Looking for recreational land for sale in Jura (39) means looking at a department of mid-mountain terrain and limestone plateaus, between reculées, coniferous forests and the lake district, where enclosed meadows and woodland dominate the supply, with ponds somewhat more common here than in neighbouring departments. On this page, ma-propriete.fr gathers the listings of recreational land for sale in Jura: a plateau meadow, fir woodland, a plot with a pond or a riverbank.
You will find price benchmarks drawn from actual sales, an overview of the areas where these plots are concentrated and the points to check before buying in an agricultural or natural zone, including the small number of plots that come with a pond. Before you plan anything, read our guide on how to turn agricultural land into recreational land: it sets out what planning rules permit on an agricultural or natural parcel, and what they prohibit.
There is no such thing as a "recreational land price" in the French notarial records: the DVF database records sales of agricultural land, woodland and ponds, and a recreational plot is priced against these three benchmarks, higher or lower depending on what it adds (vehicle access, a water point, fencing, an existing shelter, a village nearby). The table below gives, for each benchmark, the sales recorded in 2025 in Jura (39), the median price and the range between the first decile (floor) and the ninth decile (ceiling), with the national figure for comparison.
| DVF 2025 benchmark | Sales | Median price | Range (P10 – P90) | France median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bare agricultural land (€/ha) | 124 | €2,304/ha | €1,650/ha – €4,123/ha | €5,307/ha |
| Woodland (€/ha) | 71 | €4,003/ha | €1,872/ha – €7,391/ha | €4,934/ha |
| Pond (€/m²) * | 313 | €2.54/m² | €1.03/m² – €6.90/m² | €2.54/m² |
Bare agricultural land is well below the national median (€5,307/ha), with the median price moving -3.1% between 2020 and 2025. Woodland trades well below the national benchmark (€4,934/ha), and a pond, a much rarer asset, is valued per square metre of water and banks. To compare a listing, bring everything back to the square metre: €2,304/ha of bare land is €0.23/m², against €2.54/m² for a pond. Recreational land, almost always classified as an agricultural or natural zone, generally sells slightly above bare agricultural land; but it usually remains subject to the SAFER land agency's right of pre-emption, and the SAFER may pre-empt with a downward price revision if the price is excessive compared with local land prices. These benchmarks therefore also help you avoid paying a price the SAFER would challenge.
Find the detail by department, plot size and year in our agricultural land price observatory and in the forest price observatory. Source: DVF (Demandes de valeurs foncières), 2025 sales, processed by ma-propriete.fr; medians published from 30 sales upwards. * Fewer than 30 sales in the department: the benchmark shown is the national figure for "Pond".
Jura is first of all a country of plateau meadow, used for dairy farming, with enclosed plots often sold as non-constructible land for hay. Coniferous forests, fir and spruce, cover a large share of the territory, from the Lons plateau to the border area of the haut Jura, and form the other main family of plots on offer, sought after for hunting and firewood.
The lake district, around Clairvaux-les-Lacs and Chalain, makes Jura richer in ponds than most neighbouring departments: enlarged plateau ponds, old reservoirs or small natural stretches of water, sometimes sold with a fishing cabin whose legality needs to be checked. These plots with water remain in demand and stand clearly apart from plain meadows or woods.
The Lons plateau, around Lons-le-Saunier, offers the most accessible meadows and woods in the department, with access helped by the A39 motorway. The lake district, around Clairvaux-les-Lacs, Chalain and Doucier, holds most of the plots with a pond or lakeside, in demand but few in number. The haut Jura, around Saint-Claude and Morez, adds wooded slopes and modest-altitude meadows, on more pronounced terrain and with more limited access. The Baume-les-Messieurs reculée and the area around Arbois round out the supply with wooded hillside plots, often within easy reach of a village.
The most affordable areas lie on the Lons plateau, away from the lakes, and in the north of the department around Dole. Right next to the lake district and the busiest reculées, the few available plots, especially those with a pond, sell well above the departmental average, a gap explained by how few such plots change hands in a given year.
The first step is to read the commune's local planning document (PLU): in an agricultural (A) or natural (N) zone, which covers most of Jura, no new building is in principle allowed, and a cabin, a chalet or a light leisure dwelling cannot be installed freely. Check access to the plot, a rural track or right of way, as well as whether water and electricity are connected, which is rare outside villages on the more remote plateaus.
On parcels classified as agricultural, SAFER may exercise its right of pre-emption, with the price revised downward if the amount strays from the local price of farmland. A pond requires knowing its status under the French water law, and the condition of the dam and the outlet. Some areas of the lake district and the reculées are also covered by Natura 2000 or wetland zones, which should be checked before any project, along with whether a fishing right is attached to the plot.
The listings of recreational land in Jura published on ma-propriete.fr come from private sellers, estate agents and notaries. Filter by area, location, price and the presence of water, then set up an e-mail alert to be notified as soon as a plateau meadow, a wooded plot or a plot with a pond in the lake district is listed, since ponds in particular tend to sell fast once they reach the market. You can also widen your search to recreational land for sale in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
