Pissieux waterfall starting from Lescheraines

A loop with a variety of landscapes to discover the lakes of Lescheraines, the banks of the Chéran and the beautiful Pissieux waterfall. The route then climbs higher for beautiful views of the surrounding peaks.

Details

n°26411634
Creation:
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 7.89 mi
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 15 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 702 ft
  • ↘
    Descent: - 696 ft

  • ▲
    Highest point: 2,556 ft
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 1,959 ft

Description of the walk

In Lescheraines, leave your vehicle in a small car park, marked as a 30-space car park in the town centre, near the school.

Marked with markers and directional signs

(S/E). Return to the street that crosses the village, turn right and then quickly turn left before the church onto Chemin des Îles du Chéran. Continue straight ahead until you reach a road. Follow it to the right for about 60 metres, then turn onto a steep path that descends to the left. At the bottom, continue straight ahead, leaving the lake on your right, to reach the edge of the Chéran, then turn right.

(1) At the La Digue marker, continue straight ahead towards Cascade du Pissieux (among others), and pass between a second lake (Plan d'eau de Lescheraines) and the Chéran. At the Le Lot du Bois marker, continue straight ahead (towards Cascade du Pissieu, among others).

(2) Facing the third lake (Plan d'Eau du Châtelard), keep left to continue along the river. At the intersection of paths, at the Cabane des pêcheurs, keep left. When you reach a car park, signposted Parking du Pissieu, go straight ahead, passing an information board, to reach a second signpost, Parking du Pissieu, and follow the signs for Cascade du Pissieux. You will come to a road.

(3) At the Pont du Nant d'Aillon signpost, turn left onto the road towards Passerelle and Maisons Picot. You will soon reach the Chemin de Ranfian signpost. Turn left towards Passerelle and Maisons Picot. At the next intersection, turn left towards the footbridge. Cross the footbridge and continue straight ahead to reach the Maisons Picot signpost. Turn left towards Point de Vue (among other things).

(4) At a second Maisons Picot signpost, continue straight ahead towards La Terrasse, then at the La Terrasse signpost, follow the direction of Plan d'Eau de la Motte. Reach the La Clairière signpost and follow the direction (among others) Passerelle and Maisons Picot via La Berge. Further on, pass the information panels about the old gravel pits, then return to the Maisons Picot signpost (the second one on the way out).

(4) Retrace your steps along the outward route, crossing the footbridge to reach the Pont du Nant d'Aillon signpost on the other side of the bridge.

(3) Turn left onto the path towards the Cascade du Pissieux waterfall. Further on, at the Le Pissieux signpost, continue towards the Cascade du Pissieux waterfall. You will soon reach the Tournebroche signpost.

(5) Continue straight ahead, for a round trip, towards Cascade du Pissieux to reach the foot of this beautiful, wide waterfall.

(6) Return to the previous signpost.

(5) Back at the Tournebroche signpost, climb to the left towards Villaret Rouge. Further up, cross a road to reach the La Verrière signpost and continue along the path towards Grange de Verrière.

(7) At a fork in the path, keep left towards La Villaret.

(8) At a path junction, ignore the path that branches off to the right and continue straight ahead towards Le Rossillon. Reach the Le Rossillon marker and continue straight ahead, ignoring the direction indicated to the right. Reach the next path junction.

No signposts

(9) Keep left on an uphill path running alongside a stream. Be careful to look out for a path branching off to the right about 400 m further on, running alongside an electric fence (which is not necessarily permanent; there is a Private Property sign a little further on from the junction, set back from the paths).

