Fontenay Abbey.

© CAHKT/Getty Images/iStock

Abbaye de Fontenay

Top choice in Côte d'Or


Founded in 1118 and enshrined as a Unesco World Heritage site, Fontenay Abbey offers a fascinating glimpse of the austere, serene surroundings in which Cistercian monks lived lives of contemplation and manual labour. Set at road's end in a bucolic wooded valley beside a tranquil stream, this restored masterpiece of medieval monastic architecture includes an unadorned Romanesque church, a barrel-vaulted monks’ dormitory, and Europe's earliest metallurgical forge, complete with a working reconstruction of the hydraulic hammer used by 13th-century monks.

A self-guided tour, with printed information in six languages, is available year-round. From April to October, optional guided tours (in French with multilingual handout) are available at 10am, 11am, noon, 1.45pm, 2.45pm, 4pm and 5pm.

From the parking lot, the GR213 trail forms part of two verdant walking circuits: one to Montbard (13km return), the other (11.5km) through Touillon and Le Petit Jailly. Maps and extensive guides to plant life are available in the abbey shop.

Fontenay is 25km north of Semur-en-Auxois. The nearest train station is Montbard, where fast trains connect regularly with Dijon (€15, 35 minutes). A taxi from Montbard to the abbey costs about €15 (more on Sundays and holidays).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Côte d'Or attractions

1. Grand Forge du Buffon

5.98 MILES

The beautiful Grand Forge de Buffon sits 23km north of Semur-en-Auxois on the pastoral banks of the Brenne Canal. One of the first fully integrated…

2. MuséoParc Alésia

8.09 MILES

This sensational interactive museum and historic theme park is well worth the drive from Dijon (67km) or Semur-en-Auxois (16km). This was the historic…

3. Collégiale Notre Dame

10.63 MILES

A stained-glass window (1927) and a plaque commemorating American soldiers who fell in France in WWI are inside this twin-towered, Gothic collegiate…

4. Château d'Ancy-le-Franc

14.08 MILES

The Italian Renaissance makes a cameo appearance at this imposing château, built in the 1540s by celebrated Italian architect Serlio. The richly painted…

5. Source de la Douix

17.63 MILES

The idyllic Source de la Douix (pronounced 'dwee'), a 600L-per-second artesian spring, flows from a 30m cliff in a city park on the Seine's eastern bank…

7. Château de Maulnes

19.12 MILES

The only château in France built on a pentagonal plan, and buttressed by five towers, the Renaissance-era Château de Maulnes, 24km east of Tonnerre, is a…

8. Château de Tanlay

20.24 MILES

Dominating the northern edge of the tranquil riverside village of Tanlay, the elegant French Renaissance-style Château de Tanlay is surrounded by a wide…