A snowshoe weekend getaway from Geneva: 2 nights, 2 marked areas with published figures, and a whole house on the Jura plateau

Our measured route puts Geneva’s city centre 1 hr 20 min from the house, the airport 1 hr 20 min and Lausanne 1 hr 20 min. Leave work early and you arrive for dinner. You cook it yourselves, because the village has no restaurant. The plateau road is the last stretch and the one where the law asks, all winter, for snow tyres or chains kept on board. Check the snow reports of the 2 nordic sites before you leave. They publish the snow and the open trails daily.

The nearest marked area is 10 min of driving in our measurement. Jura Tourisme lists 17 snowshoe routes there, waymarked and graded. The highest climb towards 1,260 m at the top of the site. Hire snowshoes in the village in the morning. Pick a short green loop before lunch to learn the gait, and a longer one after. The forest is spruce and the clearings are silent. The snowshoe routes are marked apart from the groomed ski tracks; stay off those and nobody shouts at you. Our snowshoeing page gives the longer routes and the crossing of the range for those who come back.

Mouthe is 20 min of driving in our measurement, in the valley where the river Doubs rises, with 20 km of marked snowshoe trails according to Montagnes du Jura. It is colder than the plateau and prettier for it. The frost stays on the trees until noon. Walk the morning and eat the picnic in the car park sun. Drive back towards Geneva once lunch is over. The cross-country skiing page for Geneva uses the same 2 sites on skis if half the group prefers to glide.

Jura 835 stands 835 m up in Foncine-le-Bas, which means the snow usually lies at the door rather than at the end of a drive. 6 to 8 people spread over 3 bedrooms, with 2 bathrooms, on one level. The ski room dries wet boots and gaiters overnight. The big table holds the raclette. The whole house goes to one group. 2-night weekends are possible outside the school holidays, and we say quickly if the dates are free.

We hire no snowshoes, poles or boots; the villages do, and we tell you where when you book. Snow on the plateau is likely from January to March and never guaranteed. A mild weekend happens. The sites’ daily reports are more honest than our hopes. The routes are marked, not supervised. Carry water, a map of the area and a phone that works. Turn back at the time you agreed. The weekend is quiet by design; there is no bar at the end of the trail.

From Lausanne, the TGV Lyria reaches Frasne in 55 min; from the station, 40 min of road remain before the house. A hire car or a taxi is needed, and the nordic sites are a drive from the house too. A weekend without a car works only if one person in the group collects the others.

A full week in the house is priced from €4,200; for 2 nights, send your dates and we quote by season. Add the snowshoe hire, the fuel and the food you cook. Send the dates, the group size and whether anyone has done this before. We answer with the routes that fit and what the snow report says.