(10) Turn right and start descending towards Lescheraines. Join a road, follow it straight ahead, pass in front of the church and turn right towards the school to return to the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : mi 0 - alt. 2,126 ft - School car park
  2. 1 : mi 0.78 - alt. 1,969 ft - La Digue marker - Chéran (rivière)
  3. 2 : mi 1.31 - alt. 1,995 ft - Plan d'Eau du Châtelard
  4. 3 : mi 2.06 - alt. 2,037 ft - Pont du stream d'Aillon marker
  5. 4 : mi 2.32 - alt. 2,044 ft - Maisons Picot marker
  6. 5 : mi 4.43 - alt. 2,178 ft - Tournebroche marker - Cascade du Pissieu
  7. 6 : mi 4.61 - alt. 2,159 ft - Source and - Cascade du Pissieu
  8. 7 : mi 5.83 - alt. 2,464 ft - Fork in the path
  9. 8 : mi 6.47 - alt. 2,448 ft - Path intersection
  10. 9 : mi 6.9 - alt. 2,277 ft - Path intersection
  11. 10 : mi 7.15 - alt. 2,402 ft - Change of direction
  12. S/E : mi 7.89 - alt. 2,129 ft - School car park

Notes

Difficulty: Moderate, rather easy, even very easy in the first part, up to the waterfall. After that, the paths require standard hiking gear.
Please note that the first part of the hike may be very busy during the summer months.

Worth a visit

Discover more hikes in this area with descriptions or the Visorando app here and here

Photo album here

Fruitière in Lescheraines.

Reviews and comments

4.4 / 5
Based on 29 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.5 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.5 / 5
Route interest
4.3 / 5
GMIT
GMIT

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 02, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : Yes

A lovely route to warm up on.
Please note: one side of the lakes is closed off (due to works)
It’s easy to reach the bottom of the waterfall, but it’s more difficult to make your way up the ravine in the hope of getting a better view.
It’s a wasted effort, though, as the ravine is overgrown with vegetation that obscures the stream (which had very little flow due to the drought).
The rest of the walk: a steep climb followed by a wide, easy path.

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User 3058489

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 08, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

Hello, there’s a circular route on the Visorando route which veers off the path – why is that? We didn’t follow it
The description is difficult to follow; there are several points labelled 3, 4… Fortunately, we’d printed out the map.
Thank you for your efforts
Kind regards,
Elisabeth Pichon

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dvpiaf
dvpiaf

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 21, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk that isn't too difficult.

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Poulet Hubert
Poulet Hubert

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 28, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

A lovely, refreshing walk, even though the water level was quite low due to the heatwave.
The children can splash about in the water, which makes the walk great fun.

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miss38
miss38

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 09, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

A pleasant walk that takes you past several bodies of water at the start.
The short circular path at “Maisons Picot” isn’t particularly interesting. You find yourself wondering where the viewpoint is?
It’s busy on the path leading to the waterfall.
Before reaching the waterfall, we stopped off at “Capucine à la ferme”, which serves ice cream in unusual flavours.
There’s no one else on the climb back up from the waterfall.
A shaded path, which we really appreciated given the high temperatures at the time.

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champet67
champet67

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 31, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely, shaded walk for young walkers. Thanks to the publisher

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User 2540958

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 25, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

A very short walk, a pleasant and very easy route, with a picnic by the water in the shade; brilliant for a gentle stroll for pensioners.

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Cathy21200
Cathy21200

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 20, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

An easy walk, ideal for children. Partly shaded.
The waterfall isn’t anything to write home about, but it gives you a reason to go for a picnic.

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User 24959531

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 20, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A nice circular loop, almost entirely flat.
The route is easy to follow.

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SEVEPA
SEVEPA

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 20, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant route on a beautiful autumn day, not very crowded during the week and very easy if you want a hike with little elevation gain.

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User 681206

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 07, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A lovely, gentle route - Suitable for anyone who cannot exert themselves too much -

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dede53
dede53

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 06, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

The waterfall is low on water and attracts crowds, but the rest of the area is not very busy.

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User 26467184

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 08, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

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User 26154269

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 19, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Very well described tour.
We saw everything we wanted to see.

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roupillon
roupillon

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 26, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A very interesting route, the various lakes are soothing
A bit crowded at the waterfall, but we only encountered four hikers on the second part of the circuit
a bit muddy in places, but overall very pleasant

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