Round Lac de Longemer

From the car park at the lake's north-east corner, by the beach and the boat hire, the walk crosses the Route de la Plage to reach the lake and goes south along the east shore on a tarmac cycle path beside the D67 road, which walkers share with cyclists, with the water on the other side and forested slopes across the lake. At the south end a path leaves the cycle track and runs back north along the west shore, on gravel under the trees, to the north-west corner near Xonrupt-Longemer; a short path along the north shore completes the circuit, crossing the Route de la Plage again to the car park. Longemer is one of the largest lakes in the Vosges, about 2 km long and 300 to 500 m wide between wooded slopes, left by the glacier of the Vologne.

It is 5.2 km round with about 55 m of ascent; allow about 1½ hours. The grade is Easy: a nearly level circuit on a cycle path and lakeside paths. The 55 m is the Gérardmer tourist office's figure for its circuit of the lake, which does not follow quite the same line. Our height data puts the path between 735 and 753 m, with one rise of about 16 m on the west shore, and counts less climb because it ignores rises smaller than 5 m.

The lake and its valley are a classified site: any change to its state or appearance needs the State's special authorisation. Keep to the right on the east shore, where the path is shared with cyclists. The commune of Xonrupt-Longemer says dogs must be kept on a lead around the lake and may not swim in it, and the Gérardmer tourist office says swimming in the lake is unsupervised.

The start is the car park by the beach, which OpenStreetMap lists as free; OpenStreetMap shows public toilets about 150 m away. Lac de Retournemer is the next lake up the valley: the tourist office lists a 1.4 km circuit of it and a 5.6 km out-and-back to the Retournemer and Charlemagne waterfalls.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with the distance and time worked out from it. The climb is the published figure: height data cannot be trusted on this ground. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.