Chasseral
Fly here
Roof of the Bernese Jura, with its landmark mast and a panorama over the Swiss Plateau and the lakes.
From the basket
Above Lake Biel, the Chasseral is the northernmost of the Jura summits over sixteen hundred metres. From the balloon you recognise it by its long ridge and the tall mast that crowns it. Two parallel ranges stretch over more than fifteen kilometres, with a long hollow of meadows and farms between them.
On the north side the ridge is cut by combes that plunge towards the Suze and the Saint-Imier valley. On the south side the mountain rests on Diesse and its plateau, where a lone hump, the Mont Sujet, rises. Lower down shine Lake Biel and St. Peter’s Island.
Few viewpoints in the country can match this one. In clear weather the eye starts at the Swiss Plateau, sweeps the entire barrier of the Alps from eastern Switzerland to Mont Blanc, then races beyond the Jura to Franche-Comté, Alsace, the Black Forest and the Vosges. At the very top, an inn has welcomed walkers since 1875; it went up in smoke in 1925 and was rebuilt as early as the following year, in the manner of Jura farmhouses.
Circle the mast, then let yourself glide along the ridge towards the west.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Chasseral” and “Le Chasseron”.
All around
- Lake Biel, 7 km to the south-east
- Lake Neuchâtel, 14 km to the south
- Neuchâtel, 18 km to the south-west