Burgundy

Beaune (pronounced similarly to 'bone'), 44km south of Dijon, is the unofficial capital of the Côte d'Or. This thriving town's raison d'être and the source of its joie de vivre is wine: making it, tasting it, selling it, but most of all, drinking it. Consequently Beaune is one of the best places in all of France for wine tasting, and one of Burgundy's top tourist destinations.

The jewel of Beaune's old city is the magnificent Hôtel-Dieu, France's most splendiferous medieval charity hospital. Hidden beneath the city's streets is a labyrinth of wine cellars dating back several centuries, where some of the world's most prestigious wines repose.

With its compact and pedestrian-friendly centre, lively street scene and aesthetically pleasing ensemble of half-timbered houses and polychrome tile roofs, Dijon is one of France's most appealing cities. Filled with elegant medieval and Renaissance buildings that hark back to the city's 14th- and 15th-century heyday as the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy, the historic centre is wonderful for strolling, especially if you like to leaven your cultural enrichment with excellent food, fine wine and shopping.

A must-see on any Burgundy itinerary, the picturesque medieval village of Noyers (nwa-yair), 30km southeast of Auxerre, is surrounded by rolling pastureland, wooded hills and a sharp bend in the River Serein.

Stone ramparts and fortified battlements enclose much of the village and, between the two imposing stone gateways, cobbled streets lead past 15th- and 16th-century gabled houses, wood and stone archways and several art galleries. Lines carved into the façade of the 18th-century mairie (town hall), next to the library, mark the level of historic floods.

Noyers makes a delightful base for walking. A pretty path runs along the village's eastern edge between the old town walls and the river, eventually climbing to a ruined hilltop château. The tourist office can provide information on several longer hikes in the region.

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.

Don't miss this superb collection of Gallo-Roman artefacts, 12th-century Romanesque art, 15th-century paintings and modern art including work by Maurice Denis, Jean Dubuffet and Joan Miró. The indisputable masterpiece here is the Temptation of Eve, an unusually sensual (for its time) stone bas-relief by Gislebertus, recently returned from a two-year stint at the Louvre.

The tiny hilltop village of Vézelay – a Unesco World Heritage Site – is one of France's architectural gems. Perched on a rocky spur crowned by a medieval basilica and surrounded by a sublime patchwork of vineyards, sunflower fields and cows, Vézelay seems to have been lifted from another age. One of the main pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain starts here.

Bordering the northwestern tip of the Parc Naturel Régional du Morvan, the surrounding region harbours a handful of historic sites and quaint villages.

For anyone who's ever read an Astérix comic book and wondered how France's Celtic people really lived, Bibracte is a must-see. This hilltop stronghold of the ancient Gauls, together with the attached Museum of Celtic Civilisation, offers a compelling portrayal of pre-Roman France in the years prior to Caesar's arrival. Crowning beautiful Mont Beuvray, 25km west of Autun, the site boasts expansive views and numerous walking trails, including the GR13, through high-altitude fields and 1000 hectares of forest.

The well-to-do, picturesque town of Chablis, 20km east of Auxerre, has made its fortune growing, ageing and marketing the dry white wines that have carried its name to the four corners of the earth.

Chablis is made exclusively from chardonnay grapes and originated with the monks of Pontigny. Now it is divided into four AOCs: Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru and, most prestigious of all, Chablis Grand Cru. The seven grands crus are lovingly grown on just 1 sq km of land on the hillsides northeast of town.