Company trip ideas that work from one house in the French Jura, season by season

The simplest idea is a walk that the whole company can finish. The Rapoutier loop leaves from our garden: 6.8 km, something like 2 hr 15 min at a talking pace by our GPS trace. The voie du tram, once a tramway, gives a flatter 11 km for a longer morning. The Billaude waterfall is a 15 min drive and a metal staircase down to the foot of the falls, which is the kind of thing colleagues remember. For a braver group, the Roche au Dade via ferrata at Morez is 25 min away and open from April to November. Jura Tourisme lists its classic route as open and its athletic variant as closed, so check before you go. It needs a via ferrata kit, meaning harness, energy-absorbing lanyard and helmet, which the Morez tourist office hires out, plus a head for heights.

From the first snow to spring, the plateau becomes the trip. The Mouthe nordic site, 20 min from the house, grooms 59 km of cross-country trails and marks 20 km of snowshoe routes by the figures of Montagnes du Jura. Skiing the groomed trails requires a Nordic pass, sold at the site. Closer still, the Foncine-le-Haut site marks 17 snowshoe routes according to Jura Tourisme, a 10 min drive. An afternoon on snowshoes is the one activity where the fittest and the least fit colleague move at the same speed. At Métabief, 40 min away, the Luge des Cimes alpine coaster takes riders from age 3 by the resort’s rule and runs in winter as well as summer, so the idea survives a thin snow year.

In summer, Lac des Rouges-Truites is a 5 min drive away, for a short loop past its peat bog before dinner. In any season, the thermal baths of Salins-les-Bains, 45 min away, spread pools and warm rooms over 2,800 m² on one level by the official site’s figure. The Lons-le-Saunier spa, 1 hr by road, has a pool at 32 °C facing the park, according to Jura Tourisme. A half day there is the company trip idea that nobody objects to.

The trip’s best hour is often dinner, so plan it like an activity. One evening the whole company cooks from the same recipe; another, 2 colleagues who never speak are paired on dessert. The Fort des Rousses, where the affineur Juraflore matures Comté wheels in cellars at around 8 °C according to Jura Tourisme, is the afternoon visit that ends with the cheese on the table at night. Local wine and Comté need no agency; a car boot does the job.

Jura 835 sleeps 6 to 8 across 3 bedrooms, shares 2 bathrooms between them and spreads 124 m² over a single level, with a 400 m² garden for the evening outside. The big room seats everyone at one table for the dinners above. Fibre, rated 1 Gbit/s, means the colleague who has to take a call can. The house runs without a bar, a spa or staff on site; the company brings the mood and the groceries. For a longer stay with work days built in, the small company retreat page describes the same house in that key.

By our route planner, Geneva airport and Lausanne both lie 1 hr 20 min from the house. From Paris, SNCF Connect gives 2 hr 48 min as the fastest direct train to Frasne; the 40 min that remain are by car. Two hire cars move a company of 8 and double as the shuttle for every idea on this page.

We rent a house and leave event agency work to others: activity bookings, catering, guides and insurance for what you do outside stay with you. The ideas above are what the house and the plateau make possible, with the figures we could check. Send your dates and headcount. We answer with a firm price, the house let whole from €4,200 by the week and shorter stays quoted on request. We add a plain word on which ideas fit your season.