History of the villages of the Littoral region (Neuchâtel)
The 51 documented localities of the Littoral region, in the canton of Neuchâtel. Each page covers the origin of the name, the main stages of its history and its remains, with sources.
Towns and villages 48
Areuse
Squeezed between two lordships, with a tiny territory and 48 inhabitants in 1780, the poorly managed little commune of Areuse finally merged with Boudry in 1870.
NEAuvernier
Along 1.5 km of shore Auvernier has ten zones of former lakeside villages, pile dwellings among the richest in Switzerland. Its winegrowers sold their wine as far as Solothurn and Bern.
NEBevaix
A Cluniac priory founded in 998 on Lake Neuchâtel, on shores where twelve Neolithic and Bronze Age sites have been counted.
NEBôle
Built on a hillside along the line of the Roman road Vy d'Etraz, a section of which is still visible, the street village of Bôle turned after 1945 from a farming village into a residential one.
NE · TownBoudry
The revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat (1743) and the chocolate maker Philippe Suchard (1797) were both born in this borough, a chartered town since 1343 below its castle on the Areuse.
NEBrot-Dessous
Named in 998 in the founding charter of the priory of Bevaix, Brot, between the Areuse and the Solmont range, saw the Clusette tunnel replace the old Noiraigue road in 1975.
NEChambrelien
When the railway bypassed Rochefort in 1859-1860, the station was built at Chambrelien, where trains on the Neuchâtel-La Chaux-de-Fonds line reverse direction.
NEChamp-du-Moulin
In the heart of the Areuse gorges, a former powder mill turned manor house hosted Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1764. The hamlet is split between Boudry and Rochefort.
NEChaumont
Since 1910 a funicular has climbed from La Coudre to Chaumont, the wooded mountain above Neuchâtel where summer visitors settled for good in the 19th century.
NEChez-le-Bart
Off Chez-le-Bart, the Neolithic site of Les Argilliez, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2011, counts 4'834 piles over 7'000 m².
NEColombier
Beneath the castle of Colombier, a Gallo-Roman villa that began modestly grew into a true palace, with a peristyle and baths decorated with mosaics.
NECombes
On the hillside above Le Landeron, a wine-growers' hamlet with its Sainte-Anne chapel, founded in 1681 and served by the Capuchins until 1992.
NECorcelles
On 23 October 1530 Guillaume Farel came to Corcelles to preach the Reformation, but the monks of the Cluniac priory stopped him from preaching in the church.
NECormondrèche
On a terrace above the lake, a winegrowing street village whose Grand-Rue is lined with winegrowers' and burghers' houses from the 16th to 18th centuries. Part of Neuchâtel since 2021.
NECornaux
Winegrowing village of the Entre-deux-Lacs at the foot of the Jura, known to archaeologists worldwide for the Celtic bridge of Les Sauges, uncovered in 1965.
NECortaillod
Its lakeside settlements gave their name to a Middle Neolithic culture, the « Cortaillod culture ». The wine-growing village has been home to the cable industry since 1879.
NECressier
Together with Le Landeron, the only corner of the county of Neuchâtel to stay Catholic at the Reformation: a wine-growers' village at the foot of the Jura, marked by the Vallier family and its castle.
NEEnges
During the Second World War a Polish soldier interned in Enges is said to have painted a fresco in the village chapel, ecumenical since 1973.
NEEpagnier
In 1163 the knight Pierre d'Epagnier gave his allodial land to Hauterive Abbey: the first trace of this village near La Tène, united with Marin in 1888.
NEFresens
During the republican unrest of 1831, Fresens was the first commune of the Béroche to put up a liberty tree.
NEGorgier
Gorgier gave its name to a medieval lordship covering most of the Béroche. Its castle is mentioned from 1299.
NEGrandchamp
A calico-printing works operated here from 1761 to 1841. Since the 1930s the Bovet estate has been home to the Protestant Community of Grandchamp.
NEHauterive
The village gave its name to the Hauterivian and to the yellow Hauterive stone. On its shore at Champréveyres, Magdalenian hunters camped around 13'500 BC, where the Laténium now stands.
NELa Coudre
Since 1910 a funicular has climbed some 570 metres from here up to Chaumont: La Coudre, a wine village on the Vy d'Etra, has been a district of Neuchâtel since 1930.
NE · Merger 2018La Grande Béroche
Six communes, including Bevaix and Saint-Aubin-Sauges, joined on 1 January 2018 after each of them voted yes by 54 to 85 %.
NE · Merger 2025Laténa
Enges, Hauterive, La Tène and Saint-Blaise joined on 1 January 2025, after a popular vote of more than 72 % in favour.
NE · TownLe Landeron
Forbidden to rebuild their town of Nugerol, the inhabitants moved down to the plain, where Count Rollin bought a meadow in 1325 to raise a fortified town, which stayed Catholic at the Reformation.
NELignières
The only motor-racing circuit in Switzerland, in use since the early 1960s, and a franc-alleu marked out by boundary stones from 1535 and 1705.
NEMarin-Épagnier
On the land of Marin-Épagnier, on Lake Neuchâtel, lies the La Tène site, which gave its name to the European late Iron Age.
NE · Merger 2013Milvignes
Auvernier, Bôle and Colombier joined in 2013 to form the largest wine-growing commune in the canton of Neuchâtel.
NEMonruz
On the lakeshore, work on the A5 motorway uncovered at Monruz one of the main Magdalenian camps in Switzerland, occupied around 13'000 BC.
NEMontalchez
A village in the uplands of the Béroche whose territory keeps traces of the Roman road of the Vy d'Etra and a Burgundian cemetery, La Chambrette.
NE · TownNeuchâtel
Capital of the canton, born from a royal "new castle" mentioned in 1011, a chartered town from 1214 and the first French-speaking Protestant capital.
NEPerreux
Since 1894 Perreux has housed the cantonal institution for incurables, which became a psychiatric hospital, and since 2014 a federal asylum centre.
NEPeseux
Peseux, whose name is linked to the word « puits », well, long lacked water: the village only solved the problem in 1888 by connecting to the Neuchâtel network.
NERochefort
In the Areuse gorges, the Cotencher cave held a Mousterian site around 40'000 BC. The village grew up at the foot of a castle now in ruins.
NESaint-Aubin-Sauges
Saint-Aubin-Sauges keeps on its lakeshore the Neolithic site of Port-Conty, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2011, and in its church three Art Nouveau windows by Clément Heaton.
NESaint-Blaise
In 1011 King Rudolph III of Burgundy gave the Arins estate to his wife Irmengard: the future Saint-Blaise, where the Ruau drove mills, sawmills and fulling mills until 1950.
NESauges
Between Sauges and the port of Saint-Aubin, the Neolithic settlement of Port-Conty has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2011.
NESerrières
A river less than 700 metres long drove mills and paper works here, then the Suchard chocolate factory, which launched the Milka brand here in 1901.
NESouaillon
Below Early Iron Age burial mounds, an estate built from 1718 for Pierre de Chambrier, with a terraced French formal garden.
NEThielle
The castle that housed the court of the castellany of Thielle has stood, since the border agreement of 1895, on Bernese territory, in the municipality of Gals.
NETrois-Rods
Its name places it beyond the ford over the Areuse. Inhabited only since the 16th century, the hamlet is overlooked by the summer château of Jean-Frédéric de Pierre.
NE · TownValangin
A town with a regular layout founded by the Aarbergs between 1301 and 1330 at the foot of their castle, Valangin gave its name to the Valanginian, a geological stage described in 1853.
NEVaumarcus
In 1476 Jean II de Neuchâtel-Vaumarcus opened his castle to Charles the Bold. After the battle of Grandson the castle was burned.
NEVernéaz
Above a small gorge along the Roman road of the Vy d'Etraz, the hamlet owed ploughing and fortification work to the lords of Vaumarcus until 1832.
NEVoëns
Voëns lies on the Vy d'Etra, an old Roman road, and gave its name to the municipality of Voëns-Maley before being united with Saint-Blaise in 1888.
NEWavre
On the boundary between Wavre and Thielle, the Moravian Brethren opened a girls' boarding school in 1766 on the Montmirail estate, founded in 1618 by Abram Tribolet.
Sites 3
Château de Rochefort
Rochefort is the only castle ruin in the canton of Neuchâtel. In 1413 its lord Vauthier was executed for forging charters of liberties.
NE · SiteGrotte de Cotencher
Found in 1964 in this cave in the Gorges de l'Areuse, the upper jaw of a Neanderthal woman is the most important Mousterian human remain in Switzerland.
NE · SiteLa Tène site
Spotted in 1857 by a fisherman on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel, this site has given its name, since 1874, to the European later Iron Age.