tower

http://www.hotel-athanor.com/uk/hote...aune-photo.php

MaiTai..this is included in my pix..comfortable and fair priced at about $130-150. Free parking in public lot two blocks up the street. Two blocks from Hospice. Breakfast is rather skimpy and highly priced but there are several options around town, one of which is across from the town carousel (see pic). Stu

Yo, socialworker...in California yet? How is Nick doing?
stu

PalenQ

Dijon IME is a typical large French city with little charm compared to the much more smaller town - large small town feeling of a Beaune. French large cities IME often become ghost towns at night and on Sundays as most stores have to close due to France's archaic store closing laws. I have stayed in both a couple of time but Beaune will be to the liking of the average traveler and what they are looking for. Be sure to visit Dijon in the daytime when it is alive as as French cities go it is pretty nice.

That said I have not stayed in Dijon in a decade or so so maybe it is livelier at night now - doubt it - I often stay in Orleans, a similar sized city that is completely dead at night and on Sundays except some restaurants and cafes being open.

Well this is all a very subjective thing so others' opinions are just as valid in choosing Dijon - depends on what you are looking for!

progol

On a long ago trip to France, we stayed several nights in Beaune and loved it. We made a day trip to Dijon, and while we enjoyed the city, we were happy to stay in Beaune for the reasons others have mentioned.

And I want to add my kudos to jamikins -- once again, your photos are outstanding! As yestravel says, they are a wonderful advertisement for Burgundy!

muskoka

We had the same dilemma and decided to stay in Beaune instead of in Dijon. The town is lovely, historic, small enough to walk it, has good restaurants and is very close to the winding roads of wine country.

The "Jardins" is a restored small chateau, the propietors, Anne-Marie and Philippe are just two of the nicest people - and we seriously didn't want to leave!

http://www.jardinsdelois.com/en/esprit/

muskoka

maitaitom: This is the room we had. It was a free-standing structure in front of the chateau and had windows which overlooked the gardens. It was wonderful!

http://www.jardinsdelois.com/en/chambres/renardes/

HappyTrvlr

We stayed in Beaune and visited Dijon for a day. We liked both locations.
In Beaune, HOtel Le Cep was well located, charming.

jamikins

Thanks progol!!

YankyGal

It's sounding to me like you can't go wrong with either! I was in both this past September and preferred Dijon. Perhaps it was the time of year, but Beaune was overrun with tourists. And I know they're everywhere - and I was one - but really, really overrun. Someone on another board thinks it has become "Disney-fied" over the years, but I don't think I'd go that far...

Are you on TA at all? If so, I'd contact Burgundy Guide for potential wine tours. She and I exchanged a few emails, but just weren't able to meet up because of time constraints on our parts.

Enjoy! I fell in love with that area on this past trip and can't wait to go back.

Micheline

Dijon is my pick. It's worth staying there just for Coco. She even meets you at the train station and drives you to her rental and takes you for a short tour of Dijon. And the market there is great.

waterdog

We stayed in Beaune for five days a few Septembers ago. We found it a great place to base ourselves. Many restaurant choices. We did not have a car. We had a very nice stay in the Hotel le Cep. The Saturday market in Beaune was a fun place in which to wander.
We took the train to Dijon for a day trip. We also booked two tours that picked us at our hotel in Beaune. One was a wine tour with the Pygotts at Burgundy Discovery and the other was a Burgundy Heritage tour with Tracey Thurling at Burgundy by Request. Both were excellent!

cocofromdijon

Thanks for supporting Dijon! As Jamikins and tower have great pictures about Beaune I think it is fair to answer with Dijon TO's video... http://www.destinationdijon.com/en/dijon_video.htm

Wherever you choose to stay, you won't be disappointed and they are just 30min away from each other by train.

Judy

We stayed in Beaune at Le Cep and really enjoyed our stay but it has been a few years.

One of our favorite experiences while there was a wine tasting lunch in Puligny-Montrachet at Olivier Leflaive. Not certain if they still offer this but we had a very nice meal with excellent wines and learned a lot.

Treesa

Love them both but Beaune is so bucolic. As Coco said they are so close to each other. If you have a car perhaps Beaune would be more convenient. You really can't go wrong by choosing one over the other.

PalenQ

Coco cherie: Are you still renting out your flat - if so give an email address for folks above who may not know about your excellent service and place - one reason for heading to Dijon IMO!

yestravel

Yes, Coco still rents her flat -- I gave the info many posts up on this thread
My Home in Dijon.
http://www.myhomeindijon.com

StCirq

Hard to decide, because I am very much a small town person, but I would think Dijon would suit your better.

I don't think Coco can give out her info her on Fodors personally, but you've got it, and I would go for it.

MaineGG

We chose Beaune for a base because of the ease of driving in and out of a small town every day. We daytripped to Dijon one day by train and did the Owl Trail. Dijon is beautiful and interesting and I'd love to get back there someday to spend more time. We chose our day to visit based on Coco's recommendation to visit the Eiffel-designed covered market on a market day. It's impressive.

I did a trip report and posted some photos of Dijon and other places we visited from Beaune. We loved this region of France. You really cannot make a wrong choice here. Can't wait for the trip report!

After visiting Burgundy, I watched the wonderful documentary "A Year in Burgundy." I wish I had seen it before going. It's available for streaming on Netflix (here in the US).

socialworker

If we had had a rental car, we might also have chosen Beaune, but we were pedestrians...

Thanks for the reference to that documentary, Maine. We will be sure to watch it.

The only bad part of our 3 nights in Dijon including a day trip to Beaune, is that it was beastly hot!!! That left us drained w/o a lot of ambition to go on the kinds of long walking explores that we so love when in European cities and towns. Going in the autumn will be much more likely to be better weather.

cocofromdijon

"The only bad part of our 3 nights in Dijon including a day trip to Beaune, is that it was beastly hot!!!" You're right, we sometimes have heat waves but they don't last that long. This one was the worst ever!

socialworker

Oh, coco, so then my paranoia is true and not imagined, that the worst heat in Europe is reserved for when I am traveling .....this happens to me *every* time I happen to go to Europe in June, going back 40+ years!

Even when we purposely chose October for Florence, a few years back--to avoid their well-known heat--there was an unseasonable hot snap that lasted for our entire 5 night stay!