France 
In numbers.
0.28m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Mar–May
Nov
Best months
318m
Elevation
The water at Cascade du Pain de sucre de Surjoux, month by month
It roars from October to May.
The fullest months: from October to May.
- 0.4 m³/sJan
- 0.3 m³/sFeb
- 0.4 m³/sMar
- 0.3 m³/sApr
- 0.3 m³/sMay
- 0.2 m³/sJun
- 0.1 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.1 m³/sSep
- 0.2 m³/sOct
- 0.3 m³/sNov
- 0.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.11 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.39 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from March to May and November.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Cascade du Pain de sucre de Surjoux is a waterfall in France.
Getting there.
- Bellegarde-sur-Valserinenearest town · 9.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 210 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Annecy Meythet airport (NCY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 25 km in a straight lineCar hire at GVA airport (Geneva)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From March to May and Novemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 178 m in 2.3 km.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 9waymarked walking routesLes Rives Sauvages du Rhône, L'Agriculture en Pays de Seyssel and 7 more
- 22car parks
- —swimming spots
- 2picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascade de la Dorche
- 2caves
- 1campsitesAire de camping-car municipale de Chanay
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmRefuge de Montailloux de Bise
- 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Bellegarde-sur-Valserine9.6 km in a straight line
- Frangy9.8 km in a straight line
- Lancrans12 km in a straight line
- Chilly12 km in a straight line
- Châtillon-en-Michaille14 km in a straight line
- Versonnex14 km in a straight line
- Collonges15 km in a straight line
- Valleiry16 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 5 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 10 | 6 |
| Night °C | -1 | -1 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 103 | 79 | 96 | 84 | 110 | 95 | 87 | 94 | 80 | 108 | 112 | 116 |
| Wet days | 13 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 2.2 | 3.7 | 5.5 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 8.9 | 9.1 | 8.1 | 6.8 | 4.4 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 14 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (318 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 56% | 135% | 85% | 54% | 93% | 131% | 27% | 93% | 99% | 194% | 26% | 124% |
| 2021 | 133% | 72% | 59% | 63% | 159% | 114% | 196% | 62% | 111% | 92% | 65% | 167% |
| 2022 | 43% | 107% | 27% | 105% | 33% | 126% | 20% | 66% | 188% | 73% | 123% | 129% |
| 2023 | 78% | 9% | 139% | 110% | 59% | 82% | 63% | 77% | 92% | 177% | 208% | 155% |
| 2024 | 114% | 109% | 114% | 125% | 149% | 125% | 99% | 61% | 241% | 155% | 56% | 101% |
| 2025 | 157% | 58% | 56% | 107% | 85% | 103% | 118% | 92% | 194% | 173% | 150% | 36% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cascade du Pain de sucre de Surjoux
France
- —Height
- 0.28 m³/sAverage flow
- Mar–May, NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q65148375) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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