Round Tour of Creux-du-Van Canyon in Western Switzerland

(This post published on November 19, 2025. Note: Fotos and descriptions were lost soon afterwards, so I cannot remember if and where we might have stopped for something to eat, i.e. Ferme Robert and/or Ferme du Soliat)

Monday August 26, 2013 -- 2½ hours by train to the town of Noiraigue near the border of France (near Neuchatel). From here it's a 2½-hour torturous (and tortuous) hike almost straight up, 800 meters of elevation gain!. But the view was worth it. Along the way you pass the popular Ferme Robert where you can stop for refreshments.

An interesting walk along the stone walls that border the canyon (This eroded horse-shoe canyon looks like Niagara Falls without the water), and then a detour to another restaurant called Ferme du Soliat, before we then descended along the "Sentier des Quatorze Contours", a zigzag trail (7 zigs and 7 zags!) with just enough slope to make the descent really uncomfortable. In all, this loop was about a 4½-hour hike. 

In the Val-de-Travers, approaching Creux-du-Van (taken from the train window)

Ferme Robert, on the way up through the canyon.

Steep and windy paths are full of rocks and roots and rather slippery

At the top (finally!). See, no guard rails anywhere!

Panorama Creux du Van

View straight down into the forest where we climbed up. 

There is a rock wall around the entire semi-circle of the canyon. But the walking trail is on the canyon side of the wall! 

We saw a couple of these animals which I thought were goats, but now realize are actually ibex!

The trail is pretty close to the edge of the cliffs here!

The walking trail is on the canyon side of the stone wall. The wall is there to prevent the cows from getting to the edge of the cliffs. 

Here we took the 15-minute detour to the "Ferme du Soliat" (i.e. 30 minutes each way) where there is a restaurant. Then after getting back to here, it's another 1 hr. and 40 minutes to descend back to Noiraigue. 

These slits are supposed to prevent the cows from escaping, but supposed to let the people through ..... (??)

Down below in the clearing is the Farme Robert. We are not going down the same way, though. 

Trying to get an idea of how vertical the canyon walls are!

Trying to get an idea of how vertical the canyon walls are!

Trying to get an idea of how vertical the canyon walls are!

Trying to get an idea of how vertical the canyon walls are!

This is the loop hike we did, starting and ending in Noiraigue. The whole loop took about 4½ hours to walk (including the detour to Ferme du Soliat). In all it was an approx. 800-meter ascent (and descent!). The trails were rough going up, and even though it was a zigzag road going down, the incline was such that it was very uncomfortable to walk. 

This is what our look hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps. Shows the path we took, from Noiraigue in the Valley, to Ferme Robert, Fontaine Froide and then up to the top. After walking the rim of the canyon, it went back down via "Sentier des 14 Contours".

Not my photo... This aerial shot was taken from the website http://www.defi-vdt.ch/ and is the motif for posters of the area. Unfortunately I couldn't find any postcards with this view!