Forming part of Ballons des Vosges Regional Natural Park, La Bresse is a popular ski resort near France’s border with Germany and Switzerland. The village is clustered with artisans’ workshops, traditional French bistros and boulangeries where you can pick up pastries and fresh bread before exploring the surrounding hiking trails.
Things to do in La Bresse
Designated in 1989, Ballons des Vosges Regional Natural Park encompasses picturesque expanses of woodland, pasture and wetland, as well as working farmland and cultural heritage sites. It is named after its rounded mountain peaks (ballons) and is traversed by hiking trails that offer sightings of boreal owls, peregrine falcons and western capercaillie.
If you’re visiting in the winter months, you can hit the 21 kilometres of downhill skiing and snowboarding trails of La Bresse-Hohneck. In addition to a child-friendly toboggan area and six chairlifts, it features a solarium, a snowtubing track and a well-stocked ski shop. Once you’ve built up an appetite, you can dine on grilled meats, pizzas and pasta dishes at Le Slalom restaurant.
Cross-country skiers, snowshoers and sledders can take advantage of the Domaine Nordique, where you’ll find 50 kilometres of well-maintained trails that wind between lakes, peat bogs and forests. In the summer months, stretch your legs on the hiking trail that hugs the shores of Lac des Corbeaux, which occupies an ancient glacial cirque and is surrounded by a forest of fir trees.
Getting around La Bresse
La Bresse is around an hour’s drive from both Colmar and Mulhouse. EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg is around 1.5 hours away and has flights to destinations across Europe and North Africa. Buses travel to La Bresse and the town is compact enough to explore on foot. Chairlifts connect to the ski slopes of La Bresse-Hohneck.