Mulhouse / Montbéliard

The town of Mulhouse lies in an area marked by the proud industrial legacies of two dynamic French regions, Alsace and Franche-Comté. Recently, Mulhouse has been turning into a contemporary green city while recalling its technical glories in a dozen museums. Leaving town, the scenery becomes more rural and typical of Alsace, with villages of timber-frame houses. Riding beside the Canal du Rhône au Rhin, the cycle route takes you past a mix of typical villages, medieval castles and transformed former industrial sites, offering a range of landscapes and experiences. You’re making for Sochaux-Montbéliard, historic home of iconic French car maker, Peugeot. Reach town via the gentle Parc Scientifique du Près-la-Rose and a footbridge (passerelle) open to cyclists, a model of its kind, passing under the walls of the Château des Ducs de Wurtemberg.

The Route

Leave Mulhouse in the direction of Brunstatt and Montbéliard, the cycle route following an unbroken greenway (the cycle path exiting town completely separate from motorized traffic) along the Canal du Rhône au Rhin. You can ride easily into the centre of Montbéliard thanks to a footbridge running alongside the bridge over the railway tracks.

Belfort's link 
At the level of Bourogne, there’s an 18km-long link to reach the town of Belfort via the Francovélosuisse cycle route.

At the lock, the Écluse de Brognard, there’s a cycle path along the Canal de la Haute-Saône up to Danjoutin, south of Belfort. There’s a signposted trail to reach Belfort centre via Promenade F. Mitterrand. There are many train connections between Belfort and Montbéliard (15mins journey).

Links 
To EuroVelo 5 - Moselle / Alsace near Mulhouse 
To Grande Traversée du Jura à vélo near Montbéliard,

Don't miss

• Mulhouse: the Musée de l'Impression sur Étoffe (Museum of Printed Fabrics), on the Canal du Rhin au Rhône trail; the Musée de l'Automobile (on cars); the Quartier des Grands Musées (reached by following the canalized River Ill), its collection of museums earning Mulhouse its title of European Capital of Technical Museums. 
• Zillisheim: a deeply historic village
• Illfurth: the lively historic town; St Martin’s Church
• Dannemarie: a lively small traditional town with a river port 
• Montreux-Château: a river stop.
• Brebotte: Musée de l’Artisanat et des Traditions (on local crafts and traditions)
• Froidefontaine: an historic village with a Romanesque church
• Bourogne: an interesting village, with multimedia centre
• Fesches-le-Châtel: Cristel Fabricant d’ustensiles culinaires
• Brognard: a pretty lock as well as a navigational aqueduct at the junction of canals
• Sochaux: Museum L’Aventure Peugeot
• Montbéliard: the historic town centre; the Château des Ducs de Wurtemberg; the museum; the Parc du Près-la-Rose public gardens