Burgundy: Dijon, Beaune and the Wine Villages

1. Day 1: Paris by TGV to Dijon

   Paris airport or hotel to Gare de Lyon, the TGV to Dijon, then the old town on foot

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Dijon
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle or Orly; most overnight flights from Canada land in the early morning, and you should be on the ground by about 10:30 am. A driver meets you in arrivals and takes you to Gare de Lyon, where your See Sight Tours guide meets the group with the tickets for the early-afternoon TGV to Dijon, about 1 hour 40 minutes. If you are already in Paris, we collect you from your hotel instead. In Dijon we check in to a central hotel a short walk from the old town, rest for an hour, then take a first slow walk as the light drops: the half-moon Place de la Libération in front of the Palace of the Dukes, the merchants' houses of the rue des Forges, and the small stone owl on the wall of Notre-Dame, which people stroke with the left hand for luck. Dinner tonight is together, a welcome meal of Burgundian cooking at a local restaurant, with your guide's plan for the week.

   Included

   • Transfer from Paris Charles de Gaulle or Orly Airport, or your Paris hotel, to Gare de Lyon
   • TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Dijon with your guide
   • Evening walk in Dijon's old town: Place de la Libération, the rue des Forges and the owl of Notre-Dame
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Late afternoon free after check-in

   Activity: Land in Paris by about 10:30 am to make the group train. Landing later, or want time in Paris first? Book a pre-trip night and we collect you from your Paris hotel.

   

2. Day 2: Dijon: Les Halles and the Palace of the Dukes

   Dijon on foot: Les Halles, the old town and the Palace of the Dukes

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dijon
   Day 2 details

   Dijon was the capital of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, and its centre is part of the UNESCO-listed Climats of Burgundy. We start at Les Halles, the iron-framed covered market, on a market morning, when the stalls sell Époisses cheese, jambon persillé, Bresse chicken and gingerbread, and your guide buys a few things for the group to taste. From there we walk through the old town, stepping inside Notre-Dame de Dijon, a 13th-century Gothic church whose south rose window shows the Last Judgment in 19th-century glass, to the Palace of the Dukes and States of Burgundy. The Musée des Beaux-Arts inside is free to enter, and we go early to the Salle des Gardes and the tombs of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless, ringed by small carved mourners, before the rooms fill. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the palace. The afternoon is yours: the Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie et du Vin in the old hospital, the mustard shops of the rue de la Liberté, or a coffee on Place François Rude. Dinner is your choice; your guide has a list.

   Included

   • Les Halles market with tastings
   • Guided walk through Dijon's old town, with a stop inside Notre-Dame de Dijon
   • The Palace of the Dukes and the tombs of the Dukes in the Musée des Beaux-Arts
   • Sit-down lunch in Dijon

   Optional experiences

   • The guided climb of the Tour Philippe le Bon, 316 steps to the top of the ducal palace tower (price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Skip the afternoon and rest at the hotel, a few minutes' walk from the palace.

   More active option: Climb the Tour Philippe le Bon for the view over the roofs of glazed tiles to the Côte de Nuits.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 km on foot in the morning, mostly flat. The museum closes on Tuesdays, so day 2 never falls on a Tuesday.

   

3. Day 3: The Route des Grands Crus to Beaune

   Dijon to Gevrey-Chambertin, a walk from Chambolle-Musigny to Vougeot, Nuits-Saint-Georges, then Beaune

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Beaune
   Day 3 details

   We leave Dijon after breakfast on the Route des Grands Crus, the wine road along the foot of the Côte de Nuits. First stop is Gevrey-Chambertin, where the vines of Chambertin and its neighbouring grands crus run right up to the village houses. At Chambolle-Musigny we get out and walk, about 4 km on vineyard tracks past the Musigny grand cru and down to Vougeot, with the van following for anyone who prefers to ride. The Château du Clos de Vougeot stands in a walled vineyard first planted by Cistercian monks from nearby Cîteaux in the 12th century; a local guide shows us the great medieval presses and the cellar. A short drive on, at Vosne-Romanée, a small stone cross marks the edge of Romanée-Conti. Lunch is a long sit-down meal in Nuits-Saint-Georges. In the afternoon a family domaine on the Côte de Nuits pours its reds and talks through the slope, then we reach Beaune, your base for four nights, by late afternoon.

   Included

   • Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-Saint-Georges on the Route des Grands Crus
   • Vineyard walk from Chambolle-Musigny to Vougeot
   • Château du Clos de Vougeot with a local guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Nuits-Saint-Georges
   • Tasting at a family domaine on the Côte de Nuits

   Easier option: Ride in the van from Chambolle-Musigny to the château and meet the walkers there.

   More active option: Start the walk higher, from the edge of the woods above Chambolle, for a longer loop with views across the Saône plain.

   Free time: Evening free in Beaune

   Activity: About 4 km of walking on farm tracks with one gentle descent.

   

4. Day 4: The Hospices de Beaune at opening

   Beaune on foot: the Hospices, the ramparts and the old town

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Beaune
   Day 4 details

   We are at the Hospices de Beaune when the doors open at 9 am, ahead of the tour groups, with a site guide. The Hôtel-Dieu was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins as a hospital for the poor, and it took patients until 1971. Its courtyard roofs are laid in glazed tiles of red, brown, yellow and green. Inside are the Great Hall of the Poor, its curtained beds lined up under a painted timber vault, the old kitchen and pharmacy, and Rogier van der Weyden's Last Judgment altarpiece. The Hospices still owns vineyards, and its wines are sold at a charity auction every November. After the visit your guide walks the group round the ramparts, past the Collégiale Notre-Dame, and through the streets of the wine merchants' houses, whose cellars run under the town. From late morning the day is free: lunch where you like, a tasting cellar or a rest. At about 8 pm your guide meets anyone who wants company on Place Carnot, the square with the carousel, to walk to dinner.

