Lac et Forêt d'Orient Regional Nature Park
Just 25 km east of Troyes, the Parc Naturel Régional de la Forêt d'Orient encompasses three vast artificial lakes — Lac d'Orient, Lac du Temple and Lac Amance — covering over 5,000 hectares and offering swimming, cycling, birdwatching and sailing within easy day-trip distance of the city.
The Lakes and Beaches
Lac d'Orient has two supervised sandy beaches — Plage de la Forêt and Plage des Heureux — open in July and August with lifeguards, pedalo hire and a relaxed family atmosphere. The water is calm, clean and warm enough for comfortable swimming from June onwards.
Lac Amance is reserved exclusively for motorised water sports and sailing, making it a completely different experience: windsurfers and dinghies criss-cross the surface while cyclists watch from the lakeside trail. The contrast between the two lakes within the same park is one of the area's pleasures.
Wildlife and Walking
The park sits on a major migratory flyway and is one of the best birdwatching sites in northern France. Between October and March, tens of thousands of common cranes stop here to roost; the evening arrival of the cranes at dusk is a genuinely spectacular natural event. The Maison du Parc at Piney provides maps, guided walks and a small exhibition on the local ecosystem.
A 24 km cycling loop around Lac d'Orient follows a flat, well-signposted trail through oak and hornbeam forest, passing viewpoints over the water and a reconstructed 12th-century Cistercian barn at Clairvaux-en-Champagne that is worth a stop.
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