Sens Cathedral, and famous Hospices de Beaune. You can also savor award-winning wines from Beaune's Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault and Gevrey-Chambertin, and be a part of history by visiting the largest French royal chateaux, the Palace of Fontainebleau.
Before or after it I recommend our Paris tours and other tours in France.
Burgundy is packed full of weird and wonderful things to do and see. Lovers of wine and food come here from all over the world to sample the many delights on offer. As with visits to all foreign countries you would struggle to fit everything in. That is why it makes sense to hire a
personal chauffeur for your tour in France; your own personal driver will take you to visit all the best sights in the area, eliminating a great deal of aggravation that normally accompanies trips abroad. Your driver will start by collecting you from the airport in Paris. Your trip to Burgundy will be absolutely jam packed with fascinating sights, including the beautiful vineyards of Dijon where you may be able to sample a few glasses of wine, to the prehistoric site near Macon. On top of this all your trip will be taken in the beautiful and lush countryside of Burgundy.
In Burgundy you will also be able to view the beautiful St Lazare Cathedral and visit typical French villages packed full of culinary delights.
Your A La Carte
France tours driver-guide will receive you at Paris airport and drive right away to Sens, a town in Burgundy not far from Paris. The visit will include St-Etienne Cathedral, the first Gothic church named after the first martyred saint, St. Stephen (St. Etienne in French). This church was built by the architect Martin Chambiges in 1513, became a Cathedral in 1966 and is famous for its preserved stained glass windows dating back to the 13th century. Situated in the old archbishopric and synodal palace, Musee Tresor et Palais Synodal is also a must-see. Shiny tiles by Viollet-le-Duc and treasures of Roman relics are unique features of the facility.
Stay overnight in Sens.
Enjoy a visit to Chateau d'Ancy-Le-Franc. Walk through the castle, a Renaissance castle built by Sebastiano Serlio in 1550 on the banks of Armanon River, and marvel at the luxurious collection of important murals from the 16th and 17th centuries. Next on your A La Carte France tour itinerary is the tranquil Fontenay Abbey, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the first Cistercian monasteries in Europe built in Romanesque style and founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Cistercian monastic order. Three nights in the Dijon-Beaune area.
Enjoy sightseeing in Dijon, the capital of the Ducs of Burgundy. The city is renowned for its Dijon mustard that was first made in 1856. Walk on the cobbled stone streets of the historic center and visit the Museum of Fine Art, a palace and museum featuring treasures from the Middle Ages till date. See the tombs of Philippe the Bold and John the Fearless, the royal father and son dukes of Burgundy, and the Eglise Notre-Dame, a 13th-century Gothic church which features a Black Madonna statue. Your A La Carte France personal guide will also show you the two symbols of Dijon; jacquemart and owl, and take you to view the twin-towered Cathedral St. Benigne, a large, Gothic church and the current seat of the Archbishopric of Dijon.
Second night in the Dijon-Beaune area
Today your A La Carte France tours guide will take you to discover the best of Burgundy wines along a famous wine route; the Route des Grands Crus or Road of the Great Wines. Your limousine driver will take you to Gevrey-Chambertin in Cote de Nuit district, where you can buy luxury red wines, and visit Nuits-Saint-Georges that features the finest Premier Cru vineyards. You can also visit the Tour Le Cassissium, an educational museum that showcases the history of the blackcurrant, and travel to Cote de Beaune and Puligny-Montrachet, a small village that produces award-winning white wines, to meet a winemaker.
Third night in the Dijon-Beaune area
Spend a pleasant day with your A La Carte France tour guide who will take you through historic sites in Beaune. Visit the Hotel-Dieu, that features Flemish medieval architecture including a Gothic facade, glazed roofs, and preserved interiors. This structure was built in 1443 as a hospital for the poor by the chancellor of Duke Phillip the Good, Nicolas Rolin. Next on the itinerary is a minivan drive to Roche de Solutre, a prehistoric site near Macon. This site overlooks the village of Solutre-Pouilly and what was once the Solutrean paleolithic culture. Visit exotic, luxurious vineyards, sample Maconnais one of the world's finest wines, and gain knowledge about wine-growing and wine production.
Three nights in the Macon area
Enjoy a tour of Bourg en Bresse, a town on the western base of Jura Mountains and at the left bank of Reyssouze river. Here, your first stop is at the Royal Monastery of Brou, which was developed by Margaret of Austria in memory of her husband, Philip the Fair. Your A La Carte France tours guide will point out the distinctive late Gothic style of the buildings and the many municipal artworks including religious statues dating from the 13th to the 20th centuries. Saint-Philibert Abbey, a well-preserved fortress-like Romanesque church built in the 11th and 12th centuries, is also a must-see with its Statue of the Virgin and Child and impressive floor mosaics.
