Beaune travel guide

Beaune is a city in the Côte-d'Or department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France. Beaune has much to recommend as it is a bustling, wealthy, and charming place of pilgrimage for art lovers, wine lovers, and gastronomes.

Understand

Beaune succeeded Dijon as capital of the Duchy of Burgundy in its glory days. Today, Dijon is again the capital of Burgundy, a much bigger city, and an important site of industry as well as culture.

For the typical tourist, Beaune is a half-day town. The historic centre is charming and a pleasant place to walk around. The Hôtel-Dieu is a must-see but takes only about an hour or so. For the food and wine lover, there is not enough to time to spend in and around Beaune. Nearly every town along the Côte-d'Or has a fabulous restaurant and multiple places to taste wine. Even though the wine appellations in the Côte-d'Or are not far apart, the wines produced in relatively close appellations vary dramatically. The vineyards around Beaune form together with the historical centre of Dijon the world heritage site "Climats, terroirs of Burgundy".

Beaune makes a good base for exploring other small wine towns in the Côte-d'Or. It is centrally located about halfway along the wine route, and other famous nearby wine towns like Montrachet, Pommard, and Nuits-Saint-Georges are all a short drive from Beaune.

Hôtel-Dieu (Photo: Marion Schneider & Christoph Aistleitner --- Contact: Mediocrity, Public domain)

Get in

By car

Beaune is easily accessible by the motorways A6, A31, and A36 and is 2.5 h from Paris and 45 min from Lyon.

By train

There are regular trains departing from DIjon Gare to Beaune. It takes only 20 minutes and is one stop away; a one way ticket costs €8 (as of 2016). Beaune has a direct link from Paris-Bercy by Regional Express train (3½ hours). However, it is faster to take the TGV from Paris-Lyon to Dijon and connect to a local train (2½ hours). There are occasionally services from Paris-Lyon directly to Beaune, without the need to transfer.

• Beaune railway station (Gare de Beaune).

By plane

The nearest airports are in Dijon and Lyon.

Get around

Beaune is a good city for walking. The old centre of town is compact and is surrounded by a ring street that follows the old city walls. Park in the old center of town and walk in. There are a number of parking lots on the ring roads.

A car is required to explore the surrounding wine towns in the Côte-d'Or.

See

Polyptych of the Apocalypse (Photo: Rogier van der Weyden, Public domain)

• The Hôtel-Dieu (Hospices de Beaune), Rue de l'Hôtel-Dieu, ☏ +33 3 80 24 45 00, fax: +33 3 80 24 45 99, hospices.beaune@wanadoo.fr. A former almshouse, a hospital and refuge for the poor, founded in 1443. It is now a museum and features the Polyptych of the Apocalypse by Rogier van der Weyden and is a stunning example of Burgundian architecture.

Do

Visit some of the local wineries, and indulge in a tasting.

• Marché aux Vins, ☏ +33 3 80 25 08 20, fax: +33 3 80 25 08 21, marcheauxvins@kriter.com. Open all year, 7 days a week (except 25 December and 1 January) from 09:30 to 11:45 and 14:00 to 17:45. From July 1st to August 31st, open from 09:30 to 17:45. €10 per person.
• VisioTrain 2000. An open train with tyres that takes visitors on a tour around all the city's primary attractions. Audio commentary is played in the carriages with various languages available, including English and French. The full ride takes about 50 minutes, departing in front of the Hotel-Dieu at specific times throughout the day.
• Burgundy Evasion Bike Tours, 8, hameau du Chateau 71150 Rully, toll-free: +33 664 688 357, info@bourgogne-evasion.fr. 09:000-18:00. Travel agency specialized in bike and wine tours in Burgundy. Guided bike tours depart from Beaune every day. They also provide bicycle rentals. from €32.
• La Moutarderie Fallot, 31 Rue du Faubourg Bretonniere, ☏ +33 3 80 22 10 02, moutarde@fallot.com. 09:00 to 16:00. A family-owned mustard facility, in the Fallot family since 1840.

Buy

There is an outdoor market every Saturday morning. A wide variety of goods, including food, is available at this market. Note that the city is very crowded on market days. There is a Leclerc hypermarket on the outskirts of town, close to the exit of the A6.

Eat

There are many good restaurants in Beaune. Classic Burgundian dishes include beef bourguignon, coq au vin, oeufs meurette, escargot, and Époisses cheese.

• Le Conty, 5 rue Felix Ziem, ☏ +33 3 80 22 63 94. A good brasserie, with terrasse for the summer, and a caveau for the winter. 3-course menu with wine €25.

Drink

The local wines: the reds are all pinot noir and the whites are almost all chardonnay (the exception is Aligote, which is usually mixed with crème de cassis to make a kir).

Sleep

• Hotel Carline (800 metres from the centre). 3-star hotel.
• Hotel Le Panorama (in vineyards, near the historic centre). 3-star hotel.

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