Route des Crêtes & Lac Blanc, Vosges
The Route des Crêtes is a 70-km ridge road built during World War I to keep troop movements hidden from German observation — today it is one of the great scenic drives of north-east France, running the spine of the Vosges from Cernay to Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines with the Alsatian plain glittering 1,000 m below on one side and the dark forests of Lorraine on the other. Lac Blanc, a glacial lake near O
Driving the Crêtes & the Chaumes
The road passes through open highland meadows called chaumes — treeless, wind-scoured summits grazed by Vosgien cattle — that give 360-degree views impossible to find in the forested valleys below. The Grand Ballon at 1,424 m is the highest point in the Vosges and has a café-restaurant at the summit car park; on clear days you see the Alps.
Pull over at the Hohneck belvedere (1,363 m) for the best north-south panorama of the entire range. In July the chaumes are thick with wildflowers; in January the road is snow-covered and cross-country ski trails branch off from the main route.
Lac Blanc: Swimming, Hiking & Silence
Lac Blanc sits at 1,054 m in a glacially carved cirque near Orbey, its water an improbable shade of dark emerald ringed by granite boulders and silver fir. A 2-km trail circles the lake in under an hour, and a longer 12-km loop connects it to the smaller Lac Noir above — the contrast between the two lakes' colours on the same walk is genuinely startling.
Wild swimming is possible and popular in summer (water temperature peaks around 18°C in August). Arrive before 9 am on summer weekends to claim a boulder and avoid the car park filling; the lakeside refuge serves simple lunches from late June.
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