Second night in Macon area
Travel with your A La Carte France private guide to Cluny, a small countryside town in Saone-et-Loire, popularized by the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny and founded by the Duke of Aquitaine in 910. From here, return to the Maconnais area and meet with local wine-growers, and enjoy another luxury wine tasting! Alternatively, take a short picturesque limousine drive and experience a panoramic view from Mt Saint Romain, or visit the caves and prehistory museum in Aze, which were a shelter for prehistoric men and mountain bears. Your day finishes with a Burgundian dinner featuring a cheese course of Epoisses or Citeaux cheeses.
Third night in Macon area
Today your A La Carte France tour of Burgundy allows you to enjoy some sightseeing in Chateau de Cormatin, between Tournus and Cluny. Experience its beautiful gardens and water bodies and the luxurious Chateau de Cormatin which was built by Marquis d'Uxelles in the early 17th century to display prestige and power. Take a scenic drive through small picturesque roads in Burgundy countryside on the way to Autun and visit the ruins of the Temple of Janus, across the Arroux River. With 24-metre high walls and only two remaining wall sections of what used to be a quadrangular tower, the temple is dedicated to the Roman god Janus.
Stay overnight in Autun.
Today's first stop is Cathedrale St-Lazare, one of the most historical Romanesque churches in France, which holds the relics of Lazarus and Romanesque sculptures of Gislebertus. Your A La Carte France tours guide will then take you to visit Vezelay, a hillside town overlooking Cure Valley where you can see the 11th-century Romanesque Basilica of St. Magdalene (her relics are found here) and the nearby medieval village with well preserved 15th-17th century houses. Your next stop is Auxerre, a large town by the Yonne River which is home to the impressive 16th-century Gothic Cathedral St Etienne and a 15th-century clock tower, with its golden sundial and moondial still intact.
Stay overnight in Fontainebleau
On the last day of the tour, your A La Carte France Tours guide will take you to Fontainebleau, which is renowned for its large scenic forests. Visit the Palace of Fontainebleau, once a medieval hunting lodge of 12th to 18th-century royalties. Here you can see the beautiful artworks of famous Italian artist Rosso Fiorentino depicting Greco-Roman mythology and enjoy strolling through 115 hectares of gardens with historic fountains and vast orange groves.
Following your visit to Fontainebleau, your driver-guide will drop you off by limousine at Paris International Airport.
Au revoir et bon voyage, honores voyageurs.
bookings for tours shorter than 10 days.
Boutique / Luxury price includes: private
driver-interpreter throughout the tour, private
local guides, transport (air conditioned
minivan or large sedan), all entrance fees
as per suggested itinerary, porterage,
accommodation in boutique / luxury
(best available) style small hotels and Bed
& Breakfasts (comfortable double room with
private bathroom), continental breakfasts,
light lunches (i.e. quiche, sandwich, soup),
dinners in fine cuisine restaurants (3 items to
choose freely à la carte) with best available
local wine (half a bottle per dinner per
person), all taxes and tolls. This price does
not include: optional tipping (not compulsory),
personal expenses, insurance, flights to and
from France, drinks other than mentioned
and optional activities.
no refund for cancellations received
later.
In Burgundy, wine can be bought from the many small producers as you travel, but a visit to the hospices in Beaune during the auction is specially intriguing. After vinification, the hospices' management decides the amount of wine that will be put up for auction. The sale takes place in the market hall in the afternoon of the third Sunday of November. It is directed by an auctioneer, and is presided over by a different local figure each year. Bids start at 150 euros. The cuvées are presented in lots, and the names of the buyers shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and private wine lovers from around the globe are listed in a report of the result of the auction attached to the catalogue. The wine can only be sold in the traditionally shaped Burgundy bottles, with the label of the hospices, containing the denomination, name and address. The auction concludes with an important candlelight dinner
in the medieval ambiance of the Hôtel Dieu.
The Hôtel Napoleon is in the center of town and just 300 feet from the entrance to the castle of Fontainebleau. It is a very pleasant, ancient relais that has been enlarged and restored through the centuries, always maintaining its unique French atmosphere. The rooms are decorated in tasteful warm colors and overlook an interior courtyard. In the evening the chef of the Tables des Maréchaux offers a local menu based on fresh products in season,
all which allows visitors to live like kings during their stay.
Beaune is in the heart of the Burgundy region, not far from Dijon,and is a wine lover's paradise. Along the cobblestones of tranquil streets, between historic buildings enlivened by multicolored roofs, centuries of history pass before the visitor's eyes. Beaune is famous for its excellent food, but also transports the traveler directly to the fifteenth century, when the basilica of Notre-Dame, a masterpiece of Gothic art, and the famous hospices were built. Nicolas Rolin and his wife, Guigone de Salins, founded the hospices in 1443 to house the sick, poor, and aged populations. They wanted to support the recovery of Beaune
after the traumatic Hundred Year's War.
