Pont-Evêque combines a large wetland area with opportunities for exercise and a history of industry. When planning your stay, you can first decide whether to focus on the landscape and biodiversity, leisure activities, cultural history or the current cultural program. These different priorities give you concrete points of reference for choosing accommodation and planning your time in the area.
Wet Meadows and Biodiversity
The Espace Naturel Sensible des prairies inondables de Pont-Évêque covers 80 hectares and has been classified as an Espace Naturel Sensible since 2004. Three watercourses, springs and a mosaic of different wetland habitats shape the area. The size and variety of these habitats make nature a subject in its own right, alongside the town’s cultural offerings.
Rare and protected species found there include the Mercury bluet, European brook lamprey, kingfisher and marsh fritillary. If you are basing your travel plans on the landscape and biodiversity, this wetland provides a clear focus. The species and variety of habitats give the nature theme a concrete character specific to Pont-Évêque.
Exercise and Leisure
The Aire de Sport et Loisirs Outdoor has been freely accessible since it opened in 2025. It includes a skatepark, a multi-sport court, a rebound wall and two 3-on-3 basketball courts. This brings together several forms of sporting leisure: you can enjoy skateboarding, use the multi-sport court or play basketball in a smaller team format.
The Parcours d’Orientation de Pont-Évêque is a purpose-built, mapped area for recreational orienteering, while also encouraging visitors to discover the local heritage. The easy orienteering course covers 2 kilometers with 5 meters of elevation gain; the stated duration is 45 minutes. Its distance, elevation gain and duration give you a concrete framework for planning your day. The course is suitable for families with children, as well as children, school groups and beginners.
Another leisure option is the arcade at Game Center La Turbine, which welcomes visitors from 3 to 103 years old. It offers age-appropriate games for children aged 3 and up, fighting games, driving simulators, basketball arcade games, billiard tables and darts. You can choose between an orienteering course with a set route and a range of arcade games without having to combine the activities into a single program.
Game Center La Turbine also hosts Suave Latino, with salsa and bachata, one Friday a month. If you would like to include this dance evening in your stay, check the event date in advance.
Industrial History and Cultural Offerings
The Fonderies et forges de Pont-Évêque were founded by Lyon industrialists, the Frèrejeans. The industrial complex comprised workshops, as well as buildings and gardens for housing workers. The Papeterie de Mornes offers another perspective on local industrial history: Jean Cartallier founded it in 1850, and it forms part of Pont-Évêque’s papermaking heritage. Together, the two sites represent different areas of local industrial history: a complex of workshops and workers’ housing, and papermaking.
The Médiathèque Boris Vian complements these historical themes with contemporary cultural offerings. It lends books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, e-readers and digital documents. Board games, story boxes and tablets are available on site; film screenings for children can be arranged on request.
The Médiathèque regularly welcomes authors and hosts exhibitions. It organizes numerous events for schools and the general public, including the Prix Nord Isère, La Nuit de la Lecture and Partir en Livre. Those wishing to include cultural events and media offerings in their stay will find a different kind of program here than at the sports and leisure venues. Nature, industrial history and contemporary culture are thus distinct reasons to consider Pont-Évêque as a travel destination.
Discover more destinations: Veurey-Voroize, Seyssins, Reventin-Vaugris, Fontaine, La Balme-les-Grottes, Échirolles, L'isle-D'abeau, Pontcharra.
For the broader travel overview: Isere.
