Sub-prefecture: Doubs (25)
Stage town: for the 8th time
Population: 17,900 (Pontissaliens, Pontissaliennes). 28,400 inhabitants in the Greater Pontarlier community of communes
Specialities: Morteau sausage, cheeses (Comté, Morbier, Mont d'Or), absinthe, Pontarlier (aniseed)
Personalities: Edgar Faure (former mayor of Pontarlier, former President of the Council). Fabrice Guy (Olympic Nordic combined champion), Florence Baverel-Robert, Stéphane Bouthiaux, Vincent Defrasne, Célia Aymonier (biathletes), Michaël Isabey (footballer), Alexandre Pasteur (journalist)
Sport: Larmont winter sports resort: Nordic skiing, Nordic combined biathlon. CA Pontarlier (football). Competitions: Tour du Doubs (cycling), Lac Saint-Point Triathlon, Trail des Sangliers, Ponta'Beach (sporting events)
Economy: Schrader France (valves), Nestlé (chocolate), Hifi Filter France (automotive equipment), Distillerie Pierre Guy
Festivals: les Absinthiades (absinthe festival), Super Comice, Défilé des classes (parade through the town by age group), French Tarot Championship
Labels: Most beautiful detours in France / Capital and city of absinthe
Websites and social networks: www.ville-pontarlier.fr, www.destination-haut-doubs.com / www.doubs-travel / www.doubs.fr
PONTARLIER AND CYCLING
Pontarlier has been visited by the Tour de France seven times, but the race hasn't made an appearance here since 2009, when Alberto Contador won the stage to Verbier and took the Yellow Jersey from Rinaldo Nocentini. The Spaniard was not to let go of the precious jersey until Paris.
The city has more often than not served as a springboard for mountain stages on the way to the Ballon d'Alsace in 1972 (Bernard Thévenet) or Morzine-Avoriaz in 1985 (Lucho Herrera), but the finishes in the city have tended to favour the likes of Jorgen Pedersen in 1985 or Erik Dekker in 2001.
The Tour had already stopped twice in Pontarlier before the war, in 1927 and 1928. At the time, the event was limited to team time trials, so the stage winners were chosen by the winning team and crossed the line first: Adelin Benoît and Pierre Magne, Antonin's younger brother, were the lucky ones. Benoît won three other stages and wore the Yellow Jersey for five days in 1925.
Pontarlier also hosts the finish of the Tour du Doubs, which will be won by Lenny Martinez in 2024.
It is also the birthplace of Alexandre Pasteur, Tour de France commentator for France Télévisions, and of Didier Faivre-Pierret, former Olympic track rider.
SIGHTS
Larmont ski resort
Located on the Gounefay site in the Larmont mountains, 3km east of Pontarlier town centre, the resort has one alpine ski run (ski lift and Glacière piste), five cross-country ski runs, four snowshoe trails, toboggan runs and a restaurant. This is the site of the Grange des Miroirs farm (altitude 1,225 m), where the film Les Granges brûlées starring Alain Delon and Simone Signoret was shot during the winter of 1972-1973.
Larmont has been the finishing point for the Tour du Doubs since 2023.
The absinthe route
A cross-border territory, the Pays de l'Absinthe (Land of Absinthe) brings together the Val-de-Travers (Switzerland) and the Pontarlier region (France) around the shared heritage of absinthe. Supported by the town of Pontarlier in Franche-Comté and the Swiss association Pays de l'Absinthe, this Franco-Swiss itinerary links all the agricultural, industrial, cultural, historical and tourist sites associated with absinthe. This original and entertaining route takes visitors to the heart of the Pays de l'Absinthe, from Pontarlier to the edge of the Val-de-Travers.
Saint-Bénigne Church
Construction: 17th century
Style: Franc-Comtois Romanesque and Gothic
History: from 1651 to 1666, the church of Saint-Bénigne was almost completely rebuilt identically on the site of an earlier 11th-century Romanesque church, of which almost nothing remains (apart from a 15th-century portal) following the passage of troops from Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar in 1639 (Ten Years' War). The church was consecrated to Saint-Bénigne in 1666. The church was again seriously damaged by two fires, in 1680 and in 1736 when Pontarlier was ravaged. The bell tower-porch was rebuilt in 1681 and the imperial dome in 1753 by the architect Nicolas Nicole. The church underwent a major restoration in 1970, and new stained-glass windows were created in 1974 by painter Alfred Manessier and the Lorin workshops in Chartres
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1970
Saint-Pierre Gate
Construction: 19th century
Style: classical
History and characteristics: an original defensive town gate, close to the church of Saint-Bénigne, once marked the entrance to Pontarlier and was one of the elements of the town's original fortifications. Between 1771 and 1773, following the fire of 1736 that ravaged the town and its fortifications, this "decorative" gateway was built to the plans of the King's engineer Jean-Claude Eléonor Le Michaud d'Arçon, using the Saint-Martin gateway in Paris as a model. It commemorates the reconstruction of Pontarlier and the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678. Between 1895 and 1898, the upper part was restored and a bell tower, a clock, a bell (which rings every quarter of an hour) and two side fountains were added. It features the first two values of the Republican motto, although fraternity is missing. In the 20th century, the gate was renamed Porte Saint-Pierre and is still the town's emblem
Listed as: historical monument in 1970
TO DRINK
Absinthe
Invented in Couvet in the 18th century, this legendary drink was mass-produced in Pontarlier, thus closely linking the destiny of the capital of Haut-Doubs to that of the peaceful Swiss valley of Val de Travers. Until it was banned at the beginning of the twentieth century, and throughout its long, mysterious and underground resistance, the "Green Fairy", consumed throughout the world, provoked countless discussions about its presumed dangers, gave rise to a literature as abundant as it was fanciful, and provided artists with a field of inspiration that never failed. Now reintroduced in Switzerland and France, it is being showcased in its native territory.
