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Hiking: Marais des Bidonnes and Canal de Crans
IGN cards
Description
A pleasant walk across a board walk on stilts through a marshy area with information boards on the flora and fauna.
Start: Divonne les Bains-Pont des Iles
Signs: PR-Yellow
Access: By car: join Divonne and head towards Nyon, parking at the end of the lake in front of the "Forest-Land" leisure park.
By bus: TER line Bellegarde-Divonne
On the way: Gentian, aurochs, beavers, alders, reed beds, oaks
Heritage: since 1265, the Coppet Canal has carried some of the water from the Versoix (or Divonne) to the communes of Boggy and Commugny.
Did you know? The beaver is our country's largest rodent, weighing between 20 and 25 kilos as an adult and measuring between 1m and 1.20m (including a 30-centimetre flat tail). It is an excellent swimmer, capable of staying underwater for 10 minutes. It consumes plants, small branches and bark. Its habitat, made up of branches and trunks, resembles a burrow accessible through an underwater sluice. In May, the female gives birth to 1 to 3 young.
Route description :
Turn right at the edge of the Crans canal in the direction of the carrefour des étangs, and follow a succession of gratings and footbridges along and over the canal. Further on, walkers are invited to join an observation post on the right. Retrace your steps and continue to follow the yellow markings. When you reach a single-arch bridge, cross it and walk along a pond, joining a wide path leading to the "carrefour des étangs" (Alt.472m). Take a farm road, then a left-hand path along the road from Divonne to Crassy. At a traffic circle, keep left and return to the starting bridge.
Technical Information
Altimetric profile
Starting point
Additional information
Environments
Panoramic view
Updated by
Office de Tourisme de Divonne-les-Bains - 20/11/2025
www.divonnelesbains.com
Report a problem
Open period
Closed temporarily.
Topo guides and map references
Map references :
3327ET - MOREZ LES ROUSSES
Hiking in the Pays de Gex and the Haute Chaine du Jura: on sale at Pays de Gex tourist agencies.
Contact
Phone : 04 50 20 01 22
Email : accueil@divonnelesbains.com
Website : http://www.divonnelesbains.com
Reception complements
▶ Before setting off:
Find out about the general and local weather forecast, making sure there is no precipitation
Find out about the approach walk, the height of the route, the journey time, possible retreats (IGN map, GPS, topo-guide, etc...)
Assess the possible risks by asking mountain professionals, refuges, gîtes
Inform someone close to you about your objective and contact them again if there are any changes: departure and return times, number of participants with the telephone number of each, vehicle(s), car park
Avoid setting off alone, use equipment that is suitable for the activity, adjusted and in good condition, headlamp, complete first aid kit, survival blanket, etc.
In the event of a problem, call 112 (European emergency number).
Guidebook with maps/step-by-step
(1) Start from Les Iles, on avenue du Pont des Iles, not far from Forestland. Follow the yellow signs. The path starts on the right of the avenue, just after the bridge, heading towards Divonne-les-Bains. Follow the Versoix river for around 300m, until you reach a footbridge over the river. Less than a kilometer further on, a path leads off to the right to an observation platform.
(2) This platform offers a fine view over the marshes, ideal for observing the local flora and fauna. To continue the walk join the path on the other side of the Versoix. A few dozen metres further on cross the stone bridge. The path then curves to the left.
(3) Follow the path alongside the Crassy ponds. The path gradually widens here. Once you are through the gate, you reach the route des Étangs de Crassy.
(4) Turn left on this road to find the cycle path that runs alongside the lane and leads back to avenue du Pont des Iles. Stay on the left-hand path: you have come full circle.
Animals
Yes
