hoodpt

My husband and I would appreciate help planning a leisurely drive through Burgundy on our way to Paris (CDG) from Grenoble in June. I am having a tough time choosing a route and deciding how many nights to stay in each place. I did a search and read some great trip reports but I'm having trouble coming up with a logical itinerary. A lot of the guidebooks show circular itineraries but we want to keep going and not backtrack.

Dates: we pick up our rental car in Grenoble on Sunday, June 23rd and turn it in at CDG, late afternoon on Saturday, June 29th. So 6 nights.

Background: we are in our 60s, have been to France 6 or 7 times, but not to this area in 35 years. This is the last part of a 4 week trip to Norway and France. Norway will leave us a bit battered financially, so we are hoping to keep lodging costs under $125-150US. Interests: good food and wine but on this trip no haute cuisine and no wine tasting, chateaux, scenic drives, picturesque villages, museums, shopping only in the sense that I like to wander up and down streets looking into a few shops. We like to try out our French. DH loves Roman ruins (so Autun?).

I've only come up with 2 nights in Beaune and maybe 2 nights in Auxerre or Vezeley. We've never been to Dijon, but wondered about the traffic. (We are still scarred by our encounter with Montpellier's one-way streets and our unintentional drive down the train tracks.) Then we need one night closer to Paris--Troyes?

Thanks so much!

FrenchMystiqueTours

Before I answer your question you must tell us more about driving on the train tracks in Montpellier. Did it look something like the first photo in this link:

http://www.funckr.com/funny-pictures...-woman-driver/

Just kidding. There are really loads of options even if you kept to the direct route between Grenoble and Paris. Since you'll be coming from Grenoble I'm assuming you'll probably have spent some time visiting that area and will have already seen mountains so a visit to Burgundy makes good sense.

Let me give you some tips on how to find scenic drives and see those small picturesque villages you seek.

Get your hands on the Michelin maps. You want the ones of the scale 1:200,000 (regional maps) or 1:150,000 (departmental maps, more detailed, cover slightly less area) for whatever regions you visit. A nice feature of the 1:150,000 maps is they show the starred attractions in the corresponding Michelin Green guidebooks. The Michelin maps have icons for all kinds of historically/touristically interesting things such as châteaux, ruins, churches, abbeys, scenic view points, caves, Roman sites, megaliths, designated scenic roads and many other things. Usually when I'm exploring various regions in France I just look at the map and I am able to plan interesting and scenic drives just reading the map. For instance, I usually look for a designated scenic road, which are highlighted in green, and I especially look for towns with the historic church and/or château icon. I also try to make sure the route goes through as many small villages as possible. Usually putting all these things together I find interesting and scenic drives without even knowing where I am going and with no assistance from a guide book. Often these places are never mentioned in guidebooks and remain completely unknown to many tourists.

You can buy the Michelin maps from their website and here is a link to the page that shows you the 1:200,000 scale maps of France: http://tinyurl.com/4bt96ev

And here is a link to the page that shows you the 1:150,000 scale maps of France:
http://tinyurl.com/6mt4n64

You could also buy them here but then you can't do research beforehand. The maps can be bought in many places such as bookstores, news stands, magazine stores, larger supermarkets, department stores, hypermarkets and in the full service rest areas on the autoroutes, just to name a few.

And speaking of Michelin, you can go to the website viamichelin.com and get info on drive times and distances, toll and fuel costs and suggested routes (i.e. scenic routes). The drive times given do not consider stops (fuel, food, bathrooms) nor do they consider bad weather and bad traffic. I find the drive times very accurate when these factors are accounted for.

You should also acquaint yourself with rules of the road in France and road signs and such and this website will give you some useful tips:

http://www.nickbooth.id.au/Tips/FrenchDrive.htm

There's a region of Burgundy I've never explored but have always wanted to and its in the area more or less west of Tournus. If you look at your map you'll see loads of designated scenic roads here. Driving through the area once or twice I've noticed it's got nice rolling hills and lots of tiny charming villages (Brancion, Uchizy, Chapaise and many others) plus the Château of Cormatin and nearby is Cluny and its famous abbey. Just driving randomly in this area you'll find many scenic drives and plenty of anonymous, quaint villages. Look at the tourist office website for this area for more info:

http://www.tournugeois.fr/fr/index.htm

Beaune makes a good base as well. It's been a while since I've been to Dijon but I know it can be a pain to drive in so if you visit there I'd just take the train from Beaune. Between Beaune and Dijon you can drive on a well known wine road starting north of Beaune in Nuits-Saint-Georges and then north of here picking up the D122 north towards Dijon. Many designated scenic roads west of here that you'll see on the map as well as the Château of Commarin. South of Beaune are other wine routes, designated scenic roads and quaint villages (like La Rochepot) and Autun is just further west. Châteauneuf-en-Auxois is a lovely medieval hilltop village west of Beaune.

