Franche-Comté doesn't shout for attention the way Provence or the French Riviera do, and that's exactly its charm. Think limestone plateaus dropping into pine forest, a river looping so tightly around a fortified old town that the town almost becomes an island, and wheels of Comté cheese ageing quietly in cellars cut into the hillside. It's the France most tourists skip on their way somewhere else, which is precisely why it's worth the detour.

From a city break with a proper fortress view to a snowy weekend deep in the Jura, there's a stay here to match.

Where to stay in Franche-Comté

• Besançon - the regional capital, wrapped almost all the way round by a bend in the Doubs River. Good pick if you want cobbled old-town streets, real restaurants, and a citadel looming over your rooftop view.
• Arbois - a small Jura wine town surrounded by vineyards, best known as Louis Pasteur's hometown. Handy base if you're chasing vin jaune, Comté, or a slower pace.
• Ornans - riverside houses on stilts over the Loue have earned it the nickname "Little Venice of Franche-Comté." Quiet, arty, and the hometown of painter Gustave Courbet.
• Pontarlier & Métabief - the gateway to the Jura Mountains proper. Come winter, this is where cross-country skiers head; the rest of the year it's lakes, forest trails, and mountain air.

How much is Franche-Comté accommodation?

A comfortable double room in Besançon averages around AU$110 a night, with plenty of range either side depending on the season and how close you want to be to the old town.

• Backpackers/Hostels - from AU$45 per night. Dorm beds and simple private rooms near Besançon's train stations.
• Budget hotels/Guesthouses - from AU$75 per night. Clean, no-fuss rooms, often chain hotels on the edge of town.
• Mid-range/Apartments - from AU$120 per night. City-centre hotels or self-catering apartments an easy walk from the sights.
• Boutique - from AU$165 per night. Restored old-town buildings with real character, usually in Besançon or Arbois.
• Luxury/Resorts - from AU$230 per night. Spa hotels and riverside properties with the full package: pool, sauna, and a decent restaurant downstairs.

Top-rated hotels in Franche-Comté

• Hôtel de Paris (Besançon) - a fully restored 18th-century coaching inn right in the old town, with quirky, individually decorated rooms and a private courtyard for parking, which is rarer than it sounds in a city this old.
• Le Sauvage Hôtel Restaurant Spa (Besançon) - set in a centuries-old building with a big shaded garden, about 500 metres from the citadel walls. The relaxation pool sits under a glass roof, with a sauna and steam room alongside it.
• Mercure Besançon Parc Micaud (Besançon) - a riverside hotel directly on the Doubs, facing the park, an easy stroll to the old town and the citadel.
• Les Caudalies (Arbois) - a 19th-century house turned boutique hotel and restaurant on the Cuisance river, with a wine list put together by a Meilleur Ouvrier de France sommelier and a menu built on local produce.

Comté is the reason a lot of people find their way here in the first place. It's been made in this exact stretch of the Jura for close to a thousand years, still from raw milk and still in small hillside dairies called fruitières, and it's one of the most-eaten cheeses in France by volume. Ask at any Besançon or Arbois market for a taste of an older, longer-aged wheel, the flavour changes a lot between a six-month Comté and an eighteen-month one, and it's worth trying both. Pair it with a glass of local vin jaune from the Arbois vineyards and you've got a fair sense of what this region is actually about.

The scenery does a lot of the work too. The Doubs curls almost the whole way around Besançon's old town before it heads off toward the Jura lakes, and the smaller Loue river, which feeds into it near Ornans, is one of the prettiest short drives in the region: clear green water, limestone cliffs, and small stone villages that barely make it onto most itineraries. Above Besançon, the Citadel itself is worth the climb just for the engineering. Vauban built it in the 1680s across a rocky spur more than 100 metres above the river, and the bastioned ramparts and underground galleries are still largely intact, now home to a handful of museums and wide views back over the old town and the Doubs valley.

Tips for finding the perfect accommodation in Franche-Comté

• Base yourself in Besançon if you want to walk everywhere. The old town, the Citadel, and most restaurants sit within a 15-minute walk of each other.
• Heading up into the Jura for cross-country skiing, book well ahead for February. The Transjurassienne ski race pulls a big crowd to Pontarlier and Métabief and rooms go quickly.
• If wine and cheese are the priority, Arbois puts you closer to the vineyards and the Comté cellars than Besançon does, even though it's a smaller town with fewer room options.
• Franche-Comté's shoulder seasons, May and September, get you mild weather for walking or cycling the Loue valley without summer's peak pricing.
• A car makes a real difference here. Ornans, Arbois, and the Jura lakes are all short drives from Besançon but awkward without your own wheels.

Franche-Comté sits right on the Swiss border, so it's an easy add-on if you're already planning a Switzerland leg, or a quiet counterpoint to a bigger loop through Burgundy. Check Traveloka for flights into the region and things to do once you've picked your base.