   Included

   • Hospices de Beaune (Hôtel-Dieu) at opening with a site guide
   • Guided walk round Beaune's ramparts, the Collégiale Notre-Dame and the old town
   • Evening meet-up with your guide on Place Carnot, for anyone who wants company at dinner (dinner not included)

   Optional experiences

   • Guided visit of the Moutarderie Fallot, a family mustard mill in Beaune (price shown at booking)

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free; the Place Carnot meet-up is optional

   Activity: About 3 km on foot, flat, with cobbles in the old town. The 9 am Hospices visit is the only early start of the week; no other day leaves before 8:30 am.

   

5. Day 5: Walking the Côte de Beaune: Pommard to Meursault

   Beaune to Pommard, a walk to Volnay and Meursault, then back to Beaune

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Beaune
   Day 5 details

   Today is the white-wine walk south of Beaune, on the Côte de Beaune. A short drive takes us to Pommard, and from there we walk up through the vines to Volnay and on to Meursault, about 6 km on farm tracks with gentle climbs and long views east over the Saône plain. Your guide reads the landscape as we go: each named plot behind its dry-stone wall is a climat, and the patchwork of more than a thousand of them is what UNESCO listed in 2015. Look out for the cabottes, small stone huts where vineyard workers once sheltered. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Meursault. In the afternoon a family domaine in Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet pours its Chardonnay, setting a village wine beside a premier cru from the same grower so you can taste what the slope does. We are back in Beaune by about 4 pm with the evening free. In September the harvest is on, so the lanes are busy and the guide may switch to a domaine that is still open.

   Included

   • Vineyard walk from Pommard through Volnay to Meursault
   • Sit-down lunch in Meursault
   • Tasting at a family domaine in Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet

   Easier option: Walk only the first stretch, Pommard to Volnay, about 2 km, then ride to Meursault.

   More active option: Add the climb to the viewpoint above Volnay before dropping to Meursault, about 8 km in all.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 6 km on farm tracks with gentle climbs; the van follows the walk.

6. Day 6: Vézelay and Châteauneuf-en-Auxois

   Beaune to Vézelay, then Châteauneuf-en-Auxois and back to Beaune

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Beaune
   Day 6 details

   The longest drive of the week, about 280 km and just under four hours in all, split into three stretches with a long lunch in the middle; we take it because Vézelay is the Burgundy of abbeys rather than vines, and few wine trips reach it. We leave Beaune at 8:30 am and cross the Auxois to Vézelay, about 1 hour 50 minutes. The village climbs a single hill to the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, listed by UNESCO with the hill in 1979, where Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade in 1146, and a starting point of one of the pilgrim roads to Santiago de Compostela. Over the central door inside, a carved Romanesque tympanum shows Christ sending out the apostles, and the arches of the nave are striped in pale and dark stone. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Vézelay. On the way back, about 1 hour 15 minutes on, we stop at Châteauneuf-en-Auxois, a hilltop village of stone houses around a castle rebuilt in the 15th century, above the Burgundy Canal, about 50 minutes from Beaune. We are back in Beaune by about 6 pm for a farewell dinner together.

   Included

   • Vézelay and the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Vézelay
   • Châteauneuf-en-Auxois
   • Farewell dinner in Beaune

   Easier option: Stay in Beaune for a free day and join the group for the farewell dinner.

   More active option: Walk down the old pilgrims' path from the basilica terrace to the valley below Vézelay, about 2 km, and meet the van at the bottom.

   Activity: The main street of Vézelay climbs steeply for about 800 m to the basilica, on cobbles.

7. Day 7: Beaune to Lyon, or the train to Paris

   Beaune to Lyon Part-Dieu and Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport, or Beaune station for Paris

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 7 details

   After breakfast we drive south on the motorway past Chalon-sur-Saône and the Mâconnais to Lyon, about 160 km and an hour and three quarters, arriving at Lyon Part-Dieu station by about 11:30 am and Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport by about noon. Lyon is an easy place to finish: Saint-Exupéry has direct flights to the main European hubs, and Part-Dieu has fast TGVs to Paris, Marseille and the Alps. If you are flying home from Paris instead, tell us when you book: we drop you at Beaune station in the morning with a ticket for the train to Paris Gare de Lyon, about 2 to 2.5 hours; few trains run direct, so many change at Dijon, and your guide confirms your booked service the day before. From Gare de Lyon it is about an hour to Charles de Gaulle. Staying on? Your guide can help you book a night in Lyon. Your guide stays with the group to the station or the airport.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Lyon Part-Dieu station or Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)
   • Or a train ticket from Beaune to Paris Gare de Lyon

   Activity: Book a flight from Lyon after about 3 pm, or from Paris Charles de Gaulle after about 4:30 pm.

Wildlife and weather: April to June and September to October are the best months for walking the vines. July and August can pass 30 C, so we walk in the morning. In September the harvest is on: busy lanes, pickers in the rows and some domaines closed to visitors.

• Dijon2 nights
• Beaune4 nights