Heading northwest of Beaune towards Paris and sort scattered in a wide area are Auxerre, Semur-en-Auxois, Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, Noyers-sur-Serein, Vézelay, Avallon, The Abbey of Fontenay and some well known châteaux. A bit west of Vézelay is a place I love called Guédelon where they are building a medieval castle using techniques from the 13th century:

http://www.guedelon.fr/en/

I've got a trip report about exploring a bit of this area and some of the places I mentioned. It has lots of photos if you want to have a look:

http://tinyurl.com/6wtm6u5

If you have a look at the link below you'll see I gave a lengthy response about exploring Burgundy and it's got links to the tourist office websites for every major town in Burgundy as well as to various abbeys and châteaux:

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

There are still many other options you could consider but you could do a lot worse than spending 6 nights in Burgundy. Have fun.

Michael

If you have a car and are willing to stay in the countryside, http://en.gites-de-france.com/ perfectly acceptable accommodations for less than $125 per night.

You might want to consider something other than Burgundy:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...29919999/show/

but if Burgundy, this might give you some ideas:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...55059630/show/

In both cases the order would be the reverse from your itinerary, as I put them in a general north to south order.

hoodpt

FMT: Actually taking wrong turns is in my blood. Many years ago in Portugal, my dad turned onto a small street and drove through the archway at the end...onto the terrace of a restaurant filled with people having breakfast. We got out of there fast, but came back and had lunch there later.
Back to our trip, I will take another look at your trip report and links, thanks for the many suggestions. Cluny is definitely on our list, so maybe we will spend time in that area before heading towards the other parts of Burgundy. And you're correct that we will have already seen the mountains and area around Grenoble.

Michael: we aren't locked into Burgundy, but it did seem the obvious way to go. I just got my Burgundy Jura green guide in the mail today and see many of the places in your "other than Burgundy" link. Very tempting to go in that direction as well.

Fabulous photos, both of you.

FrenchMystiqueTours

hoodpt - Perhaps your dad was just looking for drive thru service.

Good luck and come back if you have any questions.

hoodpt

After looking at many, many tourist office websites--great sources of information, thanks FMT--we have decided to follow your suggestion about exploring the area west of Tournus. I booked 2 nights in a b&b in Cluny, La Pierre Folle. http://www.lapierrefolle.com/
Then we will move north and stay 3 nights in a b&b between Auxerre and Avallon (in Massangis), Carpe Diem. http://www.acarpediem.com/

I'd love to get more comments and suggestions. Is the 2/3 split logical? I wasn't sure how to divide the days, but thought that seeing Vezeley, the Abbaye de Fontenay, Avallon, etc., might require more time. I haven't actually figured out an itinerary for the Cluny area, but I have ordered some 1/150 000 scale maps and I'm hoping the roads highlighted in green will help me put something together.

Also, there's one night left to book, our last night before heading for the airport hotel. I was thinking Troyes or Provins but it's a Friday night in summer and the hotel rates are pretty high. Does anyone have a favorite town to recommend? We have until 4pm on Saturday to explore, so that's why I thought of Troyes.

Thanks for the help!

FrenchMystiqueTours

I'm glad you actually spent the needed time looking at the tourist office websites. I post links to those often and I think because there's so much to look through most people get overwhelmed and don't bother digging into them. They are a wonderful resource.

I think if these are the two regions in Burgundy that interest you then you have picked two good bases and have done well splitting your time in the area.

As I said, I have only driven through that area near Tournus and haven't really explored it but I'm looking at my Michelin map right now and the main designated scenic road goes between Cluny and Brancion. However, IMO most of the roads in that small area are scenic even though they are not designated as such on the map. Focus on making your drives go through the small villages that have the historic church icon such as Brancion, Lugny, Chissey-les-Mâcon, Chapaize, Uchizy and others. If you are interested in prehistory there is a grotto not far from Cluny:

http://www.cluny-tourisme.com/index.php?aid=317

South of Cluny and sort of west/southwest of Mâcon you'll notice many designated scenic roads. This is an area of one of the most important archaeological sites in France, the Roche de Solutré:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Solutr%C3%A9

http://www.solutre.com/index.php

Over the last few years I have read at least half a dozen posts from people who have stayed at the Carpe Diem in Massangis and the reviews are all excellent so I'd say you picked a pretty good place.

I think Troyes would be a nice place to spend your last night. I've never been there but it is on my list. Provins is nice as well if you want a smaller town. Come back if you need more help.