december

We are traveling to Paris the first week of December and would like a side trip (just for a long day and under 2.5 hours by train). We are debating betwee Beaune, Dijon, Lyon, and Reims. We are in our late 30's early 40's; 3 couples who enjoy history, interesting architecture and good food and wine. Which of these cities would be the most appealing that time of year (knowing all will be chilly and possibly rainy)?

Michel_Paris

Been to Reims (Janueary) and Lyons (October). Weather wise, with Lyons being the furthest south, might expect it to be warmer.

Reims has a great cathedral, many champagne cellars, and a nice town. Very close to Paris, easy day trip on SNCF.

Lyons is further, would need to go by TGV. I liked it quite a bit. Know for its cuisine, and UNESCO designated Old Town. Some very nice squares and museums, ruins of old roman amphitheatre, exceptional museum with Roman artifacts, site of the first "christians vs lions" meeting, good metro system, junction of two rivers so you can get some scenic views...you could easily do more than one day (I was there for 4), hill with cathedral overlooking city, Paris of the south.

Graziella5b

I prefer Lyon by far, but if you must go only for a DAY, seems to far and will miss a lot.

Beaune is a little town, interesting, good wines and food, and you could visit only the famous Hospice. I guess I would choose between Reims and Beaune.

indytravel

I've been to all 4 in the last 4 years. I have an overview generalization. I also have trip reports from each city. You can click on my name and look for them.

Really into champagne? Reims. It has a great cathedral and a fascinating WWII site, the museum of surrender (reddition). It's where WWII with Germany ended. The room is exactly as it was over 50 years ago.

Really into food? Lyon. It's the culinary center of the known universe.

Really into wine? Beaune. It's a town almost completely devoted to wine.

Really into art? Dijon. It has one of the finest art museums in France outside of Paris.

I'll mention a few things against your selections.

Lyon is another big city like Paris. It's fascinating and I love visiting there and EATING there. But you won't get a feel for a smaller place.

Beaune is just wine. The town lives and breathes it. It can be full of daytripper wine-o's though maybe not so much in December.

Dijon's city center is very narrow. Not many plazas for watching people, but it will be December so you won't be outside at cafes unless you're extremely lucky with the weather.

Reims? I'm thinking. A down side doesn't come to mind as it's big enough to have more to do then champagne.

May I throw out another idea? Troyes. It's not really on the typical tourist map. It has a beautiful medieval half-timbered old town. A small art museum, churches, museums and the like make it interesting. There's also outlet shopping on the outskirts of town that surely have public transportation to visit. Here's a link to my Troyes daytrip report from last December.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34718710

Of your original 4, I'd pick Reims.

FauxSteMarie

I have been to all 4 cities. Beaune would probably require a change of train in Dijon. Not sure if the train goes there at all.

Have you been to Fontainebleau? That is an interesting day out and not too far from Paris.

My second choice would be Dijon considering how quickly you could get there by train (as opposed to Beaune or Lyons).

Reims is also a nice day out.

Hey, it is your trip. You choose. We can't do this for you by voting on a forum. My two cents is that the only clear deletion should be Lyon. Too much to see for only a day and too much train travel for one day as well as compared to Dijon or Reims.

december

Thank you all so much for the helpful replies. We definitely want a quaint town and Troyes sounds interesting. Beaune looks beautiful on the web as does Dijon. Fodors seems to downplay the beauty of Reims, although i've been told it's attractive as you all have confirmed. We've been to the Loire Valley in the past; just want to try something different but with an unfortunately quick turnaround. Any other suggestions or amplifications would be appreciated.

Dave_in_Paris

For history and architecture, Senlis, in the Oise and Honfleur in Normandy, the former with a big edge on travel time from Paris. Neither serves your interest in wine (Sancerre, a charming hilltop town in in the Cher, would) but wine you can enjoy in Paris.

bilboburgler

December in France can be cold and in tourism you could end up running from shop to shop to keep warm or rain off.

Honfleur is very pretty but many of the artists will have flown south.

Beaunne is great. It can be possible to book a half day course on wine at the wine institute there (worth a hunt on the web). The actual town is a bit pretty but not as nice as Chablis.

Reims is good but all you get is fizzy wine.

