We will be driving from Strasbourg and Provence and are looking for a cute town to stay in overnight that is approximately half way, and not too far off the main road.

Any suggestions?

inor

The old walled city of Beaune is interesting. If you desire something smaller, the Chateau D'Igé just outside of Macon is charming and close to the autoroute. Another small charmer is the village of Perouges where the 3 Musketeers was filmed. It is a little NE of Lyon.

It depends on which route you're taking and where in Provence, but it doesn't get any prettier than the town of Annecy. You could take the route through Switzerland and just above Lake Geneva and end up at Annecy. Then down through Grenoble and Gap.

thank you for your help. I'll look into your suggestions?

Can you give me an idea of how big the walled part of Beaune is? Ie square blocks?

How about Dijon?
But it depends, like Patrick says, on which route you take.

AR, thanks for your reply, but I was looking for a smaller town. Something similar to the town in Chocolat

I can take any route as long as it doesn't take me out of the way.

Inor

The enchanting medieval, fortified village of Perouges.
About 23 miles south of Lyon

Why not stay in the town where Chocolat was filmed?

Flavigny-sur-Ozerain is easy to find. It's not far off the D905 northwest of Dijon. The D9 exit should take you right there. There is an abbey that makes candy in town so it will be signposted.

Has anyone been to Poligny? If so do you recommend it, and know a place to stay?

How strange you should ask about Poligny! Only this week I was trying to remember the name of it.
We stayed here one May when we had intended to spend time in Annecy but found it wetter than home and so much so that we never saw the mountains throughout the time we were there because they were completely covered in cloud. We decided to leave early and headed through the Juras. More
rain. After a very wet and car-bound day we pulled into Poligny with two fairly disgruntled children in the car. I went into the Hotel Paris and there behind reception was a swimming pool! Not quite manna from heaven but NOTHING would have been more welcome that day! I returned to the car laughing and kept every one guessing as to what was inside. We parked in the garage at the back and there was an old second world war car which looked as if it had been there since the Germans left. Yet another unexpected point about this hotel.
The hotel itself was typically small town France- garish wallpaper and old heavy furniture. It was still raining so we ate in.The food was very good.
Not expensive.

Dear Frances, thank you for your reply. I was able to find Hotel Paris on the web, and it is exactly what I am looking for.

Would you say it was a 2,3,4 star hotel? I'm not looking for anything fancy, just clean and decent beds.

Thanks, inor

So sorry for the delay, I have just seen your reply. I would say probably 2 star- but it was about 8 years ago that we were there so it may have improved since then. As I said earlier it was a life saver for us that very wet day!

Beaune in the Bergundy region. Small town of about 25,000, lots of great wine caves, can bicycle to lots of tiny wine villages etc. Good food too.

Larry J