A protected Jura landscape defined by a glacial rock amphitheater, a deep river gorge, and centuries of karst geology.
Creux du Van et Gorges de l'Areuse
Creux du Van et Gorges de l'Areuse is a protected landscape in the western Swiss Jura, recognized under the Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments of National Significance as site number 1004. The roughly 2,100 hectare area sits across the Cantons of Neuchâtel and Vaud, northwest of Lake Neuchâtel, and unites two of the Jura's most striking natural landmarks within a single inventory perimeter: the half-moon rock arena of the Creux du Van and the deeply incised river gorge of the Gorges de l'Areuse.
The site is dominated by the geological story of the Folded Jura, where the Areuse River has cut through the Soliat to Mont Racine anticline, exposing layers of white and brown Jurassic limestone. Above the gorge, a smaller Ice Age glacier widened a cirque-like hollow into the dramatic bowl of the Creux du Van, whose walls reach roughly 500 meters in height. Together, these features illustrate millions of years of tectonic folding, fluvial erosion, glacial sculpting, and karst weathering on a single accessible stage.
The landscape also carries cultural and ecological value. It includes traditional alpine pastures bordered by dry stone walls, populations of reintroduced Alpine ibex, and rich mountain flora on karst plateaus. Long-protected land, dating back to one of Switzerland's earliest nature reserves established in 1876, the area remains a defining symbol of the Jura-Trois-Lacs tourism region, while active debates about visitor pressure and conservation continue to shape its management.
