Ronchamp
France > East > Ronchamp
Before you take to the hills, there is one day-trip from Belfort worth undertaking – to the mining town of RONCHAMP, 20km west (connected by train and bus), where the architect Le Corbusier built one of his most enduring and atypical masterpieces in the 1950s, the Chapelle de Notre-Dame-du-Haut (daily except Tues: April–Sept 9.30am–6.30pm; Oct–March 10am–4pm; €1.60). It stands, all in concrete, above the town on the top of a wooded hill, white and reflective, visible from miles away, with its aerodynamic tower and wave-curved roof cutting into the sky beyond. Inside, the rough-textured walls are pierced with unequal embrasures, several closed by patterns of primary glass, whose reds, blues and yellows stain the dipping floor. Simplicity itself, with pared-down crucifix and steel altar rail, it's highly atmospheric.The tourist office is on place 14-Juillet (July & Aug Mon–Fri 9am–noon & 2–6pm, Sat 9am–noon & 2–4pm; Sept–June Mon 2–5pm, Tues–Fri 9am–noon & 2–5pm, Sat 9am–noon; tel 03.84.63.50.82). If it's getting late and you're worried about a place to stay, try La Pomme d'Or, 34 rue le Corbusier, alongside the train line (tel 03.84.20.62.12, fax 03.84.63.59.45; under €30; restaurant from €8.50). Hostellers can take another twenty-minute train ride west to VESOUL, where the HI hostel is by the Lac de Vaivre–Vesoul (tel 03.84.76.48.55; bus #1 to stop "Peugeot"), but check the train timetables: there are not many trains to or from either Belfort or Vesoul.
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