Ponsonnas: Hotels, Bridge and Local History

If you are looking for a hotel in Ponsonnas, you can plan your trip around two distinct aspects of the town: the landscape and architectural history of the Pont de Ponsonnas, or activities such as climbing and bungee jumping. The bridge spans the Drac Gorge and connects Matheysine with Trièves. For a walk, the Chemin des Epalus offers specific details: the circular route is 4.5 kilometres long; walking time is 1 hour and 45 minutes. These figures can help you estimate how much time to allow for the walk in your daily plans.

Pont de Ponsonnas and the History of the Château

The present-day Pont de Ponsonnas is a concrete arch bridge. It was built in 1941 to replace a suspension bridge dating from 1861. Its history therefore covers two clearly distinct phases of construction: first, the 19th-century suspension bridge, followed by the present concrete arch structure. Anyone interested in architecture can view the bridge both as a crossing over the Drac Gorge and in terms of the differences between these two construction phases.

The Château de Ponsonnas was built at the end of the 17th century on the site of an earlier feudal fortification. The park in front of the south façade offers views of the Obiou and the Drac Valley.

Church and Communal Oven

The Église Sainte-Marguerite dates from the 15th century. Fragments of a Quattrocento fresco were discovered in the apse during restoration work. The find links the painted fragments to the apse and to the church’s restoration history. The church is dated earlier than the château: it dates from the 15th century, while the château was built at the end of the 17th century.

The communal oven tells another chapter of local history. It was built in 1890, later restored and converted into a small museum exhibition space. At the same time, the oven is still occasionally used for public baking or cooking. Both its conversion into a museum space and its occasional communal use are therefore part of the history of this building.

Climbing and Bungee Jumping

Bungee jumping from a height of 103 metres is offered at the Pont de Ponsonnas; the site is considered Europe’s first bungee-jumping centre. Visitors can make solo jumps or tandem jumps for two people. All jumps are filmed.

The Ponsonnas climbing site has nearly 55 climbing routes graded from 5c to 7a. The “Sérénité” sector offers routes for beginners and for those looking to improve, graded from 5b to 7b. The sector’s range extends beyond the overall range at both ends: it starts at 5b, below 5c, and goes up to 7b, above 7a. The activities are compared using different criteria: for bungee jumping, the focus is on height and jump format; for climbing, on the number of routes, the sector and the grades.

Discover more destinations: Saint-Geoire-En-Valdaine, Pierre-Châtel, Saint-Paul-lès-Monestier, Réaumont, La Salle-En-Beaumont, Château-Bernard, Valencin, Saint-Martin-Le-Vinoux.

For the broader travel overview: Isere.