Review of Itinerary for Burgundy
 

We will be in France this coming March, beginning with 5 days in paris, 6 days in Burgundy, and ending with 3 days in Amsterdam.

We would like help with the Burgundy portion of our itinerary. We have planned this based on previous posts noting time allocated to each of the villages. We want to enjoy our visit to each of the villages, and do not feel pressured to visit them all. This is a prelimiary itinerary, but we will take each day as it comes.

We have already booked our trains and would not like to change them.

March 20) Arrive in Lyon at 8:26am, spend day in Lyon; Lyon overnight
March 21) Rent car in am for day trip to Annecy; Lyon overnight
March 22) Day trip to Beaujolais, driving to Beaune in the evening; Beune overnight
March 23) Beune farmers market in am, day trip to Dijon; Beune overnight
March 24) Visit Vezelay, Avallon, Noyers, Seur en Axois; drive to Auxerre for the night
March 25) Visit Chablis, Chatillon sur Seine/Troyes, if we have time; Auxerre over night
March 26) Day in Auxerre; Depart to Amsterdam at 4:37pm

Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks a bunch!

I do not think that just an afternoon in Dijon is really worthwhile. The city is too large to be grasped in that brief time.


You are obviously trying to not change location every night, but it does not work if going to Troyes and then back to Auxerre.

I suspect that March 24 is too crowded.

What's in Chablis?

What's in Chatillon sur Seine?

Tonnerre might be of interest.

In dijon be sure to pick up a map of the Owl Trail from the Tourist Office and follow it around town!

Would the day in Dijon be worthwile?

I generally do not like driving at night, which means that I would consider Dijon worthwhile if staying there overnight, because it would give me the opportunity to have a nice dinner there in the evening and wander around the old town afterward.

Although Dijon is certainly worth more than a day, we only had a day and enjoyed a daytrip from Beaune. The train takes around 30 minutes and the station in Dijon is within easy walking distance of the areas of interest. There is a Tourist Office by the station where you can pick up a map and guide for the Owl Trail. It is easy to follow and takes you by the major sights. Try to go on a day when there is a market in the Eiffel-designed market building.

If you click on my username, you will find my trip report and photos for our trip that included Lyon, Annecy, Troyes and many spots in Burgundy.

I think you're itinerary only needs a little fine tuning but is OK otherwise. I only spent a half a day in Dijon and although I didn't see all it had to offer I felt it was worth it even with only half a day. Taking the train from Beaune to Dijon would be more efficient but then on the other hand if you drove and had enough daylight after your visit to Dijon you could drive back to Beaune through some of the nice little towns/villages between Beaune and Dijon (on the D974) such as Gevrey-Chambartin, Nuits-Saint-Georges etc.

On March 24 I think you're trying to see too much. I would do Semur, Avallon and then end up in Vezelay and stay the night there. Semur is prettiest from outside the village so focus on walking along the river starting in the western portion of town around through its south. On March 25 you could do Noyers, Chablis and then perhaps the chateau in Ancy-le-Franc and then finish up in Auxerre and spend the night. I don't know what you want to see in Chatillon-sur-Seine and unless you rework things a bit then doing Troyes might not make the most sense logistically. Also, I've never been to Chablis and although it is famous for its noted beverage I don't know that the town itself warrants a visit so you might swap it for something else. Other places in that area worth a visit would be the Chateau de Tanlay and the Abbey of Fontenay.

Use the website www.viamichelin.com to figure out drive times and routes and calulate how much time you need to spend in each destination and consider you'll need lunch and a bit of relaxing time as well.

I'm a great fan of FrenchMystiqueTours' advice. For your daytrip from Lyon to Annecy, you might want to take a look at the route suggestions he gave me in this post:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ins-annecy.cfm

We followed the routing between Aix-les-Bains and Annecy that took us up to the Semnoz plateau. It was my favorite drive of the trip - beautiful scenery and views. Because you're going in March, you would definitely need to check out the weather and road conditions. It's a narrow, winding road.

I'm a fan of yours too MaineGG. :)