Ponts-de-Martel (Les)

Bureau communal
Rue de l'Industrie 5
CH-2316 Les Ponts-de-Martel
Tel. +41 32 937 15 24
Fax +41 32 937 15 37

The largest village in the valley of La Sagne and Les Ponts, a high plateau in the Neuchâtel Jura situated between 1000 and 1300 metres above sea level. The valley floor is partly covered with peat bogs, a protected natural wealth that has inspired many painters and photographers.

Autumn is the ideal time to hike in the valley, when it turns purple, carmine, brown, yellow or green, in a fairytale atmosphere. This is the domain of sphagnum mosses, cottongrass, heather, bilberries, carnivorous plants such as drosera, blueberries and even dwarf birch, which gives the area a temperate Siberian feel.

All these atmospheres can be discovered by walking the peat bog trail at Marais Rouge ("Red Marshland"), which starts in the south of the village and runs through forest and peat bogs. It is an easy educational trail that can be walked with the whole family and whose explanatory panels tell the story of the peat bogs, these biotopes now protected throughout Switzerland.

To the north of the village, the large forest of Joux has been established for centuries, thinned out by vast pastures that are pleasant to walk through. There is a large number of wild berries, mushrooms and numerous tree species.

Didactic paths, signposted routes and sports facilities make for the best of stays in this magnificent region, which we can only encourage you to discover!

(very freely adapted from the presentation available on the official website of the commune)