Hello- I am driving from Paris down South this summer and I wanted to stop along the way for one night to break up the trip. Any suggestions about a town/hotel/village in that direction that won't take us too far off the Autoroute?

Avallon! A beautiful stop.
I suggest the Hotel de la Poste.

The Château d'Igé, in the village of the same name, is in southern Burgundy and would take you about half way to the South. It's a lovely small hotel with a good restaurant and is not at all far off the autoroute.

And if you don't mind going off the autoroute abit. My two favorites are:
In Avallon, "La Moulin des Ruats" the only place that I have truite Bleu and the same place my favorite food writer did-MFK Fisher.
The second is the incredible medievil village of Peruges, unlike anywhere else in Burgundy.

We stayed at Chateau d'Ige last month based upon some recommendations here. I would not recommend it myself. There is no AC and our room which was not inexpensive had one window overlooking the parking lot.

The Chateau itself was about a half hour drive from the autoroute, and though it is out in the country and the drive to it is attractive, it is on a small piece of property, surrounded by other houses, and feels very enclosed.
There are no views from the Chateau, and I looked at several of the suites and they were rather dark and depressing. On the plus side, the bathroom in our room was beautiful and new, and the restaurant was okay. It is pobably a more agreeable place to stay in the fall. It is just to "cozy" for the summer!

oops.. that should be too cozy...

Chateaus are always the most boring stays we have had through our many years. Until we feel infirmed. We avoid them.
We are more people oriented.

You surely wouldn't want to stay at Chateau d'Ige if you were infirmed! I almost broke my neck coming down the old spiral stone staircase that is the only way up to the suites which I take a look at.

We have stayed in a few that we really liked. Chateau de Sully in Normandy was light, bright and cheerful on beautiful grounds, and over the years we've found a few others like that....but for the most part, you may be right.