Comté Cellars at the Fort des Rousses

What You See

The fort sits at 1,150 metres in the Haut-Jura Regional Natural Park, in the middle of the village of Les Rousses near the Swiss border. Its thick walls and rock galleries now hold more than 140,000 wheels of Comté, aged by Juraflore, part of Fromageries Arnaud. The guide takes you into the Charles Arnaud cellar, a stone half-vault 214 metres long, and explains how the master affineurs bring out the flavour of each wheel. The Lacuzon gallery, cut by hand into the mountain, keeps the long-aged wheels cool and damp all year.

Tickets

The standard cellar tour costs €11.80 for adults, €7.20 for ages 7 to 16, €5.90 for visitors with reduced mobility, and nothing for under 7s. A family pack for two adults and up to three children is €35. Tickets are neither exchangeable nor refundable. Arrive 15 minutes before your slot.

Other Tours

• Les Nocturnes: a 1 hour 45 minute lantern-lit tour at nightfall, €12.80 for adults and €8.20 for ages 7 to 16.
• Fabricant et Affineur: a four-hour half day starting at 8:30am at the fort, with a bus to the Fruitière du Haut-Jura to see cheese made and then the cellars. It runs in school holiday periods; check the booking site.
• 100% Haut-Jura: a day pass combining the cellars at 10am with the Musée de la Boissellerie, a woodcraft museum, at 2pm.

Practical Details

The fort is open every day. Parking inside the walls is free for cellar visitors, but the gate is locked from 10:30pm to 6am. The tour is accessible with pushchairs and wheelchairs. Animals, photos and videos are not allowed. In winter, watch for snow sliding off the roofs. The shop sells Juraflore cheeses and is open daily from 10am to noon and 2pm to 6pm.

Getting There

Les Rousses is on the N5 between Morez and Geneva: 46 km from Geneva, 67 km from Lons-le-Saunier and 122 km from Besançon. The fort is on rue Sergent Benoit Lizon in the village.

Nearby

In the centre of Les Rousses, the Fromagerie des Rousses has large windows onto its make room and a shop with four Comtés from its own milk. For more fruitières and cellars, see the Route du Comté, and for the story of the cheese, the Maison du Comté in Poligny.