform itself into the largest open-air ice-skating rink in Europe. Visitors come from far to enjoy the free facilities. Skates can be hired but as there is usually snow on the lake, it is fairly easy to simply walk on the lake in normal shoes too. The lake is easily reached by car or train.
The Lac de Joux Lake in Canton Vaud in Switzerland
The Lac de Joux in the Jura Mountains near Lake Geneva is around 9 km long and only about a kilometer wide. Its total surface area is only 9.5 square km but that is still sufficient to make it the largest lake in the Jura Mountains on Switzerland’s northwestern border with France.
Lac de Joux is at 1,004 m above sea level and with a maximum depth of only 32 m freezes over easily. (It similarly warms up to a comfortable 24°C in summer.) Almost every winter, the lake freezes sufficiently to transform Lac de Joux into the largest open-air skating rink in Europe. In previous centuries, the ice were cut each winter and sold in summer to breweries, hospitals, and guesthouses in Paris and Germany but nowadays the ice is purely used for skating fun.
Free Ice Skating on the Lac de Joux Lake in Switzerland
Ice-skating is very popular in Switzerland and in the Lake Geneva region even smaller towns such as Nyon and Gland have free ice-skating rinks set up each winter. However, locals eagerly await the announcement – usually early February – that Lac de Joux has frozen over and declared safe for ice-skating.
As the whole lake freezes over, skaters can enter the rink wherever the can find access to the lake. The most popular entering point is usually Le Pont on the far eastern point of the lake. Here, train access is the easiest and skate rentals available on weekends. During the week, skates can be rented from Cordonnerie Mouquin in Le Sentier.
The lake is too big to ever get crowded but access points such as Le Pont can be jammed by cars on weekends when well over 5,000 skaters may take to the ice. Drivers would be wise to try and avoid Le Pont on weekends.
On weekends, temporary stalls are set up on the lake selling hot drinks (coffee, tea, mulled wine, soup) and warming snacks.
Getting to Lac de Joux in the Jura Mountains
Transportation to Lac de Joux is fairly easy by car or train. During snowy weather, the access route via Vallorbe is the most likely to be clear.
By train, it is usually easiest to use Le Pont station, which is directly next to the lake. Trains run from here usually hourly in ten minutes to Vallorbe, which is an important railway hub.
The region has many further sights worth seeing. Vallorbe has several interesting museums and Romainmontier one of the oldest churches in Switzerland. The magnificent Vallorbe Caves are closed for most of winter and although the JuraParc is always open, the bears may be hibernating or too inactive to be much of an attraction in winter.
Henk Bekker - Henk Bekker is a freelance travel writer currently living on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
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