Other options

Bescancon
Strasbourg ( a bit far)
SOme of the villages in Alsace
Bayeux for the tapestry

clairobscur

Just wanted to mention that Beaune sin't solely about wine. It's a really charming town in itself, well worth a visit(not that I specifically advise to pick this one, just saying).

cocofromdijon

>Dijon's city center is very narrow. Not many plazas for watching people< as you said they won't be using the terraces much, but what about museums, exhibitions, walks in the town center? (and its charming narrow medieval streets).
Go to the tourist office and ask for "the owl's trail" brochure so you won't miss anything nice.
Here are my Dijon pics (all seasons): http://tinyurl.com/okerl
and Dijon is only 1h40 from Paris

Happy travels!
coco

Viajero2

I strongly recommend you consider the gorgeous town of BOURGES, about an hour train ride fron Paris. It is a very quaint town with the most spectacular cathedral I've seen in France, the Cathedral of St Etienne. This cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and considered one of the great masterpieces of Gothic art (b. late 12th Century). It blew me away. The town is very walkable with the medieval feeling of narrow streets and timber-framed houses, churches, fountains, great restaurants, just incredibly interesting. There are about 3-4 museums, some of which have great displays of the town's Roman past. I particularly liked the Jacques Cour residential Palace. Just walking around this town's streets you'll be transported back in time, it is so well preserved. All of these sights are within walking distance of each other. I believe their train schedule have several train trips to/from Paris during the day, something to consider giving the fact you are daytripping in December. By the way, they have great perfumes and scarves stores.

Viajero2

December-- a quick note: are you looking for a book to read on the plane? Strongly recommend "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. I first read this book about 14 years ago and still think it is a great, great story. Double rec if planning to visit a lot of Cathedrals!

Cimbrone

Thanks, coco, for those pics. Makes me want to add Dijon to my itinerary for next June. Do you know how the monthly antiques fair in the parc des expos is? Worth building my trip around?

Cimbrone

I hate to hijack this thread, but a few more questions for coco: Is it practical to have a car while staying in Dijon (particularly at my_home_in_dijon?) Is there anyway to get to Vezelay from Dijon by public transportation? How long a drive is it? Thanks!

cocofromdijon

<Makes me want to add Dijon to my itinerary for next June.> Great idea Cimbrone ;-)
I'm not sure there is a monthly antique fair at the parc expo, it is once a year and is very famous (12-21 May this year and 11-20 May 2007)http://tinyurl.com/jha8h
and http://tinyurl.com/hacyv

There is also a monthly antique market in the old streets of Dijon (rue Verrerie, quartier des antiquaires) every 3rd Sunday of the month.

And every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday morning (food market days) you'll find some merchants on place Grangier and rue de Soisson.

You don't need a car at all when in Dijon. Last year some of my guests took a bus to go to Vezelay. It is a about 120km from Dijon.
Voilà!
coco

ira

Hi D,

I would add Auxerre to the list of possibilities.

vedette

I have been to almost every place mentioned, and would return to any of them. But, how about Rouen? I think that would make a terrific day trip.

FauxSteMarie

There are day trips on tour buses from Dijon to various destinations in Burgundy during the season. The destinations do include Vezelay, but I don't think any of that would be available in December.

One word of warning for winter trips: It might be very cold and rainy. You might want to think of cutting down on day trips (not any fun if it is raining) and focusing on the museums in Paris. We had a similar situation arise during a Rome home exchange for Christmas 2004. We had to focus on indoor tourist attractions such as museums until the weather got sunny--and we had 10 straight days of rain on a 17 day trip.

I don't think any of the cities you mentioned would be a good day trip in the rain. The Louvre is a great way to kill a rainy there. You can go 50 times and still find plenty to see.

Ronda

I agree with the previous poster. If raining, it can be miserable. Make sure you have good rain gear. When we were in Brugge in the rain lots of tourists had ponchos with hoods - not too stylish but I wish I had one to go over my coat.

If considering Beaune, you should check their website as I have heard that the town gets very crowded during some type of festival of lights the first part of December - but then you won't be staying overnight so a hotel room would not be a problem. Beaune is small and quaint and of course the train goes there just maybe not the TGV. If there is a festival going on, perhaps there will be a market of some sort. That would be fun.

Lyon is larger and very nice as well but for a day trip you better have a battle plan so you can hit the ground running. We really enjoyed the old town and the cathedral up on the hill.

I do hope to make it to Dijon next time. It looks lovely as well.

december

I've been researching the different recommended possibilities. It looks as though Reims is 25euro pp and 1.5 hr by train; Dijon is 50euro pp and 1.5 hr (Beune is 2.10 hr and 60 euro pp and changes in Dijon); Bourges appears to be 2.5 hrs. As I was running the search, I noticed a special to Avignon on the TGV (26euro pp and 2.5 hr by train). We would be visiting one of these cities on a Monday, and all appear to have annual Xmas markets (although I am unsure whether the markets would be open on a Monday). I'm leaning towards Avignon with Reims and Dijon/Beaune tied as a close second based on price and travel times(havent ruled out the other suggestions either). Any thoughts on Avignon and/or the Xmas markets in any of those locations? I recognize that it will likely be rainy-that's why I'm leaning towards a slightly larger city rather than a smaller village. Also, is there any reason I couldnt wait until the day of travel to reserve my train ticket for any of those destinations so i can gauge the weather? Thanks! I'll post a trip report upon our return (we are staying at the Hotel Lutece while in Paris).