14 Best Sights in Burgundy, France

This haven for foodies occupies a complex that combines starkly modern buildings and a renovated former hospital dating back to 1204, all sprawled over a 16-acre site at the southwest edge of the city. One of the contemporary wings houses an outpost of the Ferrandi culinary school and the Ecole des Vins de Bourgogne, which holds tastings and workshops. But the hub is the Gastronomic Village, an outdoor shopping mall with high-end food and wine shops, a culinary bookstore, and an on-site kitchen where top chefs hold live cooking demonstrations and masterclasses. One of the highlights is the Cave de la Cité,  an oenophile's paradise, with more than 3,000 different wines, 250 sold by the glass. Among the on-site eateries, you'll find the café-brasserie Comptoir de la Cité and the first-class restaurant La Table des Climats. There are also permanent and temporary food-focused exhibitions, a museum, a cinema complex, and a luxury Hilton hotel.

The elegant, classical exterior of this former palace can best be admired from half-moon Place de la Libération and the cour d'honneur. The kitchens (circa 1450), with their six huge fireplaces and (for their time) state-of-the-art aeration funnel in the ceiling, catch the eye, as does the 15th-century Salle des Gardes (Guard Room), with its richly carved and colored tombs and late-14th-century altarpieces. The palace now houses one of France's major art museums, the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Museum). The magnificent tombs sculpted for dukes Philip the Bold and his son John the Fearless (note their dramatically moving mourners, hidden in shrouds) are just two highlights of a rich collection of medieval objects and Renaissance furniture gathered here as testimony to Marguerite of Flanders (Philip the Bold's wife). She brought to Burgundy not only her dowry, namely the rich province of Flanders, but also a host of distinguished artists—including Rogier van der Weyden, Jan van Eyck, and Claus Sluter. Their artistic legacy can be seen here, as well as at several of Burgundy's other museums and monuments. Among the paintings are works by Italian old masters and French 19th-century artists, such as Théodore Géricault and Gustave Courbet, plus their Impressionist successors, notably Édouard Manet and Claude Monet.

The chief glory of this comparatively austere cathedral is its atmospheric 11th-century crypt, in which a forest of pillars is surmounted by a rotunda.

All that remains of this former charter house—a half-hour walk or a 10-minute bus ride from Dijon's center and now surrounded by a psychiatric hospital—are the exuberant 15th-century church porch and the Puits de Moïse (Well of Moses), one of the greatest examples of late-medieval sculpture. The well was designed by Flemish master Claus Sluter, who also created several other masterpieces during the late 14th and early 15th centuries, including one of the tombs of the dukes of Burgundy. If you closely study Sluter's six large sculptures, you will discover the Middle Ages becoming the Renaissance right before your eyes. Representing Moses and five other prophets, they are set on a hexagonal base in the center of a basin and remain the most compellingly realistic figures ever crafted by a medieval sculptor. The Well of Moses can only be visited as part of a guided tour arranged by the tourist office; reservations are required.

Situated a few kilometers south of Dijon at the beginning of the Route des Grands Crus, this domaine has vineyards that extend down to Vosne Romanée. It specializes in all three colors of Marsannay AOP (red, white, and rosé), but also produces Fixin, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, and Clos de Vougeot. Tours of its gleaming facilities (built in 1990 in traditional Burgundy style) include a visit to the cellars and the "Discovery" tasting includes six Côte d'Or wines for €39. Reservations are essential.

This stately 17th-century Renaissance mansion has a characteristic red, yellow, and green Burgundian tile roof—a tradition whose disputed origins lie either with the Crusades and the adoption of Arabic tiles or with Philip the Bold's wife, Marguerite of Flanders.

Dijon's contemporary arts center spills over two remarkable buildings: a former cassis factory and a newer modern wing designed by architect Shigeru Ban of Pompidou-Metz fame. The museum holds temporary exhibitions throughout the year, with recent successes that included the likes of Joe Bradley, Alex Israel, Brian Calvin, and Shara Hughes. There's also a small permanent collection, a library, a gift shop, and live concerts. Guided tours are offered weekends, and are included in the ticket price.

This museum, in the former abbey buildings of the church of St-Bénigne, outlines the history of the region through archaeological finds.

Housed in the former Cistercian convent, one museum here contains religious art and sculpture; the other has crafts and artifacts from Burgundy—including old storefronts saved from the streets of Dijon that have been reconstituted, in Hollywood-studio style, to form an imaginary street.

In a 17th-century mansion, this museum showcases a private collection of original furnishings and paintings from the 16th to the 19th century.

The natural history museum in the Pavillon de L'Arquebuse focuses on current issues such as sustainable development. It is part of an impressive botanical garden, the Jardin de l'Arquebuse, which showcases local and exotic plant life. Strolling among the wide variety of trees and tropical flowers provides a pleasant break from sightseeing.

One of the city's oldest churches, Notre-Dame stands out with spindlelike towers, delicate arches gracing its facade, and 13th-century stained glass. Note the windows in the north transept tracing the lives of five saints, as well as the 11th-century Byzantine linden-wood Black Virgin. Local tradition has it that stroking the small owl sculpted on the outside wall of the adjoining chapel with your left hand grants you a wish.

The meeting place for the old regional Parliament of Burgundy serves as a reminder that Louis XI incorporated the province into France in the late 15th century.

This church, with its chunky Renaissance facade, fast-forwards 300 years from Notre-Dame.