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View of Besançon on the oxbow of Doubs River, France
Author: Bresson Thomas (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Besançon (German: Bisanz, Spanish: Besanzón) is the capital and main city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Located near the border with Switzerland, the city covers 65.05 sq km (25.12 sq mi) and has a population of 118,000 (2011 estimate) and a metropolitan population of around 220,000. Its old town features 17th century buildings often enriched with beautiful wrought-iron work.
Guide to Besançon Hotels
Here's a list of hotels in Besançon that you can book online, with full description, star rating, address, location map, evaluation, and prices as offered by different booking sites. This helps you to make your room booking with the site that offers the best price.
Loop of the Doubs River in Besançon
Author: Bresson Thomas (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
More on Besançon
Besançon is located on a loop of the river Doubs. Within then inner loop, the ground has a maximum elevation of 250 m (820 ft) To the south of the loop is 371 m (1,217 ft) Mont Saint-Étienne, while surrounding Besançon are other hills rising to 500 m (1,640 ft).Besançon experiences an oceanic climate with cold winters and warm, dry summers. The warmest month is August, when the average high temperature rises to 26.1°C (79°F). January is the coldest month, when the average low temperature drops to -0.8°C (30.6°F). November is the wettest month in Besançon, receiving some 96.7 mm (3.8 in) of precipitation.
Besançon is today a modern city specializing in microtechnology, precision engineering and watch making. The watch industry of Besançon, relying on the traditional method of watch making, suffered a terrible blow when cheap quartz watches from Asia flooded the market. The city watch makers persevered to ride through the lean years until the industry eventually recovered.
Musée du temps, Besançon
Author: Arnaud 25 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
The history of human settlement on the oxbow of the Doubs River, where present-day Besançon is located, goes back to the Bronze Age, around 1,500 BC. Its location made it of military importance to the ruling powers. The area was a Gaulic settlement until conquered by the Romans under Julius Caesar, who name the site Vesontio. That name has since permutated to Besantio, Besontion and Bisanz in Middle High German, to arrive as Besançon in modern French.
Visiting Besançon
Besançon is about three hours by high-speed train from Paris. You can also get there from Lyon and Strasbourg.
The grand old Hôtel de Bains in Besançon
Author: Wikipedro (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Places of Interest in Besançon
- Horloge Astronomique
Clock on the 12th century Cathédrale St-Jean with its hourly automatons. - Musée Comtois
Museum housed in the citadel built by military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, today showcasing local artifacts. - Musée des Beaux Arts et d'Archéologie
Museum housed in the old corn market displaying works by various artists including Goya, Matisse and Picasso. - Musée du Temps
Museum showcasing a fine collection of time-pieces, a tribute to Besançon's position as a center for clock making. - Porte Noire
Remains of a Roman arch.
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