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Burgundy
Awarded Best in Travel 2022
Awarded Best in Travel 2023
About Best In Travel 2023Burgundy (Bourgogne in French) offers some of France's most gorgeous countryside: rolling green hills dotted with mustard fields and medieval villages. The region's towns and its dashingly handsome capital, Dijon, are heirs to a glorious architectural heritage that goes back to the Renaissance, the Middle Ages and into the mists of Gallo-Roman and Celtic antiquity.
Two great French passions, wine and food, come together here in a particularly enticing way. Burgundy's vineyards have been granted Unesco World Heritage status in recognition of the region's centuries-old history of viticulture and the remarkable diversity of its winegrowing terroir (land).
Burgundy's four départements (Côte d'Or, Yonne, Saône-et-Loire and Nièvre) are a paradise for lovers of the great outdoors. You can cycle through venerable vineyards, hike the wild reaches of the Parc Naturel Régional du Morvan, glide along tranquil waterways in a canal boat, or float above it all in a hot-air balloon.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Burgundy.
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Abbaye de Fontenay
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).
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Basilique Ste-Madeleine
Founded in the AD 880s on a former Roman and Carolingian site, Vézelay's stunning hilltop basilica was rebuilt between the 11th and 13th centuries. On the famous 12th-century tympanum, visible from the narthex (enclosed porch), Romanesque carvings show an enthroned Jesus radiating his holy spirit to the Apostles. The nave has typically Romanesque round arches and detailed capitals, while the transept and choir (1185) have Gothic ogival arches. The mid-12th-century crypt houses a reliquary reputedly containing one of Mary Magdalene's bones. The church has had a turbulent history. Damaged by the great fire of 1120, trashed by the Huguenots in 1569, desecrated during the Revolution and repeatedly struck by lightning, by the mid-1800s it was on the point of collapse. In 1840 the architect Viollet-le-Duc undertook the daunting task of rescuing the structure. His work, which included reconstructing the western façade and its doorways, helped Vézelay, previously a ghost town, spring back to life. Visitors are welcome to observe prayers or Mass. Concerts of sacred music are held in the nave from June to September; the tourist office and its website have details.
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Musée des Beaux-Arts
Nearing the end of a nine-year renovation, these sprawling galleries in Dijon's monumental Palais des Ducs are works of art in themselves and constitute one of France's most outstanding museums. The star attraction is the wood-panelled Salle des Gardes, which houses the ornate, carved late-medieval sepulchres of dukes John the Fearless and Philip the Bold. Other sections focus on Egyptian art, the Middle Ages in Burgundy and Europe, and six centuries of European painting, from the Renaissance to modern times. The museum's highlights include a fine collection of 13th- and 14th-century primitives that reveal how medieval artistic and aesthetic sensibilities varied between Italy, Switzerland and the Rhineland; a smattering of old masters such as Lorenzo Lotto; quite a few naturalistic sculptures by the Dijon-born artist François Rude (1784–1855); works by Manet, Monet, Matisse and Rodin; and the incomparable Pompon Room, tucked off a back staircase, packed with stylised modern sculptures of animals by François Pompon (1855–1933), who was born in Saulieu, Burgundy. In the courtyard, the ducal kitchens (1433) often host exhibitions of works by local artists.
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Musée du Pays Châtillonnais Trésor de Vix
Châtillon’s main claim to fame is the Trésor de Vix (Vix Treasure), a collection of Celtic, Etruscan and Greek objects from the 6th century BC on display at the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais. The outstanding collection includes an exquisitely ornamented, jaw-droppingly massive Greek krater; easily the largest known bronze vessel from the ancient world, it's 1.64m high, with a weight of 208.6kg and a capacity of 1100L! The treasure was discovered in 1953 in the tomb of the Dame de Vix, a Celtic princess who controlled the trade in Cornish tin in the 6th century. Mined in Cornwall, the tin was brought by boat up the Seine as far as Vix and then carried overland to the Saône and the Rhône, whence river vessels conveyed it south to Marseille and its most eager consumers, the Greeks.
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Hôtel-Dieu des Hospices de Beaune
Built in 1443, this magnificent Gothic hospital (until 1971) is famously topped by stunning turrets and pitched rooftops covered in multicoloured tiles. Interior highlights include the barrel-vaulted Grande Salle (look for the dragons and peasant heads up on the roof beams); the mural-covered St-Hughes Room; an 18th-century pharmacy lined with flasks once filled with elixirs and powders; and the multipanelled masterpiece Polyptych of the Last Judgement by 15th-century Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden, depicting Judgment Day in glorious technicolour.
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Château de la Rochepot
Conical towers and multicoloured tile roofs rise from thick woods above the ancient village of La Rochepot. This marvellous medieval fortress offers fab views of surrounding countryside, and the interiors are a fascinating combination of the utilitarian (weapons) and the luxe (fine paintings). Visitors receive a multilingual handout and are free to tour the château on their own.
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Abbaye de Pontigny
Founded in 1114, Abbaye de Pontigny rises from the lush mustard fields 15km north of Chablis. The spectacular abbatiale (abbey church) is one of the last surviving examples of Cistercian architecture in Burgundy. The simplicity and purity of its white-stone construction reflect the austerity of the Cistercian order. On summer days sunshine filtering through the high windows creates an amazing sense of peace and tranquillity. Discovering Pontigny (€2.50), on sale in the gift shop, points out fascinating architectural details. The Gothic sanctuary, 108m long and lined with 23 chapels, was built in the mid-12th century; the wooden choir screen, stalls and organ loft were added in the 17th and 18th centuries. Monks here were the first to perfect the production of Chablis wine.
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Abbaye St-Germain
This ancient abbey with its dramatic flying buttresses began as a basilica above the tomb of St Germain, the 5th-century bishop who made Auxerre an important Christian centre. By medieval times it was attracting pilgrims from all over Europe. The crypt, accessible by tour (in French, with English handout), contains some of Europe's finest examples of Carolingian architecture. Supported by 1200-year-old oak beams, the walls and vaulted ceiling are decorated with 9th-century frescoes; the innermost sanctum houses St Germain's tomb. Housed around the abbey's cloister, the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (admission free) displays rotating contemporary art exhibits, prehistoric artefacts and Gallo-Roman sculptures.
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Palais des Ducs et des États de Bourgogne
Once home to Burgundy's powerful dukes, this monumental palace with a neoclassical facade overlooks place de la Libération, old Dijon's magnificent central square dating from 1686. The palace's eastern wing houses the outstanding Musée des Beaux-Arts, whose entrance is next to the Tour de Bar, a squat 14th-century tower that once served as a prison. The remainder of the palace houses municipal offices that are off limits to the public.