France Waterfall

Cascade du Pain de sucre

One of the waterfalls of France.

When to go

Chabe01 · CC BY-SA 4.0

In numbers.

0.29m³/s

Average flow

estimate

Mar–May
Nov

Best months

650m

Elevation

The water at Cascade du Pain de sucre, 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

high water best months to go

From about 0.11 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.41 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 is a waterfall in France.

Getting there.

Artemarenearest town · 7.3 km in a straight line
Parking 30 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
Annecy Meythet airport (NCY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 30 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

Car hire at GVA airport (Geneva)Discover CarsSee

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.

Cascade du Pain de sucre seen from above (Sentinel-2)

N 2 km

ParkingOther fallsCampsites

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The La Brize through the falls

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 206 m in 3.3 km.

What is around.

—viewpoints
7waymarked walking routesBalcon du Valromey, Le sentier des Chartreux and 5 more
5car parks
—swimming spots
—picnic sites
—toilets
—information boards and visitor centres
—bus stops within 1 km
3other named waterfalls within 4 kmLe Puits des Tines, Cascade de la Grotte du Pic, Cascade de la Fontaine d'Argent
—caves
2campsitesCamping municipal de Songieu, Camping municipal de Champagne
19hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmGîte de Charancin, Le Grand Amiral, La Boiserie de Fitignieu and 16 more
—restaurants 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

Artemare7.3 km in a straight line
Hauteville-Lompnes9.7 km in a straight line
Virieu-le-Grand11 km in a straight line
Culoz11 km in a straight line
Tenay16 km in a straight line
Versonnex16 km in a straight line
Moye17 km in a straight line
Chindrieux17 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	3	4	9	14	17	22	24	23	19	15	8	4
Night °C	-4	-3	0	4	8	12	14	13	9	6	1	-2
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 (650 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.

Photos

Through visitors' eyes.

Cascade Pain Sucre Surjoux Lhopital 9 — Chabe01 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Cascade du Pain de sucre de Poisieu — Felouch Kotek · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pain de Sucre de Poisieu — Porte-Clefs · CC BY-SA 4.0

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

France

—Height
0.29 m³/sAverage flow
Mar–May, NovBest months

Cascade de Cerveyrieu

France

60 mHeight
3.5 m³/sAverage flow
Mar–May, NovBest months

See the guide

Glandieu Fall

France

60 mHeight
1.3 m³/sAverage flow
Feb–Mar, May, NovBest months

See the guide

Puits des Tines

France

—Height
2.7 m³/sAverage flow
Mar–May, OctBest months

See the guide

About these numbers

Names, height, width, river	Wikidata (Q2940867) · 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.