dmorr06

My wife and I will be traveling to France next week. We will fly into Paris and take a train to Beaune for some wine tasting then back to Paris after 3 days. Does anyone have any suggestions for hotels in Beaune (walking distance--we don't have a car) with a charge of less than or around US$250. Any suggestions on a reputable and good minivan tour through the wine country from Beaune? Lastly, do we need to reserve a train ahead of time or can we just walk up to the trains and buy a ticket?
Thanks

bilboburgler

Have you booked a wine course at the school?

dmorr06

Sorry, this is my first trip to France. I'm not aware of a wine class. We essentially only have 2 days in Beaune and we wanted to walk around the city and shop, drink wine/coffee and take in the sights of the town. We also want to hop a minivan and see the country/wineries. Do you think we can fit in a wine class? It does sound interesting.

traveller1959

I highly recommend this self-guided, very atmospheric visit:

www.marcheauxvins.com

A very stylish way to get completely drunk.

Royal

Although I have never been to Burgundy my sister & husband were in Beaune for a 2 day stay in May.

They stayed at Hotel Grillon in town and liked it very much.

Not sure of the price so you will have to check their website.

jamikins

We also stayed at HOtel Grillon when we were in Beaune in 2006. It is a bit out of town, but walkable (about 20 mins I think)...just not right in town. We would stay there again.

ira

Hi D,

The www.hotel-grillon.fr is about a 20 min walk to the center of Beaune.

We very much enjoyed our stay there.

Details are in my trip report:
Ira Does France (Bordeaux, Dordogne, Paris)
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34676645

Underhill

Here's someone who was recommended on this board about a year ago:

Colette BARBIER ([email protected])
www.burgundy-guide.com

dmorr06

She is out of town for the month. Any other suggestions? She looked perfect.

Underhill

Many French people will be out of town during the month of August...that's the country's main vacation time. You might find it difficult to arrange something at this point, but here's information from another fodor post.

We are just returned from two weeks in France which started with a week in Burgundy. During our stay, we did two different wine tasting tours, both of which we enjoyed. I wanted to leave this post because of the difference in cost between the two. First, we did a day long tour with Max Renau, who is relatively new to the business. He can be found at www.dijon-rentalhome.com, or through his wife's email, [email protected]. Max is a native of Burgundy and very knowledgeable about wines. He took us to three vineyards, a fabulous lunch, and a tour of the Hospices de Beaune and Clos de Vougeot as well. There were four of us on the tour (I think his limit is six), and the cost was 50 euros apiece plus lunch. Max got into this business because he also rents apartments in Dijon, and he initially started putting together tours for his rental clients. His English is excellent, and he is warm, sociable, and flexible about timing, locations, activities, etc. All in all, could not have been better.
Our second tour, two days later, was with Burgundy Discovery -- www.burgundydiscovery.com. David and Lynne have been in the business for a few years, and they give an excellent tour. We did their Grand Tour, which included tastings at three vineyards and another wonderful lunch. The tastings were more elaborate than the ones Max put together (five or six wines instead of three or four), and the vineyards were a little more high end. David and Lynne are both very knowledgeable, and English is their first language. There were six of us on this trip as well -- again, that is the maximum number. By the way, we structured the tours this way for a specific reason: We were arriving in Burgundy a day ahead of our travelling companions and were staying in Dijon because the train connection was easier. We are also more interested in wine than our friends, so we thought we would take advantage of the extra day to do a little more touring. We originally asked David and Lynne about picking us up in Dijon, but they were unable to do so -- which is why we ended up contacting Max. He picked us up at one hotel in Dijon and dropped us off at another closer to Beaune later in the afternoon. In our opinion, his operation is a little more user-friendly than Burgundy Discovery.
Anyway, the cost of the Burgundy Discovery tour was 200 euros apiece -- quite a substantial difference. I am not making any judgment about whether Burgundy Discovery was worth the premium -- just saying that we really enjoyed both tours. Those with financial considerations should think about contacting Max for sure.

bilboburgler

The wine school is normally for larger groups and more technical than just generally interesting. The tasting in the cellars in front of the hospice is reasonable and vry controlled. I spent a happy two weeks tasing up the area but the one I enjoyed the most (and expected the least) was Chateau Fixan. There is also a very good lunch of 12 wines and foods that go well with Olivier LaFleuve (bet my spelling is off) which can be googled and booked

dmorr06

Thank you all for the posts. They have been very helpful.
Doug

suzanne484

bookmarking

Gretchen

Before replying, look at the dates.