ronandpenny

You have all been so helpful on another question, I would like to run my itinerary by you for comment and things to see. After a week in Paris and a one week barge cruise, we are renting a car and staying as follows:
Auxerre - 1 night (no reservation yet)
near Saulieau - 2 nights at Chateau Les Roches
Dijon - 2 nights at myhomeindijon apt.
My husband is very interested in wine and it will be harvest season (mid-Oct). I love the countryside v. cities. Suggestions?

PalenQ

If interested in wine i'd think Beaune would make a better base than Dijon.

Beaune sits more in the middle of the vineyards and you could do excursions along the Burgundy Wine Road each way from town

Dijon, like most French cities can suffer from horrific traffic and getting into it and out of it may be more aggravating than you think

(I have not driven into Dijon but i'm judging on similar size cities i've been in.)

traveller1959

Sorry to say this, but you seem to avoid Burgundy, at least the heart of Burgundy, by your itinerary.

- Auxerre is in Chablis, not in the Burgundy wine region

- Saulieu (is it that what you mean?) is at the fringe of the Burgundy wine region and certainly not in the heartland of great wines

- Dijon is a big city at the northern fringe of the wine region

IMO, the most interesting region (with big names like Gevrey-Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Aloxe-Corton..) is exactly the stretch BETWEEN Dijon and Beaune. Beaune is the capital of large wineries and wine dealers in Burgundy and a very charming historical medium-sized town (with lots of other attractions besides wine, especially the Hotel-Dieu).

We always chose to stay in one of the picturesque wine villages right in the midst of things. If you prefer staying in a big city, I would prefer Beaune over Dijon.

Look at the map (www.viamichelin.fr) and click on "hotel". It will display many options.

PalenQ

myhomeindijon.com, according to many rave reviews on Fodors is a great place and that may be reason enough to base there and then head down the Burgundy Wine Road on a day trip, despite the traffic in Dijon, etc.

In fact i'm booked in for this Sep 31st and looking very forward to it. Coco has promised to meet me at the station as she is apt to do - another great plus for tourists IMO

avalon

We've stayed in Aloxe -Corton and had no trouble driving into Dijon and parking just about in the city center.It's a nice and easy drive from there to Beaune and it takes you thru miles of vineyards and wineries. You don't say when you are going but there is a big wine auction in Beaune in October, you might want to check that out if it's near your dates.

avalon

If you haven't booked for Auxerre yet, I would reccomend Hotel Parc de Marechaux. Very centrally located and with free car parkingm very nice staff.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/hote...7fbc577d44c485

MaggieT

We were in Burgundy last year for five days at Les Roches, and totally loved it. You will too. We loved it so much we are returning next August, and renting the apartment on the grounds for a week. We are going mid August, as there is a huge Brocante there, every year at that time. We toured several of the wine regions, and didn't have any trouble navigating. You might however like to stay a little further south for a couple of days to do the vineyards south of Beaune, and the Beaujolais region, if you're interested in that. Nuit-St-Georges vineyards are wonderful. Enjoy your trip.

Kavey

We were in Burgundy last year and found it a fascinating region. We were driving from the UK so came down from the North.

We found that the northern part of the region was full of rather sad and worn villages, some of which had the most wonderful architecture but seemed hugely lacking in maintenance and life. I don't know if the area has suffered hugely from a population move away from rural villages and into cities but it was actually slightly depressing.

As we continued a little further we started to come across villages with more life. The charming Montreal, where we stopped overnight, was the opposite of the sad villages we'd seen earlier. It was clearly being pumped full of money by new buyers from Paris and overseas, including the English owner of our charming guest house, Maison Creme Anglaise.

Somewhat to our surprise we really loved Dijon. I couldn't really explain why really but both of us warmed to it and found it charming. A modern city with plenty of historical charm - a winning combination.

And we also didn't fall for Beaune as much as we expected though we felt it did exude lots of fascinating history. It fell into a slightly twee "quaint" category which we enjoyed visiting but didn't feel any particular pull to return to in the future.

We did love the beautiful rural vineyards between the two and surrounding Beaune as well as the many very charming villages and would certainly enjoy visiting these again and staying in more of them overnight. I think one of the ones we stopped in overnight was called Chateauneuf and was very pretty, though I suspect it gets overwhelmingly full of tourists in the summer.

Underhill

As you will be in Burgundy during the vendange (when the grapes are harvested), you may find it difficult to visit vineyards--everyone will be busy getting the grapes picked. I would strongly suggest that you write ahead to domaines that you would like to visit and see if you can schedule appointments.

Since wine is a major interest, I agree that your itinerary puts you somewhat north of the principal vineyards of the Côte d'Or and the other côtes. If you base yourself near Beaune you'll have better access; you could start your trip with a night in Dijon and then move toward the southern part of Burgundy, including perhaps the Beaujolais.

Underhill

Note to St-Cirq and Ira: sorry about that dangling modifier. Shame, shame.

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