wallybrenda

We will be traveling in france with 2 other couples and will be starting our trip in Burgundy with a 6 day barge trip. The barge leaves from Dijon and stops at Fleurey, St Marie sur Ouche, La Bussiere, Pont d'Ouche And ends in Escommes. We will have some time to explore Dijon and Beuane and wanted advice on what else to see in Burgundy once the cruise is done. We all love good food, wine, history, cheese, biking, hiking, walking and quaint villages.

Also wondered if you seasoned travelers think we have time to split this trip between Burgundy and Provence or is there enough to do in Burgundy for 3 weeks. We have been to Paris and the Loire Valley before.

Thanks for you advice...

bilboburgler

I've struggled to find your canal route, but I finally think I have it. Lovely area. If you like this sort of thing then I would also look at some of.

North Burgundy (Auxerre Chablis etc) say by bike or walking (lots of companies will charge you to sort this out or you can do it your self, for ideas look at http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Yonne_Guide.php

Alsace, the wine route is getting heavily touristified but you could walk the length of the Vosges mountain (well hill) range to the West dropping down for the odd drink.

There is also some great walking in the Alps between Pontarlier and Bescancon along the river or on the hills either side (bikes also) which, though close to Burgundy, has very different cheese (and wine) with more a mountain air to it and beautiful meadows.

Provence, well there are Fodorites who will guide you there. If you search on this site you will find them, or they will be along

FrenchMystiqueTours

I think you've got plenty of time to split between Burgundy and Provence. I'd suggest getting a rental car (mini-van) or two if you think the group might want to split up from time to time and you can use www.autoeurope.com for that.

You can have a look at this thread to learn more about what to see and do in Burgundy. It has links to all the major tourist office websites (which are the best on-line resource to research a vacation in France) plus info about biking, hiking, wine, villages and châteaux to visit etc. There is also a link to a photo report I wrote about exploring the part of Burgundy near Semur-en-Auxois:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...-Burgundy.html

Gretchen

Is your barge trip self catering or will you have a crew to show you the sites along the way. We did, and it was wonderful. I would certainly explore another area in 3 weeks, and Provence would be my choice. I assume also you will begin in Paris, so certainly some time there also.
What exactly are the arrangements --it makes a difference in what you will have en route.

Christina

I wouldn't want to spend 3 weeks in Burgundy. That's a lot of time, why not see something else?

tower

Wally and Brenda:
close enough to The Riviera AND western stretches of Provence to take both in. We did that on a trip years ago, and loved it. I'll post below some Beaune ("bone") and vicinity pix, and toss in some others. Barge travel can be fun. We did one in '06 that started in Strasbourg and ended in Mancy, with a good coverage of the wine villages south of Strasbourg by the barge company's minibus (18 people).

tower

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuartto...eBurgundy2009#

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuartto...venceBarge2006

tower

sorry..meant "Nancy"

wallybrenda

Hi all...have been offline for a few days. Our barge is guided and there will be side trips each day in the area. We are thinking of heading to Provence once the cruise is over.

The Luberon area looks wonderful and we are thinking of renting a gite in on of the small villages around Gordes. Does anyone have any personal recommendations - will need 3 bedrooms?

Thanks Tower fro the pics and to all who posed recommendations...

wallybrenda

We will traveling in France for about a month and are looking for some advice or ideas to fill in the itinerary below:

Sept 1-4 chablis area
Sept 5-11 dijon area barge cruise
Sept 12-19?
Sept 19-26 Provence luberon area
Sept 26- 30 ?

Have not made any air flight arrangements so we are flexible on arrival and departure cities.

Thanks!

rhon

Will you have a car for your time in the Chablis region? We stayed in Villeneuve sur Yonne this year and visited this region. Chablis itself is a winemaking town with several places selling the wine and nice to walk around. We drove from Chablis to Irancy and it is a lovely drive. There is a viewpoint before you descend into Irancy which is lovely - Irancy is set in an amphitheatre surrounded by vines. We visited a wine cave in the village, bought some wine , and the owner could indicate where the grapes had grown.

The Abbaye de Pontigny is worth visiting. It celebrates 900 years this year and is quite impressive. The nearby town of St Florentin has a wonderful cathedral [ get the key from the tourist office ] with just beautiful stained glass . I really enjoy seeing lavoirs when we visit France, and there is a really impressive lavoir in Briencon sur Armancon.

If you want to go along the Yonne river, Joigny is a very old town with some wonderful old buildings.

Burgundy is one of our favourite regions in France. After Dijon, you could visit Beaune which is always popular. We really like the region around Macon. There are some lovely villages such as Brancion, Chapaize [a wonderful church ], Tournus [ lovely cathedral and cloisters ], St Gengoux le National Cluny, climb the Roche de Solutre for wonderful views. This is a great wine region - there is a very good wine co - op in Lugny and also Vire- Clesse. The Beaujolais region is also nearby.

Or you could visit the Drome region before moving onto the Luberon. Places such as Grignan, Le Poet Laval, Nyons.

This is my trip report from our trip this year. The first two weeks were in Provence, and if you skim through to the last three weeks, you will find the time we spent in Burgundy.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-of-france.cfm

Bon voyage.

bilboburgler

Irancy is lovely little village and you will also like St Bris (where the Sauvignon Blanc comes from) some of the cellars hollowed out of the rock below the town go back to the 1100s and you will find five floors of tunnels

wallybrenda

Thanks so much for all in information. We will likely have a car for the first 2-4 days before our barge trip depart in the Dijon area.

am also interested in biking the route de grand cru's ...perhaps before going to Provence.

wallybrenda

Thanks to all you great suggestions we have almost gotten our itinerary filled in:
Sept 2 arrive CDG train to auxerre
Sept 2-5 Auxerre chablis area
Sept 5-11 dijon area barge cruise
Sept 11-15Gite in Puligny Montrachet
Sept 15-18 Arles area
Sept 19-26 Provence luberon area
Sept 26-29 Chassis
Sept 31 Marseilles retune to US

Still looking for the perfect spot in the Luberon...so any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated!