La Béroche

The Neuchâtel to Yverdon line follows the shore and serves Bevaix, Gorgier-Saint-Aubin and Vaumarcus. From Neuchâtel it takes about fifteen minutes. The beaches are five to fifteen minutes on foot from the stations, downhill on the way there and therefore uphill on the way back. By car, the A5 runs behind the villages, with exits at Bevaix and Saint-Aubin.

Good to know: parking spaces by the water are few and are taken before ten on sunny weekends. The train removes the problem and lets you get off at one station and leave from another.

Chez-le-Bart is the easiest beach with small children: a gradual entry into the water, flat grass and play equipment a few metres from the blanket. Saint-Aubin-Sauges mixes pebbles and lawn, so water shoes are worth packing before the age of three. The cove by the Vaumarcus harbour is the most sheltered from the wind, which matters when the joran picks up in late afternoon.

A typical day here has three parts: a beach in the morning, a picnic in the shade, then the Bevaix woods or the Vaumarcus harbour to finish somewhere cooler. The château de Vaumarcus stands above the shore and is easy to pick out from the lakeside path, which gives the walk a target. If the wind gets up, the wider beaches of the Littoral at Colombier and Boudry are ten minutes away by train, which often rescues the end of a day.