A few days in… Burgundy

Day 1: Dijon – owls, markets and mustard

Take it easy on your first full day with a tour of the old town on the Dijon Owl Trail (Parcours de la Chouette). Most people start the route from Notre Dame de Dijon, which is where the famous owl is situated. The statue, carved by an unknown stonemason during the later renovations of the original church, somehow took on superstitious significance and is now worn smooth from all the times it’s been touched for luck. If you’re tempted to summon the owl’s charm for yourself, be aware it’s usually touched only with the left hand.  

From the owl, the trail is about 3km long and how much of your day it takes up depends on how long you stop in each location. An app can give you descriptions and details of the historic buildings which might pique your interest for further investigation, and the temptation to stop for coffee in Bareuzai square or lose yourself in Les Halles covered market could easily add hours to your owl time. There’s also, of course, a mustard museum, but having not been or heard first-person testimony, we can’t be sure that it’ll cut it. 

Day 2: Morvan – natural beauty and Eastern wonder 

To the west of Dijon is the Parc naturel régional du Morvan, a huge green space with plenty to explore. Various trails can send you on some wonderful hikes that pass historic monuments, war memorials, museums and the falls of Gouloux, but a particular curiosity is available in the south of the park. This is Palden Shangpa, a colourful, multi-storey Buddhist temple built in the 70s near the village of La Boulaye. It houses enormous statues and many paintings, with impressive gardens to wander through once you’ve been wowed by the interior.

If you’re around at 9am or 6pm, you can see rituals and songs taking place. It’s about an hour and three quarters from Dijon, so worth incorporating into a day trip, with the falls of Gouloux about an hour north, giving you a great excuse to drive through most of the park – a scenic ramble along the D2. There are numerous spots to jump out and take in the sights, as well as walking routes that mean the day isn’t all travel.

Day 3: Beaune & Meursault – wood and wine 

Just down the road from Dijon, about a 40-minute drive, are two small towns separated by just a few fields. The first, Beaune, is a beautiful place dominated by the Hospices de Beaune, a former hospital which is now a museum for the region. It’s a simply marvellous building that you can’t miss, with patterned roof tiles and colourful beams that bring a glow to the square on which it sits. It’s worth a wander at any time of year, but if you’re around on the third weekend of November, you can join in the massive charity auction that’s been running since 1859, in which wine is sold, often in barrels, to raise money for the hospital, now housed elsewhere in a more modern building.  

The second town, a little further south, is Meursault which, along with nearby Chassagne Montrachet and Puligny Montrachet, produces some of the world’s finest white wines. The area is less popular with tourists than some of the more famous French wine regions, and is less well-known even than its Burgundian neighbour Chablis, meaning you can still stroll up to a winery like Bernard Delagrange et Fils and throw yourself into a tasting without having to make an appointment.  

Day 4: Nuits-Saint-Georges – Cheese and wine, with blackcurrant! 

Heading south again, about half an hour from Dijon, you reach the village of Nuits-Saint-George. Here you’ll find the Cassisium, a museum and tasting centre dedicated to Burgundy’s other great export, blackcurrant liqueur. You’ll learn about production in the area, as well as the history of the Kir cocktail, restored to popularity after the Second World War by Burgundian Catholic Priest Felix Kir, whose name it came to be known by. There are also family-friendly tastings, with non-alcoholic versions of the drinks so that children can join in.

To round out a flavourful day, head east for about 15 minutes to Abbaye Notre-Dame de Cîteaux, although not if you have a sensitive nose. For hundreds of years, monks have crafted the eponymous cheese in this beautiful abbey. Production is still small-scale, and you won’t find this in your local supermarket, or even most specialist cheese shops, so this is a rare chance to pick some up. It’s a fairly pungent number and not the sort of thing you want to stick in a hot car for the journey home, so it’s probably best enjoyed in Burgundy itself, with a glass of one of the region’s wonderful white wines to compliment its nutty, earthy flavour. 

Day 5: Saint Roman – clifftop views and local food 

For the final day, we recommend a lazy morning and a moment of pause in one of Dijon’s many fine cafés, before heading south and a little east to enjoy some natural splendour. Here, just outside Beaune, you’ll find Saint Romain, a village in which the ruins of an ancient abbey take pride of place and command what you’d think are the most stunning valley views you’ll see for a while. In fact, they’ll be upstaged within minutes. Towering over Saint Romain are the cliffs of the same name, and from here you can see for miles.  

There’s a lovely hike to the town of Orches, about 8km away, that hugs the clifftops and contains only one challenging plunge and climb, but for many it’s enough simply to arrive at the top and take in the scenery. For a late lunch or dinner, head back to Beaune and visit Bon Acceuil, one of those simple rural restaurants which France does so well, serving traditional food (yes, there are often snails on the menu) alongside a wine list that features some familiar names and some fantastic regional specialities waiting to be discovered. 

 

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